Middletown transcript., 1915-03-13
TO PREPARE AND
USE VEGETABLES
AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT Ex
PERTs GIVE RESULTS or
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.
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 1t
becomes a 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 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 salad as
a 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 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 succuIent; that is, they consist
mainly Of water. Hence, they are es-
pecially refreshing in warm weather
AS 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 were
recognized by the instinct of the peo
pie of the far past.
Why Dressings Are Used.
Fat is 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 tc
the salad plants bulky with cellular
tissue and water, and have eaten suct
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 Iift
| In Cln 10
extent, but only through intense o
long-continued heat is complete sterill
cation and freedom from bacteria an
parasites secured. Therefore rgrea
care is needed In the selection an
preparation of foods which are not t
be subjected to heat. Cress, lettuce
and other salad plants, carelessly Gu
tivated and handled in the market an
half cleaned in the kitchen, may trant
init disease. as may milk, raw oyster
and other animal foods.
The fashion OF cutting across a hea
of lettuce or celery, though 1t ma
= give each person fair share of tn
choice and less tender portions, car
not be recommended, because 1t
practically impossible to cleanse tn
axils of the leaves, the grooves wher
they join the stem. All such plant
should be separated in their nature
divisions and washed in more tina
one water, individual attention bein
given to hollows in stalks or leave
Sand is unpleasant, but less harmfl
than other things that may be left b
hind after washing; its presence, hoy
e ever, justifies the suspicion that tn
: washing was not thorough or car
) fully done. Vegetables such as spi
ach, which are difficult to free fro
4 grit, should be washed in a numbt
Q of waters, and lifted out of the pa
each time in loose handfuls before IL
a water has been drained OFF In tn
a way the sand and grit has an oppo
q tunity to sink to the bottom of IL
J. pan, while If the vegetables are lie
J. in 1t, part of the sand at least is aga
y distributed over the washed leaves.
o Green vegetables should always
(. looked over carefully to make su
that any inferior portions, insects,
a other things which are undesirable a
:, removed. The quality of vegetabl
g may be greatly injured by insect pes
and plant diseases. If the plant 81
e fers very severely from such enemiC
d 1t cannot make normal growth, and
i, all or parts of 1t may be inferior. F
g Instance, green peas or string bea
from vines badly attacked by insec
lie or by some fungous disease do not
L. tain full perfection. Obviously, leav
used as greens are of inferior quail