chief ornament in
all nosegays, and its pods or legumes were only occasionally
used as a vegetable until the eighteenth century, when
they were brought into notice by Miller, of Chelsea. They
are not, however, as nutritious as the broad bean, which
contains 57 per cent, of nutritive matter.*
* The traveller Navarette speaks of a paste of kidney beans eaten
by every one in China from the emperor to the meanest peasant. The
juice is extracted from the beans, which are pressed into cakes like
large cheeses as white as snow. This paste is eaten either raw or fried
with fish, herbs, and other things, or smoked and mixed with carraway
seeds, which is said to be best of all. Navarette marvels at the vast
quantity of this food, known as Teu Fu, and says, ' that Chinese who
has Teu Fu, herbs, and rice, needs no other sustenance. It is a great
help in case of want, and is good for carriage.'
230 OUR VIANDS
The small black beans called fricollis^ which are in such
great demand all over Mexico, are doubtless a kind of
kidney bean. Immense fields of this bean are cultivated,
and they are eaten at every meal, being relished alike by
native and foreigner. There is another sort of bean, called
the snail flower (Phaseolus Caracalla), from a Celtic word
meaning a hood, which was also brought by the Portuguese
from South America. Nor must we omit to mention the
locust bean, supposed to have been the food of John the
Baptist in the wilderness, although, if procurable, the
genuine locusts would be quite as likely to have formed the
diet of the recluse as the bean, seeing they are eaten with
relish by the natives of all the countries which they
devastate, as well as by all domestic animals. The locust
bean, called St. John's bread, is the fruit of the handsome
carob or carouba tree, which grows abundantly in Palestine
and other Eastern countries, where the pods are turned to
many uses, the husks being used for feeding cattle, and are
supposed to be those referred to in the parable of the
Prodigal Son. A juice expressed from the pods after the
beans are taken out, is used, with other ingredients, for
making sherbet ; the pulp is also eaten, and the leaves and
bark of the tree are used for tanning skins. Of late years
the dried pods have been imported into this country and
used for feeding cattle.
Lentils, which are also leguminous plants, have long
formed an article of diet in Egypt, and in many parts of
Europe, but have only recently been introduced into
England as a vegetable; they are, however, now much
esteemed, especially in soups. Lentils were largely used
in Greece, and were reputed to soften the temper and
PULSE AND CABBAGE 231
Our viands
1893Page 115
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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chief ornament in
all nosegays, and its pods or legumes were only occasionally
used as a vegetable until the eighteenth century, when
they were brought into notice by Miller, of Chelsea. They
are not, however, as nutritious as the broad bean, which
contains 57 per cent, of nutritive matter.*
* The traveller Navarette speaks of a paste of kidney beans eaten
by every one in China from the emperor to the meanest peasant. The
juice is extracted from the beans, which are pressed into cakes like
large cheeses as white as snow. This paste is eaten either raw or fried
with fish, herbs, and other things, or smoked and mixed with carraway
seeds, which is said to be best of all. Navarette marvels at the vast
quantity of this food, known as Teu Fu, and says, ' that Chinese who
has Teu Fu, herbs, and rice, needs no other sustenance. It is a great
help in case of want, and is good for carriage.'
230 OUR VIANDS
The small black beans called fricollis^ which are in such
great demand all over Mexico, are doubtless a kind of
kidney bean. Immense fields of this bean are cultivated,
and they are eaten at every meal, being relished alike by
native and foreigner. There is another sort of bean, called
the snail flower (Phaseolus Caracalla), from a Celtic word
meaning a hood, which was also brought by the Portuguese
from South America. Nor must we omit to mention the
locust bean, supposed to have been the food of John the
Baptist in the wilderness, although, if procurable, the
genuine locusts would be quite as likely to have formed the
diet of the recluse as the bean, seeing they are eaten with
relish by the natives of all the countries which they
devastate, as well as by all domestic animals. The locust
bean, called St. John's bread, is the fruit of the handsome
carob or carouba tree, which grows abundantly in Palestine
and other Eastern countries, where the pods are turned to
many uses, the husks being used for feeding cattle, and are
supposed to be those referred to in the parable of the
Prodigal Son. A juice expressed from the pods after the
beans are taken out, is used, with other ingredients, for
making sherbet ; the pulp is also eaten, and the leaves and
bark of the tree are used for tanning skins. Of late years
the dried pods have been imported into this country and
used for feeding cattle.
Lentils, which are also leguminous plants, have long
formed an article of diet in Egypt, and in many parts of
Europe, but have only recently been introduced into
England as a vegetable; they are, however, now much
esteemed, especially in soups. Lentils were largely used
in Greece, and were reputed to soften the temper and
PULSE AND CABBAGE 231