The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1917-03-16
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HOME ECONOMICS ii
Food Group No. Four-Vegetables
and Fruits


Food Group No. Four-Vegetables
and Fruits
Two very valuable kinds of food
are here grouped together, namely,
vegetables and fruits. This Is done
because they are similar in that both
kinds supply iron, lime, and other
mineral matter to the body, and also
mild acids (not always in such
amounts that one can taste them) /,
such, as those which are found in
oranges. apples, and tomatoes.
| Vegetables are an important but
often a neglected part of a child's
diet. They should be served at least
once a day, as they help to keep the
bowles in good condition. Several
of the ways of accustoming the child
to the taste of unfamiliar vegetables
have already been suggested here.
They may be used as flavoring for
soups and stews, may be added to
milk or meat stews, or served with
meat gravy. If gravy is used, it
should not be too fat nor made with
scorched fat.
Young children may be given leaves
and tender parts of celery and let
tuce, satisfactory way of serving
being in the form of sandwiches For
this purpose they should be slightly
sailed and the celery should be chop
ped or cut into small pieces.
All vegetables, whether severed
raw or cooked, should be washed
with great care. Large vegetables
| Nd should
scrubbed with brush. Greens should
be washed leaf by leaf under run
ming water, or in large amount OF
water. In the latter any sand which
clings to them is likely to sink. To
prevent it from again getting on the
vegetables lift them from the water
instead of pouring the water off.
Most vegetables when served as a
separate dish should be either steam
ed, boiled, baked or stewed. II the
Isupply of fresh vegetables Is not
generous, the juice in which they are
cooked should be used with them as
far as possible, or put into soups
or stews. ts5ss7
| Experience has shown that veget-
tables, particularly green vegetables
are not at their best when cooked
until tender. but not until completed
milted. Spinach requires cooking
from 20 to 80 minutes. -
Vegetables should be served either
quite simply or with little milk
cream, or butter, to improve or vary
the flavor. AS said before, oil may
be served on green's instead of but.
tier These simple methods are bet
tier than complicated ones like fry.
ling or scalloping. The smallest
lchildren such vegetables as greens
lshould be finely chopped, and If the
tougher portions of other vegetables
1.-THE skins of green peas, for example
Iare found to disagree with child
these portions should be removed by
lputting the cooked vegetable thru a
sieve. No such vegetables as raw
radishes or cucumbers, which might
easily be swallowed in large pieces
lshould be given to small children.
L Fruits, which with vegetables
make up group four, are also very
important in the child's diet. They
supply mild acids, and they are i'm
portant for their flavor, for their
laxative effects, and no doubt for
other reasons also. This laxative
effect is we'll recognized in the very
general use of orange juice, prunes,
and apples. Then, too, the fruits,
like the vegetables, have mineral ele-
ments which the body requires.
Fruits should be served in some
form at least once day. In gen.
eral, the same rule should be fol-
lowed as for vegetables in deciding
in what form they should be served.
Fruit juices and the pulp of cooked
fruit, baked apples and pears, and
lstewed prunes, for example, are SAT-
est. Whether the skins should be
given depends partly on the age and
health of the child and partly on
the way the fruit is prepared. If the
skins are very tender, they are not
likely to cause trouble, except with
very young children. When apples
and pears are baked the skins can
be made tender by frequent basting.
Food Group No. Five-Simple Sweets
Simple sweets are such things as
lump sugar, maple sugar, sirups,
honey, and plain candy, and those
foods in which sugar is combined in
simple forms with fruit juices Gin
lemonade, water ice, jelly, etc., with
flour or starch, as III plain cakes
coup cake, sponge cake, cookies)
and with fruit, as in jams, marina
ladies', and similar things. Sweets
which contain much fat, like rich
cakes and pastry, and foods which
are made rich with nuts or dried or
candied fruits, or those which are
highly favored or spiced, can not
be classed as simple sweets.
Sugar is desirable part of the
diet, and the only objection which
can be raised, to its use in reason
able amounts in a mixed diet is that
1t is sometimes allowed to take the
Iplace of foods which come under the
first four groups mentioned in this
article, and so ,spoils, the child's ap,
petite for those other important
things. Under these conditions 1t Is
harmful, because it's improper use
has led to bad food habits. Sweets
should not be- given between meals
or during the first course of a meal
Careful mothers who forbid the1r
1children eating candy at odd times
sometimes give one or two pieces
of wholesome candy as treat
with dessert at dinner.
A Review