Part 15 (1/2)
It is a disputed question whether fruits should begin or end the meal; but it is generally conceded by those who have given the matter attention, that fruit eaten at the beginning of a meal is itself the more readily digested, and aids in the digestion of other foods, since fruits, like soups, have the property of stimulating the flow of the digestive juices. Something, however, must depend upon the character of the fruit; oranges, melons, and like juicy fruits, are especially useful as appetizers to begin the meal, while bananas and similar fruits agree better if taken with other food, so as to secure thorough mixture with saliva. This is true of all fruits, except such pulpy fruits as strawberries, peaches, melons, grapes, and oranges. It is often erroneously a.s.serted that fruit as dessert is injurious to digestion.
For those people, however, who regulate their bill of fare in accordance with the principles of hygiene, a simple course of fruit is not only wholesome, but is all that is needed after a dinner; and much time, labor, and health will be saved when housekeepers are content to serve desserts which nature supplies all ready for use, instead of those harmful combinations in the preparing of which they spend hours of tiresome toil.
DESCRIPTION.--For convenience, fruits may be grouped together; as, _pomaceous_ fruits, including the apple, quince, pear, etc.; the _drupaceous_ fruits, those provided with a hard stone surrounded by a fleshy pulp, as the peach, apricot, plum, cherry, olive, and date; the orange or citron group, including the orange, lemon, lime, citron, grape fruit, shaddock, and pomegranate; the _baccate_ or berry kind, comprising the grape, gooseberry, currant, cranberry, whortleberry, blueberry, and others; the _arterio_ group, to which belong raspberries, strawberries, dewberries, and blackberries; the fig group; the gourd group, including--melons and cantaloupes; and foreign fruits.
It is impossible, in the brief scope of this work, to enumerate the infinite varieties of fruit; but we will briefly speak of some of the most common found in the gardens and markets of this lat.i.tude.
APPLES.--The origin and first home of the apple, is unknown. If tradition is to be believed, it was the inauspicious fruit to which may be traced all the miseries of mankind. In pictures of the temptation in the garden of Eden, our mother Eve is generally represented as holding an apple in her hand.
We find the apple mentioned in the mythologies of the Greeks, Druids, and Scandinavians. The Thebans offered apples instead of sheep as a sacrifice to Hercules, a custom derived from the following circ.u.mstance:--
”At one time, when a sacrifice was necessary, the river Asopus had so inundated the country that it was impossible to take a sheep across it for the purpose, when some youths, recollecting that the Greek word _melon_ signified both sheep and an apple, stuck wooden pegs into the fruit to represent legs, and brought this vegetable quadruped as a subst.i.tute for the usual offering. After this date, the apple was considered as especially devoted to Hercules.”
In ancient times, Greece produced most excellent apples. They were the favorite dessert of Phillip of Macedon and Alexander the Great, the latter causing them to be served at all meals. Doubtless they came to be used to excess; for it is recorded of the Athenian lawgiver, Solon, that he made a decree prohibiting a bridegroom from partaking of more than one at his marriage banquet, a law which was zealously kept by the Greeks, and finally adopted by the Persians. In Homer's time the apple was regarded as one of the precious fruits. It was extensively cultivated by the Romans, who gave to new varieties the names of many eminent citizens, and after the conquest of Gaul, introduced its culture into Southwestern Europe, whence it has come to be widely diffused throughout all parts of the temperate zone.
Apples were introduced into the United States by the early settlers, and the first trees were planted on an island in Boston Harbor, which still retains the name of Apple Island. The wild crab tree is the parent of most of the cultivated varieties.
THE PEAR.--The origin of the pear, like that of the apple, is shrouded in obscurity, though Egypt, Greece, and Palestine dispute for the honor of having given birth to the tree which bears this prince of fruits. Theophrastus, a Greek philosopher of the fourth century, speaks of the pear in terms of highest praise; and Galen, the father of medical science, mentions the pear in his writings as possessing ”qualities which benefit the stomach.” The pear tree is one of the most hardy of all fruit trees, and has been known to live several hundred years.
THE QUINCE.--This fruit appears to have been a native of Crete, from whence it was introduced into ancient Greece; and was largely cultivated by both Greeks and Romans. In Persia, the fruit is edible in its raw state; but in this country it never ripens sufficiently to be palatable without being cooked. The fruit is highly fragrant and exceedingly acid, and for these reasons it is largely employed to flavor other fruits.
THE PEACH.--This fruit, as its botanical name, _prinus Persica_, indicates, is a native of Persia, and was brought from that country to Greece, from whence it pa.s.sed into Italy. It is frequently mentioned by ancient writers, and was regarded with much esteem by the people of Asia. The Romans, however, had the singular notion that peaches gathered in Persia contained a deadly poison, but if once transplanted to another soil, this injurious effect was lost. In composition, the peach is notable for the small quant.i.ty of saccharine matter it contains in comparison with other fruits.
THE PLUM.--The plum is one of the earliest of known fruits. Thebes, Memphis, and Damascus were noted for the great number of their plum trees in the early centuries. Plum trees grow wild in Asia, America, and the South of Europe, and from these a large variety of domestic plum fruits have been cultivated.
Plums are more liable than most other fruits to produce disorders of digestion, and when eaten raw should be carefully selected, that they be neither unripe nor unripe. Cooking renders them less objectionable.
THE PRUNE.--The plum when dried is often called by its French cognomen, _prune_. The larger and sweeter varieties are generally selected for drying, and when good and properly cooked, are the most wholesome of prepared fruits.
THE APRICOT.--This fruit seems to be intermediate between the peach and the plum, resembling the former externally, while the stone is like that of the plum. The apricot originated in Armenia, and the tree which bears the fruit was termed by the Romans ”the tree of Armenia.” It was introduced into England in the time of Henry VIII. The apricot is cultivated to some extent in the United States, but it requires too much care to permit of its being largely grown, except in certain sections.
THE CHERRY.--The common garden cherry is supposed to have been derived from the two species of wild fruit, and historians tell us that we are indebted to the agricultural experiments of Mithridates, the great king of ancient Pontus, for this much esteemed fruit. It is a native of Asia Minor, and its birthplace.
THE OLIVE.--From time immemorial the olive has been a.s.sociated with history. The Scriptures make frequent reference to it, and its cultivation was considered of first importance among the Jews, who used its oil for culinary and a great variety of other purposes. Ancient mythology venerated the olive tree above all others, and invested it with many charming bits of fiction. Grecian poets sang its praises, and early Roman writers speak of it with high esteem. In appearance and size the fruit is much like the plum; when ripe, it is very dark green, almost black, and possesses a strong, and, to many people, disagreeable flavor. The pulp abounds in a bland oil, for the production of which it is extensively cultivated in Syria, Egypt, Italy, Spain, and Southern France. The fruit itself is also pickled and preserved in various ways, but, like all other similar commodities when thus prepared, it is by no means a wholesome article of food.
THE DATE.--The date is the fruit of the palm tree so often mentioned in the Sacred Writings, and is indigenous to Africa and portions of Asia. The fruit grows in bunches which often weigh from twenty to twenty-five pounds, and a single tree will bear from one to three thousand pounds in a season. The date is very sweet and nutritious. It forms a stable article of diet for the inhabitants of some parts of Egypt, Arabia, and Persia, and frequently forms the chief food of their horses, dogs, and camels. The Arabs reduce dried dates to a meal, and make therefrom a bread, which often const.i.tutes their sole food on long journeys through the Great Desert. The inhabitants of the countries where the date tree flourishes, put its various productions to innumerable uses. From its leaves they make baskets, bags, mats, combs, and brushes; from its stalks, fences for their gardens; from its fibers, thread, rope, and rigging; from its sap, a spirituous liquor; from its fruit, food for man and beast; while the body of the tree furnishes them with fuel. The prepared fruit is largely imported to this country. That which is large, smooth, and of a soft reddish yellow tinge, with a whitish membrane between the flesh and stone, is considered the best.
THE ORANGE.--According to some authors, the far-famed ”golden fruit of the Hesperides,” which Hercules stole, was the orange; but it seems highly improbable that it was known to writers of antiquity. It is supposed to be indigenous to Central and Eastern Asia. Whatever its nativity, it has now spread over all the warmer regions of the earth.
The orange tree is very hardy in its own habitat, and is one of the most prolific of all fruit-bearing trees, a single tree having been known to produce twenty thousand good oranges in a season. Orange trees attain great age. There are those in Italy and Spain which are known to have flourished for six hundred years. Numerous varieties of the orange are grown, and are imported to our markets from every part of the globe.
Florida oranges are among the best, and when obtained in their perfection, are the most luscious of all fruits.
THE LEMON.--This fruit is supposed to be a native of the North of India, although it is grown in nearly all sub-tropical climates. In general, the fruit is very acid, but in a variety known as the sweet lemon, or bergamot (said to be a hybrid of the orange and lemon), the juice is sweet. The sour lemon is highly valued for its antis...o...b..tic properties, and is largely employed as a flavoring ingredient in culinary preparations, and in making a popular refres.h.i.+ng beverage.
THE CITRON.--The citron is a fruit very similar to the lemon, though larger in size and less succulent. It is supposed to be identical with the Hebrew _tappuach_, and to be the fruit which is mentioned in the English version of the Old Testament as ”apple.” The citron is not suitable for eating in its raw state, though its juice is used in connection with water and sugar to form an excellent acid drink. Its rind, which is very thick, with a warty and furrowed exterior, is prepared in sugar and largely used for flavoring purposes.
THE LIME.--The fruit of the lime is similar to the lemon, though much smaller in size. It is a native of Eastern Asia, but has long been cultivated in the South of Europe and other sub-tropical countries. The fruit is seldom used except for making acidulous drinks, for which it is often given the preference over the lemon.
THE GRAPE FRUIT.--This fruit, a variety of shaddock, belongs to the great _citrus_ family, of which there are one hundred and sixty-nine known varieties. The shaddock proper, however, is a much larger fruit, frequently weighing from ten to fourteen pounds. Although a certain quant.i.ty of grape fruit is brought from the West Indies, our princ.i.p.al supply is derived from Florida. It is from two to four times the size of an ordinary orange, and grows in cl.u.s.ters. It is rapidly gaining in favor with fruit lovers. Its juice has a moderately acid taste and makes a pleasing beverage. The pulp, carefully separated, is also much esteemed.
THE POMEGRANATE.--This fruit has been cultivated in Asia from earliest antiquity, and is still quite generally grown in most tropical climes. In the Scriptures it is mentioned with the vine, fig, and olive, among the pleasant fruits of the promised land. It is about the size of a large peach, of a fine golden color, with a rosy tinge on one side.
The rind is thick and leathery. The central portion is composed of little globules of pulp and seeds inclosed in a thin membrane, each seed being about the size of a red currant. It is sub-acid, and slightly bitter in taste. The rind is strongly astringent, and often used as a medicine.