The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1932-04-08
GREENS ARE FOOD
ALSO MEDICINE
CFrom Frances Bellamy, McCone
County Extension AGENT


come at the time of the year that
grandmother used to dose the fam,
lily with sulphur and molasses. So
it was, according to a distinguish
ed authority on foods, that sulph-
ur and molasses got the credit,
while dandelions did the work.
In other words, says the Bureau
Of Home Economics of the u. S.
Department of Agriculture, the ap-
petizing dish of spring green's that
grandmother served, cooked no
doubt. with salt pork or bacon
fat, was what the family needed
in the spring and not the dose of
medicine. For winter food they had
depended largely on the vegetables
stored in the cellar, and these for
the most part roots, which grow
underground and away from the
sun. By springtime the family felt
the need of something to thin the
blood: whereupon the sulphur and
molasses came down off the shelf.
In reality, food scientists ex-
plain. the family needed certain
food substances which are not a
bundant in most of the root vege-
tables. Those substances + not
present in sulphur at all, and are
present in only small quantities in
molasses. But they are abundant
in dandelion green's, turnip greens,
mustard, beet tops, poke salad,
kale, collards, chard, w~atercress,
broccoli, spinach cabbage,-all the
greens, in fact.
Nowadays the housewife does
not have grandmother's winter food
problem, so sulphur and molasses
are out of date. Green foods are
shipped at all seasons to the parts
of the country where they do not
grow, and fewer families need to
be without greens" in winter. For
that matter, turnip green's, and
some of the other more hardy
kinds, can be had from the family
garden in many parts OF the coun-
try most of the year.
Properly speaking, greens is
the term for all the green leafy
vegetables, lettuce and other salad
greens as well as the leaves that
are cooked. To grandmother, how
ever, and to many people nowadays
greens are the green leaves OF
plants such as dandelion, mustard
or spinach, and the green tops OF
beets and turnips; in other words
the green's which are usually cook
ed.
Greens are especially valuable be-
cause of their mineral and vitamin
content. Two of the vitamins, how
eyer-B and Care easily destroy
ed in cooking. Therefore some of
the foods that contain these vita
minis should often be served raw,
according to nutritionists. Raw cab
bage. either shredded for salad, or
dressed for cole slaW, is especial
ly rich in vitamin c. All of the sal
ad greens, lettuce, romaine, en-
dive, e~scarole, ~watercress, celery,
parsley-are good. The green
leaves, however, are much richer
in vitamins than are the bleached
leaves and stems. A salad with
green leaves Of lettuce, raw car
rots sliced or grated, or with to-
matoes, is rich in at least four OF
the essential vitamins-A, B, G,
and G.
Cooked greens, especially spin
ach, turnip tops, and collards are
rich in vitamins A and G, but pre-
cautions must be taken to retain
their vitamins B and C.. To do
this, and to hold the mineral val
ne, the Bureau of Home Economics
gives the following direction for
cooking greens:
After thorough washing, put the
greens in a small quantity of boil
ing sailed water. Cook without a
cover, for as short a time as pos
5ible to make the green's tender
but still firm. The small quantity
Of water is recommended because
some of the mineral and vitamin
values will be lost if there is so
much water that the green's must
be drained. Some greens-spinach
and young dandelions-will need
40 cooking water except that which
to the leaves after washing.
Cooking without a cover will help
20 keep the color of the greens.
Greens are sometimes cooked in
milk, which adds to the food val
lie, because the milk with its own
'ood value, plus that cooked out
If the greens, is served in the
dish. When cooked with meat
should be put in the cook
ng water after the meat itself has
otherwise they will be ov-
.rcooked.
A combination Of two or more
,inds of greens, such as beet and
urnip tops, field e and spin
.ch, corn salad and mustard greens
makes a savory dish when season
ID with bacon fat, or with butter