Foods and home making

to be harmful. People did not eat them. Tomatoes were merely admired for their brilliant coloring. Now we know that tomatoes are not only good to look at, but very wholesome. Tomato juice is a vegetable food sometimes given to young babies. What do tomatoes contain? They contain vitamins A, B, C, and G, but more of C than of the other three. Cab- Battle Creek Nutrition Laboratory Figure 94. Foods Rich in Vitamin A Lettuce, tomatoes, whole milk, cabbage, spinach, egg yolks, butter, carrots. bage and lettuce also contain the four vitamins, especially vita- min C. (See Figures 94 and 95.) Vitamin C is easily destroyed by cooking. That is why those foods rich in vitamin C should be served raw if they are tasty in the uncooked state. Tomatoes, however, are an exception to this statement. Cooking tomatoes destroys very little of vitamin C. Canned tomatoes contain almost as much vitamin C as fresh ones. The vitamins in cabbage are partially destroyed by cooking. This does not mean that cooked cabbage is a worthless food. Enough vitamins are left, especially if the cabbage is cooked Fresh Vegetables 273 quickly, to make it of value as a food. Coleslaw is an especially healthful dish. Because the bleached inner leaves of head lettuce are apt to be more tender than the outer green leaves, the bleached leaves are often preferred to the green ones. But the green leaves are richer in vitamin A than the colorless leaves. The same is true of the outer and inner leaves of cabbage. Battle Creek Nutrition Laboratory Figure 95. Foods Rich in Vitamin C Turnips, oranges, celery, spinach, cabbage, raspberries, lemons, pine- apple, grapefruit, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots. What are some general rules for vegetable buying ? A group of fresh crisp vegetables may make as beautiful a picture as a bouquet of flowers. When you go to market to buy vegetables or fruits, look at their gorgeous coloring. Carefully noting the color of a vegetable not only may help you to appreciate and love color, but may help you to make good selections from the standpoint of freshness and flavor. As a general rule, if is advisable to buy vegetables that are in 274 Luncheon or Supper season , i.e., vegetables grown out of doors. Foods grown in hot- houses are usually more expensive and inferior in flavor. It is thought they do not contain as many vitamins as the sun-ripened food. Whether you should buy large or small quantities of vegetables will depend upon the kind of vegetable and the amount of space for storage in your home. There are some vegetables, as spinach, that spoil readily. There are other vegetables, as green corn, which may keep for several days, but whose flavor is harmed by standing. Other vegetables, as white potatoes, keep for some time. If there is room to store potatoes and other winter vegetables, it is usually economical to buy them in quantity. Shall you buy vegetables by weight or by measure? They are sold both ways. As a general rule a vegetable can be more accurately weighed than measured. What should we keep in mind in buying different vegetables ? 1. Spinach. — It is easy to see whether spinach leaves are fresh or wilted, green or brown. Fresh green spinach, of course, is desirable. Not only the leaves but the stems are good food. Small leaves have more tender stems than large leaves.