Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1908-02-12
THE RAW CURRANT
PRAISED BY WRITER As AN
ARTICLE OF DIET.
May Be Given In Quantities to Chi
dren With Only the Most 6ene-
helaI Results, on Scientific
Authority.

|
Authority.
Until the last year or two mothers
have felt II sort of solemn duty to
keep very tight hand over the cur
rant-bag, declares q writer in London
Madame.
IF you have them now you cannot
have them In the cake" we say to the
BARNS, and, when once more remind
ed that the currants would be more
fully appreciated now than they could
possibly be at tea-time, we give the
sober answer: They aren't good for
you, dear and you mustn't ask again.
Now that is just where we mothers
go wrong.
Raw currants are good for our chill
dren-immensely better than the raw,
unripe gooseberries and the sour
green apples which we know they eat
from the garden, better also, than any
other under-ripe or over-ripe fruit
whatsoever.
Dried currants, in their uncooked
state, are so exceedingly light and
so very nutritious that-proyided the
skin of the berry is broken before the
fruit is swallowed 80 per cent of the
total weight of the fruit is digested
within half an hour of its being eaten,
and mothers may safely take this as a
Iyindication of the wholesomeness of
the row nf1rrnpt
NO grown-up person no little child,
can obtain anything but good from
this fruit if only the simple precaution
be taken to pierce the skin by the nat
ural process of mastication.
Almost it would seem that the more
precious the food the more snugly
does nature wrap it up. Peas and
beans are very nutritious-see how
carefully nature packs them; nuts are
famous for nutritive value-nature
packs them in wooden cases. Cur
rants are, weight for weight, more nu-
tritious than any other fruit known
to man and, though the berries are
small and insignificant looking, nature
has taken care that the fine skin shall
be Just strong enough to preserve the
precious fruit from injury. 1t is sell,
dom that one sees a bruised or broken
currant, yet the covering of the berry
is so very fine that when once broken.
it rapidly becomes part and parcel
with the soluble matter of the currant
1t has been proved by our scien-
lists that none of the nutriment of
the currant-grape escapes from the
the fruit during the simple process of
drying, which is carried out in the
open sunshine and fresh air.
Currants lose only water in this
drying, and the effect of the SUM-
shine upon the gathered fruit is sim
ply to change the fleshy portion of the
currant into what is known as grape
sugar. Il
Grape sugar is the most highly nu-
tritive of all foods, and it is because
currants are so remarkably rich in it
that Sir Francis Laking, our own
kings doctor, recommends them so
heartily to people of all ages and all
classes of society.
Sir Francis is of the opinion that
when once the people of this country
have become fully aware of the food
values of this wonderful fruit, Greece
will have no time to look further for
for all the currants she
Is able to produce
With testimony such as this to re-
assure us, we mothers may cast every
doubt to the winds and gladly pro-
yide our children with full suficiency
Of the fruit that is at once SO whole
some and so inexpensive.