Part 14 (2/2)

The word _biscuit_ embodies the process by which this form of bread was made from time immemorial down to within the last century. _Bis_ (twice), and _coctus_ (cooked), show that they were twice baked.

Fragments of unfermented bread were discovered in the Swiss lake-dwellings, which belong to the Neolithic age.

Fermented bread is seldom seen in Northern Europe and Asia except among the rich or the n.o.bility. At one time, the captain of an English vessel requested a baker of Gottenburg to bake a large quant.i.ty of loaves of raised bread. The baker refused to undertake an order of such magnitude, saying it would be quite impossible to dispose of so much, until the captain agreed to take and pay for it all.

I made a study of the ancient and indispensable art of bread-making, consulting such authorities as offered, going back to the primitive days and first invention of the unleavened kind, and traveling gradually down in my studies through that accidental souring of the dough which it is supposed taught the leavening process, and through the various fermentations thereafter till I came to ”good, sweet, wholesome bread,”--the staff of life. Leaven, which some deemed the soul of bread, the _spiritus_ which fills its cellular tissues, which is religiously preserved like the vestal fire,--some precious bottleful, I suppose, brought over in the Mayflower, did the business for America, and its influence is still rising, swelling, spreading in cerulean billows over the land,--this seed I regularly and faithfully procured from the village, until one morning I forgot the rules and scalded my yeast; by which accident I discovered that even this was not indispensable, and I have gladly omitted it ever since. Neither did I put any soda or other acid or alkali into my bread. It would seem that I made it according to the recipe which Marcus Porcius Cato gave about two centuries before Christ: ”Make kneaded bread thus: Wash your hands and trough well. Put the meal into the trough, add water gradually, and knead it thoroughly. When you have needed it well, mold it, and bake it under a cover,” that is in a baking kettle.--_Th.o.r.eau in Walden._

FRUITS

Of all the articles which enter the list of foods, none are more wholesome and pleasing than the fruits which nature so abundantly provides. Their delicate hues and perfect outlines appeal to our sense of beauty, while their delicious flavors gratify our appet.i.te. Our markets are supplied with an almost unlimited variety of both native and tropical fruits, and it might be supposed that they would always appear upon the daily bill of fare; yet in the majority of homes this is rarely the case. People are inclined to consider fruit, unless the product of their own gardens, a luxury too expensive for common use. Many who use a plentiful supply, never think of placing it upon their tables, unless cooked. Ripe fruit is a most healthful article of diet when partaken of at seasonable times; but to eat it, or any other food, between meals, is a gross breach of the requirements of good digestion.

Fruits contain from seventy-five to ninety-five per cent of water, and a meager proportion of nitrogenous matter; hence their value as nutrients, except in a few instances, is rather small; but they supply a variety of agreeable acids which refresh and give tone to the system, and their abundant and proper use does much to keep the vital machinery in good working order.

Aside from the skin and seeds, all fruits consist essentially of two parts,--the cellulose structure containing the juice, and the juice itself. The latter is water, with a small proportion of fruit sugar (from one to twenty per cent in different varieties), and vegetable acids. These acids are either free, or combined with potash and lime in the form of acid salts. They are mallic, citric, tartaric, and pectic acids. The last-named is the jelly-producing principle.

While the juice, as we commonly find it, is readily transformable for use in the system, the cellular structure of the fruit is not so easily digested. In some fruits, as the strawberry, grape, and banana, the cell walls are so delicate as to be easily broken up; but in watermelons, apples, and oranges, the cells are coa.r.s.er, and form a larger bulk of the fruit, hence are less easily digested. As a rule, other points being equal, the fruits which yield the richest and largest quant.i.ty of juices, and also possess a cellular framework the least perceptible on mastication, are the most readily digested. A certain amount of waste matter is an advantage, to give bulk to our food; but persons with weak stomachs, who cannot eat certain kinds of fruit, are often able to digest the juice when taken alone.

Unripe fruits differ from ripe fruits in that they contain, starch, which during ripening is changed into sugar, and generally some proportion of tannic acid, which gives them their astringency. The characteristic const.i.tuent of unripe fruit, however, is pectose, an element insoluble in water, but which, as maturation proceeds, is transformed into pectic and pectosic acids. These are soluble in boiling water, and upon cooling, yield gelatinous solutions. Their presence makes it possible to convert the juice of ripe fruits into jelly. Raw starch in any form is indigestible, hence unripe fruit should never be eaten uncooked. As fruit matures, the changes it undergoes are such as best fit for consumption and digestion. The following table shows the composition of the fruits in common use:--

a.n.a.lYSIS.

Water. Alb.u.men. Sugar. Free Acid. Pectose. Cellulose Mineral Matter.

Apples 83.0 0.4 6.8 1.0 5.2 3.2 0.4 Pears 84.0 0.3 7.0 0.1 4.6 3.7 0.3 Peaches 85.0 0.5 1.8 0.7 8.0 3.4 0.6 Grapes 80.0 0.7 Glucose. Tartaric. 3.1 2.0 0.4 13.0 0.8 Plums 82.0 0.2 3.6 0.5 5.7 ... 0.6 Gooseberries 86.0 0.4 7.0 1.5 1.9 2.7 0.5 Strawberries 87.6 0.5 4.5 1.3 0.1 ... 0.6 Raspberries 86.+ 0.5 4.7 1.3 1.7 ... 0.4 Currants 85.2 0.4 6.4 1.8 0.2 ... 0.5 Blackberries 86.4 0.5 4.4 1.1 1.4 ... 0.4 Cherries 75.0 0.9 13.1 0.3 2.2 ... 0.6 Apricots 85.0 .08 1.0 ... 5.9 ... 0.8 Oranges 86.0 [A] 8 to 10 ... ... ... ...

Dates 20.8 6.6 54.0 Fat. 12.3 5.5 1.6 0.2 Bananas 73.9 4.8 19.7[B] Fat. ... 0.2 0.8 0.6 Turkey Figs 17.5 6.1 57.5 Fat. 8.4[C] 7.3 2.3 0.9

[Table Note A: Small quant.i.ties of alb.u.men, citric acid, citrate of potash, cellulose, etc.]

[Table Note B: Sugar and pectose.]

[Table Note C: Starch, pectose, etc.]

There is a prevailing notion that the free use of fruits, especially in summer, excites derangement of the digestive organs. When such derangement occurs, it is far more likely to have been occasioned by the way in which the fruit was eaten than by the fruit itself. Perhaps it was taken as a surfeit dish at the end of a meal. It may have been eaten in combination with rich, oily foods, pastry, strong coffee, and other indigestible viands, which, in themselves, often excite an attack of indigestion. Possibly it was partaken of between meals, or late at night, with ice cream and other confections, or it was swallowed without sufficient mastication. Certainly, it is not marvelous that stomach and bowel disorders do result under such circ.u.mstances. The innocent fruit, like many other good things, being found in ”bad company,” is blamed accordingly. An excess of any food at meals or between meals, is likely to prove injurious, and fruits present no exception to this rule. Fruit taken at seasonable times and in suitable quant.i.ties, alone or in combination with proper foods, gives us one of the most agreeable and healthful articles of diet. Fruit, fats, and meats do not affiliate, and they are liable to create a disturbance whenever taken together.

Partially decayed, stale, and over-ripe, as well as unripe fruit, should never be eaten. According to M. Pasteur, the French scientist, all fruits and vegetables, when undergoing even incipient decay, contain numerous germs, which, introduced into the system, are liable to produce disturbances or disease. Perfectly fresh, ripe fruit, with proper limitations as to quant.i.ty and occasion, may be taken into a normal stomach with impunity at any season.

It is especially important that all fruits to be eaten should not only be sound in quality, but should be made perfectly clean by was.h.i.+ng if necessary, since fruit grown near the ground is liable to be covered with dangerous bacteria (such as cause typhoid fever or diphtheria), which exist in the soil or in the material used in fertilizing it.

Most fruits, properly used, aid digestion either directly or indirectly.

The juicy ones act as dilutents, and their free use lessens the desire for alcohol and other stimulants. According to German a.n.a.lysts, the apple contains a larger percentage of phosphorus than any other fruit, or than any vegetable. In warm weather and in warm climates, when foods are not needed for a heat-producing purpose, the diet may well consist largely of fruits and succulent vegetables, eaten in combination with bread and grains. In case of liver and kidney affections, rheumatism, and gout, the use of fruit is considered very beneficial by many scientific authorities.

To serve its best purpose, raw fruit should be eaten without sugar or other condiments, or with the addition of as small a quant.i.ty as possible.

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