Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-10-10
PERISHABLE FOODS
RELIABLE METHODS OF KEEPING
TILL NEEDED.
Careless Handling Often Spells the
Best Purchases-Especia
Moof
Meat
Written for The Evening Star.

"iitteh ioF lHe ENeiHS OUR
! 1t matters little how much care is ex-
| ercised in the selection of food or the sum
expended in its purchase if it is not prop
! erly cared for after it reaches the house.
Through carelessness and ignorance the loss
| is often great, proving that there is more
than grain of truth in the old adage. "A
woman can throw out on a teaspoon what
a man brings in on shovel"
Salads and vegetables that arrive in good
condition are dumped down in a hot kitchen
to wilt ana wther until the cook gets good
and ready to put them away. Meat is left
in its paper to absorb the taste and get
glued fast to it. Fruit is bruised in empty
ing it out butter left uncovered to grow
rancid, and milk standing to sour.
When green vegetables come they should
be put at once in the cellar or into the ice
box. Salads may be wrapped in a damp
cloth. then in newspaper and put in the air.
Cereals should be emptied in their proper
receptacleS of tin or glass and closely COW
cred to prevent insects getting in. Coffee
should go Immediately into an alright
canister in order to keep it's aroma. Olive
oil should be put into cool, dark place,
and salt, soap and cheese into dry places.
Dried fruits should be kept in alright
glass cans; nuts in a cool, dry place to pre-
vent their growing rancid, and chocolate.
cocoa and cocoa shells in cold storage. Mo
lasses and syrups need to be where 1t is
cool.
Eggs should be handled carefully so as
not to break the membrane separating the
yolk and white. and kept in a dry, cool
place.
AS to Flour.
Flour belongs in bin or barrel raised a
few inches from the floor. While wheat
| -four may be obtained in quantity, corn
meal or graham -four should only be pur-
chased in small quantities and kept in tin
| or glass.
| Melons should go on the ice or be covered
| with a damp piece of carpet and left whore
| the air will circulate about them freely.
| Onions should not be left cut, as they are
| great absorbents. Neither onions, bananas
| nor muskmelons should be put in Ice
! box with other foods.
Winter vegetables should be fully matur-
| ed when gathered dried thoroughly and
! then stored in a cool, dry place. Carrots.
| beets and celery keep better if packed in
| sand.
Small and soft fruits should be scattered
| on platters. not left in baskets as pur-
| chased as their own weight brushes them
| and they decay. Peaches and fine pears
| should be removed to a shelf and not be
| allowed to touch one another. Tomatoes
| may be ripened by exposure to the sun.
Milk and cream should be kept separate
| from the other foods. as they absorb odors.
| Butter, If purchased in quantity, should
| have a cloth spread over the top, and on
| top of that thick layer of salt.
Care for Butter.
When necessary to take out butter, lift
| the cloth from one side cut out square,
| even piece and recover with cloth and salt.
| Il only a few pounds are purchased at a
| time keep in tin or agate pail, cover with
a cloth wrung out of salt water and the
lid.
| Lard should be kept in tin and In a cool
| place.
Fresh fish should never be permitted to
! soak in water. Put in cool place, but
| never place directly artificial ice.
| Meat should not be laid on the Ice. as
| that draws out the juices. If fresh killed.
| allow it to get chilled before putting in
| cold storage; otherwise the animal heat is
| driven inside and causes fermentation.
| which is poisonous. Do not let chops and
| steak rest against one another. much less
| ham and steak.
! All meats and poultry require a cool,
| cry atmosphere. If necessary to hang them
| suspend with the choicest and tender parts
| down. Hang lamb and mutton by the
| shank and poultry by the feet.