The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1915-03-13
TO PREPARE AND
USE VEGETABLES
AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT Elk.
PERTs GIVE RESULTS OF
STUDY AND EXPERIMENT.
SOME PLANTS EATEN RAW
Fresh Vegetables an Essential Part Of
Mans Dlet-How Waste Can Be
Avoided In the Compromising
of Salads.

fTeSn green vegetables are BeHeT-
ally relished and form a part of mans
diet whenever they can be obtained.
Such vegetables may be called salad
plants though it is difficult to classify
plants according to the uses to which
they are put, for almost all are used
for many different purposes. Lettuce,
for example, a vegetable which in this
country is most always eaten raw, in
Europe is often cooked, and thus it
becomes a potherb as well as a ala
plant. Water cress, though often used
as a salad, is sometimes used simply
as a condiment. Peas, beans, potatoes
and vegetables such as spinach, which
are most commonly served as a "vege-
table, are often put into salads.
In spite of these difficulties in the
way of classification, we may include
under salad plants those whose leaves
and stems are usually eaten raw with
a sour dressing, and define a salad as
a dish consisting in whole or in part
of vegetables, either raw OF cooked,
mixed with a o u dressing. Salad
dressing usually contains a fat as well
as an acid.
H~ousekeepers often claim to know
and care little about salads, but those
who dig wild Jerusalem artichokes in
the spring or start the early pepper
grass or radish to serve as relishes at
the table are providing salads for
their families; or again, those III
prepare the cold vegetables left at
noon such as green's" with a dress
ing even of salt and vinegar for sup
per, make salads. Fresh cucumbers
with vinegar or other dressing are sal
ads Just as much as are the more elab-
crate dishes.
Salad: a Food To Be Eaten With Salt.
The derivation of the word salad
shows it to mean a food to be eaten
with salt. 1t would be better to keep
neal to this original meaning rather
thar to go to the extreme Of some
ho~usekeepers who, in their search for
novelties for their tables, build up
salads from strange combinations in
ornate forms.
The distinctive salad plants are
very succulent; that is, they consist
mainly of water. Hence, they are es-
pecially refreshing in warm weather,
AS a separate course they are a pleas
ant contrast to the heavier dishes of
a formal meal. They also serve to
prevent too great concentration of
food, and thus aid in the digestive
process. Upon the valuable saline
properties of these raw plants we are
just beginning to place a definite
value, though evidently these we're
recognized by the instinct of the peo-
pie of the far past.
Why Dressings Are Used.
Fat is a compact food and, weight
for weight, is about two and a quarter
times as valuable as protein or car
~bohydrate for fuel in the human body.
A tablespoonful of oil would go far.
ther toward supplying energy for keep
ing the human machinery running
thar a large head of lettuce. Over all
the world people have instinctively
added a condensed dressing consisting
mainly of oil, bacon fat, or cream to
the salad plants bulky with cellular
tissue and water, and have eaten such
salads with meat and bread supplying
protein and carbohydrate, and thus
have secured a fairly balanced ration
Modern study of bacteriology indi
Gates that pagan and religious cere
monies of publication by fire and wa
ter had definite value for healthful life
in this world. Water ~cleanses to some
extent. but only through intense OF
long-continued heat is complete sterili
zation and freedom from bacteria and
parasites secured. Therefore great
care is needed in the selection and
preparation OF foods which are not to
be subjected to heat. Cress, lettuce
and other salad plants, carelessly cul
tivated and handled In the market and
half cleaned in the kitchen, may trans
NIT disease. as may milk, raw oysters
and other animal foods.
The fashion of cutting across q head
of lettuce or celery, though 1t may
give each person a fair share of the
choice and less tender portions, can.
not be recommended, because 1t is
practically impossible to cleanse the
axis OF the leaves, the grooves where
they join the stem. All such plants
should be separated in their natural
divisions and washed in more than
one water, individual attention being
given to hollows in stalks or leaves
Sand Is unpleasant, but less harmful
than other things that may be left be
hind after washing; its presence, how.
ever, justifies the suspicion that the
washing was not thorough or care
fully done. Vegetables such as spin.
ach, which are din cult to free from
grit. should be washed in a number
of waters, and lifted out of the pan
each time in loose handfuls before the
water has been drained off. In this
way the sand and grit has an oppor.
tunity to sink to the bottom of the
pan, while IL the vegetables are left
in 1t, part of the sand at least is again
distributed over the washed leaves.
Green vegetables should always be
looked over carefully to make sure
that any inferior portions. insects, OF
other things which are undesirable are
removed. The quality of vegetables
may be greatly injured by insect pests
and plant diseases. If the plant suf-
fers very severely from such enemies,
it cannot make normal growth, and SO
all or parts of 1t may be inferior. For
instance. green peas or string beans
from vines badly attacked by insects
or by some fungous disease dc not at