The Colorado statesman., 1915-03-13
T0,PREPARE AND
USE VEGETABLES
DEPARTMENT Ex-
PERTS GIVE RESULTS OF
STUDY AND EXPERIMENT.
SOME PLANTS EATEN RAW
Fresh Vegetables an Essential Part of
Mans Diet-How Waste Can Be
Avoided in the Compromising
of Salads.

Fresh green vegetables are gener-
ally relished and form 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
fol many different purposes. Lettuce,
fol- example, a vegetable which in this
country is most always eaten raw, in
Europe is often cooked, and thus it
becomes potherb as well as salad
plant Water cress, though often used
as salad, is sometimes used simply
as a condiment. Peas, beans, potatoes
and vegetables such as spinach, which
are most commonly served as '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
sour dressing, and define salad as
dish consisting in whole or in part
of vegetables, either raw or cooked,
mixed with a sour dressing. Salad
dressing usually contains fat as well
as an acid.
Housekeepers 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 who
prepare the cold vegetables left at
noon, such as greens" 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
near to this original meaning rather
than to go to the extreme of some
housekeepers 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 pleas
! ant contrast to the heavier dishes of
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
value, though evidently these were
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 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
than 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 purification by fire and wa
! ter had definite value for healthful life
in this world. Water cleanses to some
extent, but only through intense or
long-continued heat is complete sterili-
zation and freedom from bacteria and
parasites secured. Therefore great
;, H4 A1A Il
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 a head
of lettuce or celery, though it may
give each person a fair share of the
choice and less tender portions, can
not be recommended because it is
practically impossible to cleanse the
axils of the leaves, the grooves where
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 feft 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 difficult 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 if the vegetables are left
in it, part CT the sand at least is again