The olive grows wild at the Cape, and attempts have
been made from time to time to cultivate it, but as yet
with little success. The olive, as we know, was one
of the famous trees of Palestine, and the oil was used in
STONE FRUITS AND BERRIES 205
the sacrifices and for the making of cakes and pastry, as
also in Egypt.
Among stone fruits, t we ought perhaps to name the
tamarind, although it is hardly a fruit to be classed with
peaches, plums, and cherries, being exceedingly acid ;
nevertheless, the acidity is its most valuable property,
rendering it of special use in flavouring various dishes,
especially curries. This pleasant acidity causes it also to
be much valued when mixed with water as a cooling drink
in fevers and other diseases. The tamarind tree is a native
of the East and West Indies, and also of Arabia, and the
fruit is a long pod, containing from three to six hard seeds
enclosed in the acid pulp. Tamarinds are imported in the
form of preserves, both from the East and West Indies.
The latter are best for cooking purposes, and the East
Indian for medicinal, as the latter are prepared without
sugar.
The mango may also be called a stone fruit, of which,
however, we do not know the true flavour, as it is known
to us only in the form of chutney; but when eaten ripe
from the tree it is said to be delicious.
Many other delicate Indian fruits might also be mentioned
here, but as they seldom appear in our markets they may
be omitted. The loquat or Japanese medlar comes to us
sometimes in the natural state, but is much cultivated in
the south of France, and forms a considerable item in that
excellent preserve of various fruits made at Grasse, which
is so commonly introduced at luncheons on the Riviera.
The guava also is known to us chiefly in the form of that
delicious jelly which has for more than a century formed
one of the exports of India.
CHAPTER XVI
ON THE BORDERLAND *TWIXT FRUIT AND VEGETABLE
IN visiting national collections of pictures in this country
and on the Continent we are almost sure to come across
one of Murillo's charming Spanish boys, sitting, ragged and
dirty, munching a huge slice of melon — the very picture of
contented enjoyment. In hot weather the mouth fairly
waters at the luscious-looking morsel, deeply indented with
the teeth of the ragged urchin, and we wonder why this
delicious, cool fruit has so long been beyond the reach of
the little dirty boys of London, when for centuries their
representatives in sunny Spain and all over the south of
Europe, as well as in the Eastern Bible lands of Asia,
almost live upon it and its congeners — the water-melon,
the cucumber, and the pumpkin ; whilst, if perchance this
watery diet should disagree, ' a hair of the same dog ' may
perhaps be administered in the shape of a dose of colocynth,
or bitter cucumber.
The most remarkable point in the history of this family
of fruits is their power of absorbing and retaining moisture.
Growing abundantly in the hottest and most arid countries,
they are eagerly sought as a means of assuaging thirst as
well as hunger. Humboldt says of the water-melon, that
in the Peninsula of Araya, where rain does not fall some-
206
'TWIXT FRUIT AND VEGETABLE 207
Our viands
1893Page 102
Presented as published in 1893. 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
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The olive grows wild at the Cape, and attempts have
been made from time to time to cultivate it, but as yet
with little success. The olive, as we know, was one
of the famous trees of Palestine, and the oil was used in
STONE FRUITS AND BERRIES 205
the sacrifices and for the making of cakes and pastry, as
also in Egypt.
Among stone fruits, t we ought perhaps to name the
tamarind, although it is hardly a fruit to be classed with
peaches, plums, and cherries, being exceedingly acid ;
nevertheless, the acidity is its most valuable property,
rendering it of special use in flavouring various dishes,
especially curries. This pleasant acidity causes it also to
be much valued when mixed with water as a cooling drink
in fevers and other diseases. The tamarind tree is a native
of the East and West Indies, and also of Arabia, and the
fruit is a long pod, containing from three to six hard seeds
enclosed in the acid pulp. Tamarinds are imported in the
form of preserves, both from the East and West Indies.
The latter are best for cooking purposes, and the East
Indian for medicinal, as the latter are prepared without
sugar.
The mango may also be called a stone fruit, of which,
however, we do not know the true flavour, as it is known
to us only in the form of chutney; but when eaten ripe
from the tree it is said to be delicious.
Many other delicate Indian fruits might also be mentioned
here, but as they seldom appear in our markets they may
be omitted. The loquat or Japanese medlar comes to us
sometimes in the natural state, but is much cultivated in
the south of France, and forms a considerable item in that
excellent preserve of various fruits made at Grasse, which
is so commonly introduced at luncheons on the Riviera.
The guava also is known to us chiefly in the form of that
delicious jelly which has for more than a century formed
one of the exports of India.
CHAPTER XVI
ON THE BORDERLAND *TWIXT FRUIT AND VEGETABLE
IN visiting national collections of pictures in this country
and on the Continent we are almost sure to come across
one of Murillo's charming Spanish boys, sitting, ragged and
dirty, munching a huge slice of melon — the very picture of
contented enjoyment. In hot weather the mouth fairly
waters at the luscious-looking morsel, deeply indented with
the teeth of the ragged urchin, and we wonder why this
delicious, cool fruit has so long been beyond the reach of
the little dirty boys of London, when for centuries their
representatives in sunny Spain and all over the south of
Europe, as well as in the Eastern Bible lands of Asia,
almost live upon it and its congeners — the water-melon,
the cucumber, and the pumpkin ; whilst, if perchance this
watery diet should disagree, ' a hair of the same dog ' may
perhaps be administered in the shape of a dose of colocynth,
or bitter cucumber.
The most remarkable point in the history of this family
of fruits is their power of absorbing and retaining moisture.
Growing abundantly in the hottest and most arid countries,
they are eagerly sought as a means of assuaging thirst as
well as hunger. Humboldt says of the water-melon, that
in the Peninsula of Araya, where rain does not fall some-
206
'TWIXT FRUIT AND VEGETABLE 207