Our viands

The pistachio nut, now so much used, comes to us from Persia and from Western Africa, which is rich in nuts of various kinds, and these nuts, with the oil extracted from them, form a very important branch of commerce. The chief of these are palm nuts and ground nuts, the oil from the latter being often sold as olive oil. The nut of the poisonous palm, Cycas media> is eaten by NUTS AND APPLES 177 the Australian natives, after the kernel has been subjected to much pounding and soaking in water, a process which I have pointed out in Chapter III. as that adopted by many savages in the case of poisonous plants, such as the manioc. The porridge made from these roasted and pounded nuts, which is called Kadjera, forms the chief food of the Australian natives from October to December, when other fruits come in. The acorn, which was formerly eaten in Britain, had to be prepared in the same manner before it could be made palatable, but we are told that acorns were esteemed delicacies among the Arcadians and Spaniards, and Pliny says the latter eat them as dessert, roasted in wood ashes. Acorns, like beech-nuts and horse- chestnuts, are now consigned to pigs, goats, deer, sheep, and poultry. Next to nuts, we may perhaps place apples as the fruit of greatest value, at all events in temperate climates. In the extreme north the apple is unknown, and in the tropics it is supplanted by more luscious fruits. ' An apple a day keeps the doctor away,' says the proverb, and there can be no doubt that in temperate climes the apple, from its excellent hygienic and keeping qualities, ranks first in usefulness. It has a very extensive range, for it is found apparently wild in Persia and Syria, in Africa, and through- out the continent of Europe. In Great Britain the crab or wild apple is very frequently referred to by old writers, and roasted crabs were always the accompaniment to the Christmas wassail bowl; but when the art of grafting became known the crab was soon supplanted by a great variety of excellent apples brought, probably, in the first place from M 1 78 OUR VIANDS France, as their names testify, ai}d cultivated largely by the monks. It is greatly to be regretted that these famous old sorts, such as the nonpareil, the rennet, and the codlin, have been allowed to die out or to degenerate, for they are scarcely equalled in flavour by the innumerable varieties of modern times, and it is also matter of regret that English apples should have been supplanted of late years in the London market by foreign consignments, chiefly American, and yet those who have visited the late exhibitions and congresses of fruit-growers would hardly suppose that the cultivation of this favourite old English fruit was on the wane; the innumerable varieties exhibited at the Mansion House in 1890, and at the Horticultural Exhibition this year, and the crowds assembled to gaze upon and admire with longing eyes and watering mouths the juicy fruit displayed, seemed to show a great revival of interest in British apples and pears, but as I overheard a grower remark of some of the splendid fruit exhibited, 'This is all very well for exhibition, but it would not pay to grow, for a tree could not carry a bushel of such fruit';' added to which our uncertain climate always renders fruit of any kind a precarious crop, and a good apple season seldom comes oftener than once in three years