OfflD ^^ &%x® ^^ nrrrm B /«ei value Fat Carbohydrate, A* Water APPLE EOBCE PORTKJM DRIED FIG eaei£ PORTION COMPOSITION OP FRUITS 4 FOOD STUDY and lemons were very expensive. Now conditions have changed. Transportation is so much more rapid that with the development of refrigeration we can have fruit shipped from a distance and so are enabled to have fresh fruit all the year round. Fruit is sometimes classified from a nutritive standpoint, as flavor fruit and food fruit. Some fruit contains so much water that there is comparatively little nourishment to be had from it. Watermelons and strawberries, for exam- ple, contain more than ninety per cent water. But nearly all fruit has real food value. Many of the fruits which we think of as flavor fruits contain considerable nutrition. A large-sized orange will furnish as much nourishment as an egg, or as a banana, or as two apples, mainly on account of the large amount of sugar present. The flavor of different fruits is due to sugars, acids, and "ethereal" bodies. These ethereal bodies, or volatile oils, as they are called, are present in such small quantities that they are sometimes impossible to detect chemically, but it is undoubtedly due to their presence that different fruits have distinctive flavors. The acids present are known as organic acids. In fruits these are such acids as malic, tartaric, and citric. Some of these are burned in the body, just as other food is, and form carbon dioxide and water. They do not have to be excreted as do the mineral acids, and so, in the body, we need hardly con- sider them as acids at all. The salts which are present in fruits are valuable. We count the fruits, then, as foods which furnish alkaline elements, and these help in keeping the blood in proper condition. Dried fruits are, of course, more nutritious, pound for pound, than fresh fruits. A pound of fresh fruit will give FRUIT 5 about six ounces when dried. A pound of dried fruit, then, will be nearly three times as nutritious as a pound of fresh fruit. We must take facts like these into account when we consider whether dried or fresh fruit is more expensive. We pay more for a pound of raisins than for a pound of grapes, but since the raisins contain so much less water we really are paying less for the amount of food material to be obtained from them. Fruits are particularly desirable in the diet because of their flavor. They may increase greatly the palatability of an otherwise somewhat tasteless meal. Jam on our bread appeals to all of us. This increased palatability probably means increased digestibility, so that, for this reason alone, we should feel justified in including fruit in the diet. However, the salts and acids present are so important that we need fruits for this reason also, even if their palatability does not tempt us. The salts and acids in some fruits have a laxative effect. Prunes and figs are examples of this class. Blackberries and peaches are not laxative. Most other fruits rank be- tween these two groups. The amount of fiber present in fruits is small compared with the amount in vegetables, but there is enough to make some varieties distinctly more easily digestible if cooked. Cooking softens the fruit. Fruit is also cooked to preserve it. Cooked, dried, and preserved fruits have all the advantages in the diet of fresh fruits.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

[illustration: Composition of Fruits diagram showing Fat, Carbohydrate, Water, and Fuel value for Apple and Dried Fig, Edible Portion] Fat Carbohydrate, A* Water APPLE [illustration: continued] DRIED FIG eaei£ PORTION COMPOSITION OP FRUITS and lemons were very expensive. Now conditions have changed. Transportation is so much more rapid that with the development of refrigeration we can have fruit shipped from a distance and so are enabled to have fresh fruit all the year round. Fruit is sometimes classified from a nutritive standpoint, as flavor fruit and food fruit. Some fruit contains so much water that there is comparatively little nourishment to be had from it. Watermelons and strawberries, for example, contain more than ninety per cent water. But nearly all fruit has real food value. Many of the fruits which we think of as flavor fruits contain considerable nutrition. A large-sized orange will furnish as much nourishment as an egg, or as a banana, or as two apples, mainly on account of the large amount of sugar present. The flavor of different fruits is due to sugars, acids, and "ethereal" bodies. These ethereal bodies, or volatile oils, as they are called, are present in such small quantities that they are sometimes impossible to detect chemically, but it is undoubtedly due to their presence that different fruits have distinctive flavors. The acids present are known as organic acids. In fruits these are such acids as malic, tartaric, and citric. Some of these are burned in the body, just as other food is, and form carbon dioxide and water. They do not have to be excreted as do the mineral acids, and so, in the body, we need hardly consider them as acids at all. The salts which are present in fruits are valuable. We count the fruits, then, as foods which furnish alkaline elements, and these help in keeping the blood in proper condition. Dried fruits are, of course, more nutritious, pound for pound, than fresh fruits. A pound of fresh fruit will give about six ounces when dried. A pound of dried fruit, then, will be nearly three times as nutritious as a pound of fresh fruit. We must take facts like these into account when we consider whether dried or fresh fruit is more expensive. We pay more for a pound of raisins than for a pound of grapes, but since the raisins contain so much less water we really are paying less for the amount of food material to be obtained from them. Fruits are particularly desirable in the diet because of their flavor. They may increase greatly the palatability of an otherwise somewhat tasteless meal. Jam on our bread appeals to all of us. This increased palatability probably means increased digestibility, so that, for this reason alone, we should feel justified in including fruit in the diet. However, the salts and acids present are so important that we need fruits for this reason also, even if their palatability does not tempt us. The salts and acids in some fruits have a laxative effect. Prunes and figs are examples of this class. Blackberries and peaches are not laxative. Most other fruits rank between these two groups. The amount of fiber present in fruits is small compared with the amount in vegetables, but there is enough to make some varieties distinctly more easily digestible if cooked. Cooking softens the fruit. Fruit is also cooked to preserve it. Cooked, dried, and preserved fruits have all the advantages in the diet of fresh fruits.

Food study