Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1903-10-20
Fruit Talk.

Fruit Talk.
Different fruits have different values,
not simply from an inherent or intrinsic
standpoint, but as applied to different
people; for how common it is for some
to laud a certain fruit for their own use,
while others lament because of the mis-
chief it plays with their digestion every
time they indulge.
The differing proportions of sugar,
acid and salts contained in the various
fruits are largely responsible for this
condition of affairs.
Probably the apple is as popular as any
one fruit, owing as much to the variety
of places it is competent to occupy In
culinary fields as to its intrinsic food
value.
To-day, however, it does not stand SO
much alone as in ancient days, for we
now reckon the orange and the straw
berry to be worthy rivals of the apple.
Currants, plums and cherries are
labout equal in the amount of fruit-salts,
coming quite up to the orange, while the
peach ranks high in per cent of fruit
Iacid.
The lemon is famous for its citric acid,
this acid being also prominent com
ponent of the orange.
In point of amount of acidity the
lemon ranks first, the orange next, with
currants third.
The acid of the latter is that of the ap'
ple-malic, rather than citric acid; the
strawberry contains a valuable mixture
of the two, constituting as it does
blood thinner and purifier of no mean
Importance, coming before us at sea
son when, after the hearty cold weather
diet, the blood needs thinner to pre-
prepare it for hot weather uses.
The acid of grapes is useful one, the
well known tartaric acid.
The fruit having the smallest per cent
of acid is probably the pear.
Red fruits are said to contain iron II
small but easily assimilated amounts
valuable because natural way to intro
duce it to the system.
The sugar found in fruit is designated
grape sugar, because the grape contains
a much larger quantity than other fruits
This fruit sugar is easily handled by
the stomach, being taken up quickly by
the general system.
Such fruits are especially adapted t.
the needs of lean people, for sugar is 6
member of the carbon family and hence
is stored in the system in the form o.
fat.
Unripe fruit is fruit on which King
Sol has not exerted all his benignant in
fluence, his ripening rays, and this frui
contains simply starch, from which thu
sugar is to be evolved later.
Such fruits ara not only unpalatable
but make more work for the system
seeing the starch has to be converted
into sugar by the action of stomach
acids before it can be absorbed.
Grapes are said to yield thirteel
pounds of pure sugar to the hundred
weight, cherries over ten pounds, pears
and gooseberries about seven pounds.
AS whole, fruits do not rank higl
among the flesh formers-fesh as dis
tinguished from fat-the peach having
probably the largest amount of pectin
the tlesh-forming material of fruits;
substance allied to the albumeu of othe'
food products.
The apple is said to come next to tn,
peach in this particular, hence the gen
orally acknowledged utility and superior
ity of the apple for jelly-making-th
jelly-forming principle representing tn
pectin.
The strawberry has the minimum
quantity of pectin, but, owing to it
preponderance in heterogeneous material, i
after all more nutritious than all tn
others.
Judging by what we have seen i
should be right for rale people to take
not pink pills, at least first, but pink o
red fruits like unto cherries, strawber
ries, currants and gooseberries, while
the bilious people will see the world les
blue upon diet of grapes, strawberrie
and oranges. In rheumatism and govt
we should combat an excess of lacti
acid in the system with fruit acids. =
Children are much more healthy wher
fruit is accessible to them in abundance
Over-ripe fruit is as bad as unrip'
fruit, and both are not to be reckonet
on in securing any benefits l have her
outlined.-DR. A. P. REED in Ladies
World