FoodNetArchive

Cassell's dictionary of cookery

1892

Page 1600

Presented as published in 1892. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
The carrot, from the quantity of saccharine matter which it contains, is verj' nutritive and slightly laxative ; but it also possesses a large proportion of fibrous matter, which in some stomachs prevents the digestion of the root, and it passes through the bowels with but little change. To obviate this effect, it ought to be veiy thoroughly boiled, and it should be eaten when young. The turnip is a veiy excellent vegetable, and, although it has the character of being flatulent, is less liable to disagree with the stomach than the carrot. It ought, how- ever, to be weU boiled, and the watery part separated by pressure. The parsnip is nutritive and digestive, although many persons dislike it on account of its sweet flavour. The Jerusalem artichoke is agreeable, but watery and flatulent. It ought, therefore, never to be eaten without ROO 771 ) BOS a proper accompaniment of salt and pepper. As to radishes, all the varieties have a pungent and acrid taste, in consequence of a peculiar stimulating matter which resides in the cortical part of the root. They may be said to contain little else than water, woody fibre, and acrid matter, and cannot, therefore, be very nutritive. They may act as a stimulant and prove useful, but they ought never to be eaten when old, as the quantity of inert matter in such a condition is apt to disagiee with the stomach. From the consideration of radishes we pass, by an easy transition, to that of onions, &c., for they appear to form the connecting link between alimentary roots and those principally used as condiments. The onion, however, although classed under this latter di\dsion, and though it must be considered as valuable on account of its stimulating matter, certainly contains a con- siderable proportion of nourishment. This ap- pears evident in their boiled state, by which process their acrimony is exhaled and a sweet mucilage separated. Sir John Sinclair says that it is a well-knowTi fact that a Highlander, with a few raw onions in his pocket and a crust of bread or some oat-cake, can travel to an almost incredible extent for two or three days together without any other sort of food. The French are fully aware of the quantity of nourishment this plant affords, hence the soup a Voignon is considered by them as the best of aU restoratives. As a stimulant to the stomach and bowels, the onion in a raw state is certainly of value, and this is much enhanced by its diuretic properties. The leek, garlic, and shaUot are of the same species, and possess qualities of the same nature. Horseradish is a warm and pungent root, and is highly valuable to the dyspeptic as a stimulant; it is, perhaps, the best of all condiments for the prevention of flatulence.— i^r. Paris.