Foods that will win the war

Sweet potatoes are an exception. Picking over, aggravates the trouble. See that these vegetables are carefully handled at all times; if rot develops, remove only those that can be reached without danger of bruising the sound roots. Sweet potatoes may also be stored like fruit by spreading over a large surface and separating the tubers so that they do not touch each other. Berries should be picked over as soon as received and spread on a platter or a large surface to prevent damage and to allow room for circulation of air. Lettuce and greens wilt. Wash carefully as soon as received and use the coarse leaves for soup. Shake the water from the crisp portions and store in a paper bag in a cold refrigerator. Lemons when cut often grow moldy before they are used. When lemons are spoiling, squeeze out the juice, make a syrup of one cup of sugar and one cup of water, boil ten minutes and add lemon juice in any amount up to one cup. Bring to boiling point and bottle for future use. This bottled juice may be used for puddings, beverages, ete. If only a small amount of juice is needed, prick one end of a lemon with a fork. Squeeze out the amount needed and store the lemon in the ice-box. When we come to waste caused by careless preparation we may be reminded of the miracle of the loaves and fishes—how all the guests were fed and then twelve baskets were gathered up. Often after preparation that which is gathered up to be thrown away is as large in quantity and as high in food value as the portions used. Vegetables are wasted in preparation by too thick paring, the discarding of coarse leaves such as are found on lettuce, cabbage and cauliflower, discarding wilted parts which can be saved by soaking, throwing away tips and roots of celery and the roots and ends of spinach and dandelions. All these waste products can be cooked until tender, rubbed through a sieve and used with stock for vegetable soup, or with skimmed milk for cream soup. Such products are being conserved by the enemy, even to the onion skin, which is ground into bread-making material. Throwing away the water in which vegetables have been cooked wastes their characteristic and valuable element—the mineral salts. Cooking them so much that they become watery ; under-cooking so that they are hard and indigestible; cooking more than is required for a meal; failing to use left-over portions promptly as an entree or for cream soups or scalloped dishes—all these things mean an appalling waste of valuable food material. Good food material is also lost when the water in which rice or macaroni or other starchy food has been boiled is poured’ down the kitchen sink. Such water should be used for soup making. Fruits are wasted by throwing away the cores and skins, which can be used for making sauces, jams and jellies, the latter being sweetened with corn syrup instead of sugar. Rhubarb is wasted bee removing the pink skin from young rhubarb, which should be retained to add flavor and color- ee to the dish. Raw food in quantity is frequently left in the mixing bowl, while by the use of a good flexible knife or spatula every particle can be saved. A large palette knife is as good in the kitchen as in the studio. The next step in food preparation is cooking, and tons of valuable material are wasted through ignorance of the principles of cooking. Bad cooking, which means under-cooking, over-cooking or flavorless cooking, renders food inedible, and inedible food contributes to world shortage.