Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-03-16
Practical Suggestions About What to
Eat and How to Prepare Food.


The Latin name of the banana is musa
sapientum, which signifies "of the wise
men, Theophrastus makes a statement
concerning the fruit which served as a
food for the wise men Of India.
Most authorities agreed that the ba
mana is a nutritious food, having less wa
ter and more heterogeneous matter than is
commonly found in fresh fruits. When ripe
it contains much sugar 1t has been Guilt
waited in India and China from remote
ages, and its nutritiYe properties are well
known there, where in many localities it
! forms the chief alimentarv support of the
people. 1t is considered the poor mans
ideal food, for when baked. meat may be
dispensed with. This fact will enhance
their food value in the minds of all who
diSapprove of meat diet as well as rec
ommend the fruit to ali who have an object
| in economizing in the household expenses.
They also give variety and change in the
class of nutritve foods
The laboring men of India who subsst
chiefly on the baked pIantains are said to
be remarkably strong and vigorous.
Natural Food.
Many of our valuable wild fruits, per ex-
ample, the strawberry and orange, have
through process of grating or forced seed
1ings or ross-fertnizing so changed their
natural composition as to be valuable only
for their flavor and not for the purpose
originally intended.
The banana, fig and date are true exam
pies of natural unchanged fruits and are
the same simple wild fruits today when
they formed the staple articles of food of
those noted wise men of the east.
More Suitable when Cooked.
Bananas should not be eaten raw unless
you know that they are fully ripened and
thus predigested. When sufficiently ripe
to be eaten raw they have almost reached
| the point of souring and the skins are
| quite dark. When the skin is simply yell
low it should not be used unless cooked
and never given to children in that condi-
ton, as they cannot digest them.
When the banana is grown the natives
always cook them, as they consider them
full of disease germs. 1t is said one rea-
son why many of our soldiers serving in
/ Cuba and the Philippines are sickened
is because they indulge too freely in these
| fruits in their raw state.
Some consider that the fruit purchased
in our northern markets is not wholesome
because it is brought here in a green state
and ripened artificially. There can be no
good objection, as both the banana and
bread fruit frequently gathered by the
natives before fully ripened and buried in
covered pits made for this purpose and al
lowed to ripen in that way.
The True BANANA.
There are many varieties of the plantain;
the true banana is a small variety of such
delicate structure it will not bear trans
kets This is the truly edible kind that is
natives. What we know the banana is
the larger variety of plantain, which they
would not think of eating uncooked.
Banana Meal.
One variety of the unripened fruit con-
tains a large percentage of starch. This
is often dried by baking in oven and
then powdered into meal or flour 1t has
a rather fragrant odor and pleasant flavor
and is considered q valuable addition to
the invalid's dietary, being employed by
making into a porTidge with either milk or
water and carefully seasoned and favored.
! This meal can be procured in our markets.
| Ways of Cooking the banana.
! So many ways are given for serving the
| banana as a dessert. but as yet very few
methods are commonly known for prepar-
! ing it substitute for meat dishes.
| Baked bananas make a nice breakfast dish
| and will be found suitable and agreeable
| substitute for meat, especially during
Lent
| Baked Bananas No. 1.
This method is said to be the one en-
| ployed in India: Take ordinary bananas,
! cut about a quarter of inch from each
| end, but do not peel them. Lay them on
| a baking dish without any other addition
| and bake fifteen minutes in hot oven.
! When the bananas are done the skin
| should burst open like baked apple; then
turn them over and bake five minutes on
| the other side. so they will be perfectly
done all sides Serve very hot on same
| dish on which they are baked; first eat the
| juice and then the pulp
| Baked Bananas No. 2.
| Another method is to remove a strip of
the skin. cut off each end and place the
bananas in shallow pan having exposed
side up. Mix two tablespoonfuls Of sugar
| with a pinch of salt, two tablespoonfus of
melted butter and two tablespoonfuls of
| lemon juice: haste the bananas with this
| and bake fifteen or twenty minutes in q
! hot oven until soft. Heat the remainder
| of the dressing and pour over the ba-
| nanas and serve very hot.
| Banana Toast
| Bake the bananas, then press through a
| colander or vegetable press, season with
t little salt, butter, sugar and lemon juice
| Moisten slices of zweiback in hot cream
| cover each slice with spoonful of the
/ banana pulp and serve very hot Serve for
breakfast dish without meat.
banana Croauettes.
| Select very small very ripe bananas,
peel and cut off each end, making the ba-
mana look like a small cylinder. Dip in
| beaten egg and fine bread crumbs, or if
| for dessert, macaroons grated and fry in
| hot oil, same as French-fried potatoes.
| These may be served for luncheon dish
| in place of meat and with a fruit sauce
| Banana TapiOca.
| Use either the pearl or the finer tapioca
| if the former, soak over night, using a
cupful. Cook until transparent in a quart
| of water. When done sweeten with a
! cup of sugar and add four very ripe ba-
nanas sliced thin Serve with whipped
| cream Sweetened.
| Frying in Oil.
| Mrs. c. N. N. asks: Do vegetable cook
| ing oils have unpleasant odor?
| There Is no unpleasant odor from the
pure vegetable oils, such as you are sure
to have If you animal fats for the
| same purpose The oil is neutral In odor
| and taste and when properly used cannot
| give unpleasant odors. Be careful not to
| burn 1t by raising the temperature above