The smaller form of banana is generally eaten raw,
or the pulp is pressed into cakes. Plantains are
boiled, roasted or baked in their skins like potatoes;
or sliced and fried in butter, and powdered with
sugar; or the imripe fruit may begroimd into meal.
This meal may be used to make a beverage Uke coffee,
or fermented into wine. When to these varied uses
of the fruit there are added those of the other parts
of the tree, it is not easy to name any vegetable
which contributes more largely to human needs and
comforts.
Pineapple. This fruit has been greatly improved
by cultivation. The ordinary pineapple is coarse and
fibrous, with little sweetness or flavor, whereas hot-
house pineapples are among the most delicate and
luscious of fruits.
Breadfruit. The tree is a native of the South Sea
Islands, and belongs to the same family as the fig.
The fruit is large and has an outer rind, an inner
core and a white pulp, — the last being the edible
portion. It is cut to pieces and roasted. Though
tart, it resembles new bread, the flavor being com-
FRUITS 115
pared to a crumb of bread with a dash of Jerusalem
artichoke.
NUTS
Chestnut. In Italy, the chestnut forms a valu-
able adjunct to the food supply. It is eaten
fresh and there are also three ways of cooking it:
" ballotto " (boiled), " arrostito " (roasted), and
" teghato." In this last the nuts are shelled, boiled
with caraway seeds for flavoring, so that the tree-
chestnut flavor is wanting, and then mixed with
maize-meal to make polenta. Another delicacy of
Italy is " necci," flat baked cakes, made of chestnut-
flour and water, without salt, owing no doubt to the
tax on that article.
Walnut. The ripe walnut in this country is used
in dessert and the unripe fruit is pickled or made into
walnut catsup. In France walnuts are much used,
just before they are ripe, as a salad with shallot vine-
gar, salt and pepper. The ripe fruit is one of the best
of nuts and on bruising, it yields an oil which is also
used as a food.
Hazel Nut. The leading British nut is the hazel,
of which cob and filberts are cultivated varieties.
A great many nuts are exported annually from Spain
and other countries, and are used chiefly for the sake
of their oil. Barcelona nuts are kiln-dried before
exported and so keep indefinitely. When this is not
done, hazel nuts lose their agreeable flavor on keeping
and tend to become rancid, unless kept in air-tight
vessels.
Cocoanut. Cocoanuts are used both for the food
and drink obtained from them. The nuts, both ripe
116 DOMESTIC SCIENCE
and unripe, are eaten by natives of the tropics. Each
shell has at one end three holes, only one of which
can be pierced so as to get at the milk inside. The
resemblance of this end to a monkey is said to have
given the nut its name, " coco," meaning monkey.
The white or kernel generally consists of nitrog-
enous material but is indigestible in the highest de-
gree. It contains fully 70% cocoanut oil or cocoa
butter, used not only for Ughting and lubricating
purposes but also as a food. This contains from 60
to 70% of fat, and from 23 to 25% organic matter.
It is white in color, has an agreeable taste, and is
more digestible than dairy butter, owing to its free-
dom from acid. It is suitable for cooking and poor
people prefer it for all purposes to margarine, while it
is about half the price of ordinary butter. The process
of making cocoanut butter was discovered by Doctor
Schlinck and it is now manufactured from cocoanut
marrow by a Mannheim firm.
Page 45
Presented as published in 1911. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The smaller form of banana is generally eaten raw, or the pulp is pressed into cakes. Plantains are boiled, roasted or baked in their skins like potatoes; or sliced and fried in butter, and powdered with sugar; or the unripe fruit may be ground into meal. This meal may be used to make a beverage like coffee, or fermented into wine. When to these varied uses of the fruit there are added those of the other parts of the tree, it is not easy to name any vegetable which contributes more largely to human needs and comforts.
Pineapple. This fruit has been greatly improved by cultivation. The ordinary pineapple is coarse and fibrous, with little sweetness or flavor, whereas hothouse pineapples are among the most delicate and luscious of fruits.
Breadfruit. The tree is a native of the South Sea Islands, and belongs to the same family as the fig. The fruit is large and has an outer rind, an inner core and a white pulp, — the last being the edible portion. It is cut to pieces and roasted. Though tart, it resembles new bread, the flavor being com-
pared to a crumb of bread with a dash of Jerusalem artichoke.
NUTS
Chestnut. In Italy, the chestnut forms a valuable adjunct to the food supply. It is eaten fresh and there are also three ways of cooking it: " ballotto " (boiled), " arrostito " (roasted), and " teghato." In this last the nuts are shelled, boiled with caraway seeds for flavoring, so that the treechestnut flavor is wanting, and then mixed with maize-meal to make polenta. Another delicacy of Italy is " necci," flat baked cakes, made of chestnutflour and water, without salt, owing no doubt to the tax on that article.
Walnut. The ripe walnut in this country is used in dessert and the unripe fruit is pickled or made into walnut catsup. In France walnuts are much used, just before they are ripe, as a salad with shallot vinegar, salt and pepper. The ripe fruit is one of the best of nuts and on bruising, it yields an oil which is also used as a food.
Hazel Nut. The leading British nut is the hazel, of which cob and filberts are cultivated varieties. A great many nuts are exported annually from Spain and other countries, and are used chiefly for the sake of their oil. Barcelona nuts are kiln-dried before exported and so keep indefinitely. When this is not done, hazel nuts lose their agreeable flavor on keeping and tend to become rancid, unless kept in air-tight vessels.
Cocoanut. Cocoanuts are used both for the food and drink obtained from them. The nuts, both ripe
and unripe, are eaten by natives of the tropics. Each shell has at one end three holes, only one of which can be pierced so as to get at the milk inside. The resemblance of this end to a monkey is said to have given the nut its name, " coco," meaning monkey. The white or kernel generally consists of nitrogenous material but is indigestible in the highest degree. It contains fully 70% cocoanut oil or cocoa butter, used not only for Ughting and lubricating purposes but also as a food. This contains from 60 to 70% of fat, and from 23 to 25% organic matter. It is white in color, has an agreeable taste, and is more digestible than dairy butter, owing to its freedom from acid. It is suitable for cooking and poor people prefer it for all purposes to margarine, while it is about half the price of ordinary butter. The process of making cocoanut butter was discovered by Doctor Schlinck and it is now manufactured from cocoanut marrow by a Mannheim firm.