Omaha daily bee., 1901-02-03
MENU UNDERCOES A CHANGE
Winter Brings About Revision of Family
Bills Of Fare.
NO SUBSTITUTES FOR THE MELONS
Fresh Fruits Give Way to Canned
Goods, While Vegetables Hold
Their Place Through Hot
house Gardening.

When the season for deciduous fruits and
green vegetables closes there comes a
period of several months duration in
which the average family menu undergoes a
serious change. 1t is a change from straw
berries to apples for breakfast, from
luscious California plums to stewed dried
aprcots for lunch and from corn on tho cob
to corn out of the can for dinner.
That is the change in fare that comes
with the change in seasons in most families,
but in homes whore papa possesses the
happy combination of a fat bank account
and a generous indulgence of the appetite
there is no such radical revision of the
menu. Nature and human invention have
made II possible for Omaha people to eat
sliced tomatoes and strawberries in Janu-
airy and February, provided, OF course, they
have the price and are willing to part with
IL for the good things to eat. Nice, red, ripe
tomatoes are being plucked from the vines
Of Florida and Texas today and fine. juicy
Strawberries grow in California, Florida
and Texas the year round. Refrigerator
cars, of which there are thousands in ope-
ration, convey the freshly gathered vege-
tables and fruits from their native soil 10
the markets of the north and the east In
decay Is obviated.
Never out Of Season.
IL there are no strawberries or fresh to-
matoes on the Omaha market today It Is
because there is an absence of demand for
them and not because they are out OF
season. The truth OF the matter is that the
demand for high-priced fresh fruit and
green vegetables in Omaha is not great
tn In oh int
market. This kind Of perishable merchan-
disc is shipped ny the growers in California
and Florida in carload lots only. 1t would
hardly pay to ice car for the purpose OF
supplying the Omaha market with dozen
crates of strawberries from California.
Then It is doubtful that a dozen crates OF
berries could be sold in this city at winter
prices before they would become unht for
publication
What do the Omaha people eat In the
winter time? Those who have the price eat
everything on the market that their appe-
tites crave. The market at this time of the
year Is almost as plentiful of good things
as II is in the summer months. There is
an absence OF fresh berries, grapes plums
and cherries, but the science OF canning
has been reduced TO such fine point that
these dellcacies in the preserved condition
are Hduutu uOWu ITOu RTOCeEy SlOTe SnelNeS
the year round. Canned goods do not make
the same impression on the palate as the
fresh fruit does, but they fill the void on
the table nevertheless, and that is the nee
essary thing.
Nothing Place of Melons.
Canned goods take the place OF fresh
small fruits, but there is no winter substi-
tute for the watermelon or the cantaloupe.
On the family board the apple wabbles
around unsatisfactory in the watermelon s
place during the winter months, and the
honorable position OF the cantaloupe at the
breakfast table is almost dsgraced by the
presence of the orange.
When IL comes to vegetables the winter
fare is not half bad. True, we must worry
along without corn on the cob, but there is
cons solation in the fact that as we worry our
dentistry bills grow less. Cucumbers. let
tuce, radishes, young onions, spinach and
most Of the other garden stuff that appeals
| to the appetite can be obtained on the local
market the year round. Gardeners in this
vicinity grow vegetables under glass as well
in winter as they do in the open In sum
mer.