Foods and home making

have read The Vicar of Wakefield you probably remember how Moses, the son of the vicar, was sent to “ a neighboring fair ” to sell a colt and buy a horse. When the lad returned, he came without a horse but he had a box at his back. In the box was “ a gross of green spectacles with silver rims and shagreen cases.” It seemed bad enough to his mother that he had traded the colt for a gross of silver-rimmed spectacles which the family did not need, but when she learned that the rims were not silver but “ only copper varnished over,” she was greatly disappointed. Moses had sold the colt for a fair price. Later he was per- suaded that he would get a great bargain if he bought the case of spectacles. He spent all his money for a case of spectacles of inferior quality. 7 8 Breakfast Moses made at least two mistakes in his buying : 1. He bought goods of inferior quality. 2. He bought goods he did not need, because he thought they were cheap. If Moses had known more about the difference between real silver and imitations of silver, he would probably not have been induced to buy the spectacles. In order to buy wisely one needs to be able to judge the quality of the goods. If you are sent to the grocery store or to the market to buy food for your household, you have a great responsibility placed upon you. You must exchange for food money which has per- haps been earned by hard work. It sometimes happens that the same price is charged for inferior food as for good food. If you are going to meet the responsibility which has been placed upon you, you need to know how to judge good food. How can we judge the quality of fruits ? Citrus Fruits. — Oranges , grapefruit , and lemons are known as citrus fruits. A good citrus fruit is juicy and fine-flavored. We cannot always be sure that a citrus fruit has these qualities by its appearance. However, the outside of a citrus fruit and its weight very often tell us something about its interior. 1. Ripe citrus fruit may or may not be of deep yellow or orange color. Hence deepness of color cannot be depended upon to indicate ripeness. You may find at market oranges marked “color added.’’ This means that coal tar dye has been applied to the fruit. This treat- ment is harmless and is not prohibited by the government provided the coloring does not conceal inferior or underripe fruit and the fruit is properly stamped. An orange or grapefruit whose skin is spotted with brown is known as russet fruit. Russeting does not affect flavor. 2. Good citrus fruit is usually heavy. When citrus fruits are light, they are usually pithy and contain little juice. 3. A fine-grained, thin-skinned citrus fruit is usually juicy. The oranges most often found in our markets are the Cali- fornia navel oranges and the Florida oranges. The latter usually Selecting and Serving Fruits 9 have seeds. The navel oranges have no seeds and are thickened at the blossom end. The Valencia is an orange with a few seeds; it appears in our markets from May to November. These oranges when ripe are often green around the stem end. Oranges vary greatly in size. Dealers grade oranges for size according to the number which may be held in a box. The largest oranges are always the most expensive. They are attractive for decorative pur- poses, but are not as good value as the medium or small oranges.