The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1898-09-28
Fruits as Food.

Mrs. s. T. Rorer, in the June mum.
Der of the Ladies' Home Journal
recommends "peaches, apricots, nee
tarines; ripe, mellow apples; dates, figs,
fresh and dry; prunes, without skins;
persimmons, pawpaws; very ripe or
cooked bananas; guavas, without seeds,
fresh or canned without sugar; pine
apples, grated or finely picked, never
cut; mangoes; grapes; sweet plums,
without skins; sugar cherries, and an
occasional cooked pear. Bariletts are
excellent when canned without sugar."
AS fruits which must be used most
sparingly she names "lemons, oranges,
shaddocks, currants, barberries, cram
berries and strawberries" This ap-
plies most emphatically to those per-
sons who are inclined to uric acid con-
ditions. The rheumatic and equity
should also most rigidly abstain. The
tender lining of the child's stomach
certainly cannot bear such fruits any
length of time; serious results must
follow. The ripe, mellow peach is
really the child's fruit. l wish I had
not seen this until after the strawberry
season, which, at this writing, is just
beginning here-about a week earlier
than in ordinary seasons. AS long as
strawberries last, the bulk OF my meals
consists of bread (home-made) and
butter, strawberries, cream and sugar.
OF strawberries eat no less than three
quarts day. And now comes this
Mrs. Rorer, relying on her authority
and reputation, and thinks she can de-
prive me of my enjoyment OF this
"queen of fruits" as we'll as induce
me to deny it to the rest of my family.
But, as heretofore, such diet on ber-
ries has already had the happiest effect
on my general health and digestion. l
l think 1 will have my berries once
more. Mrs. Rorer's warning, notwith-
standing. While there is truth in
some of her statements, others are
simply absurd. The fact is that all
people are not alike. Some people can
eat what others cannot. l know per-
sons for whom strawberries are almost
80 much poison. Some people like
strawberries and other fruits more
than others do. AS a rule, however,
wholesome fruit that can be eaten to
the full limit of our natural appetites.
Currants, which Mrs. Rorer forbids to
persons just like me, are really medi-
cine for me and most gratifying Tin al
most any quantity just when recover
ing from headache due to "uric acid
conditions" Under ordinary circum-
stances we may also use lemons, Or
anges and shaddocks most freely.
Lemon-juice in hot water, taken in
large doses, is very effective tonic,
and of great medicinal virtue for rheu-
matte and equity persons. On the
other hand, people with chronic bowel
trouble must avoid an excess of indi-
gestible matter, vegetable fiber, seeds,
ETC., all of which are liable to irritate
weak bowels. For all such 1 would
recommend the use of fruit juices
rather than of the fruit itself. Squeeze
the juice out of your strawberries, cur
rants, raspberries, pineapples, etc., and
use it freely, either raw or cooked,
with or without sugar. But don't get
scared out of your wits and abstain
from the free use of all these "delica-
cies of the season" merely because
Mrs. Rorer or anybody else (not better
posted about the dietetic qualities of
our soil products than she seems to beg
says we must most rigidly abstain from
this or that fine fruit. The ripe, mel
low peach is anybody's fruit-harmless
in any quantity and surely delicious, if
in perfection. Herein Mrs. Rorer is
right.-T. Greiner in Farm and Fire
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