CHAPTER VI
FRUIT AND ITS PRESERVATION
The United States is fortunate in the native fruit supply, including as it does so many degrees of latitude and longitude with the differences in altitude, climate, and soil needed by different varieties. Now that we count Porto Rico among our possessions, a list of our fruits would include most of the varieties known in the temperate and semi-tropical zones. The United States Department of Agriculture experiments with new varieties from foreign lands that may make themselves at home in our soil, and work like that of Luther Burbank produces new species. Scientific methods of fruit growing are becoming more common, and the quality of fruit will doubtless improve in spite of fungous diseases and injurious insects. Our wild fruits are not yet entirely rooted out. The Maine blueberry, for example, is found on hundreds of acres and needs no cultivation beyond burning over every third year.
Fruit is necessary in our diet, and is not an extravagance unless we buy fancy varieties brought from a distance, or native fruits out of season.
=Composition and nutritive value.=——The chief foodstuffs in fruits are carbohydrates and mineral matter. Fresh fruit contains from 75 to 95 per cent of water, and its presence is apparent in such juicy fruits as the melon and the orange. Figure 25 shows that seemingly dry fruits like the banana and the apple also contain much water. Even fruits which have been artificially dried, like prunes and raisins, contain some water. (Fig. 26.) Although the carbohydrates of fruits are largely in the form of sugars easily digested and valuable as fuel, this kind of food is especially valuable for its rich supply of ash, including the compounds of calcium, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, and iron. The iron is of great importance, being in a form much more useful to the normal processes of the body than that prescribed medicinally. The bulk given by cellulose, and the laxative property of fruit acids also are safeguards against constipation, especially in a meat diet. Fruit is the best possible dessert after a hearty meat dinner.
[Illustration: FIG. 25.——Composition of fruit.]
[Illustration: FIG. 26.——Composition of fruit.]
[Illustration: FIG. 27.——100-Calorie portions of fresh and dried fruit. _A. Fowler, Photographer._]
KIND WEIGHT OF PORTION OUNCES
Apple 7.5 Banana 5.5 Grapes 4.9 Orange 9.5 Peaches 10.5 Pears 6.3 Apricots 1.3 Dates 1.1 Prunes 1.4 Raisins 1.1
The digestibility of fruit is increased for some people by cooking. This is probably due to the softening of the fiber, to the destruction of any bacteria present, and in the case of the banana, to the cooking of the starch. Fruit juice can be taken by little children and invalids who might find the fiber troublesome. Some people cannot eat berries on account of irritation caused by the seeds. In this case, juice may be squeezed from cooked berries and used for beverages and jelly.
=How to buy.=——Since we should eat fruit daily, and not merely as a “treat,” it is important to practice economy in buying it. Fresh fruits in season, and dried fruits are the cheapest. Canned fruit is economical when it is a product of one’s own garden, or put up when some fruit has a low market price. Prices are so variable, even with one variety, that no definite sum can be given as a fixed price. Apples vary from fifty cents a bushel near the orchard and in season, to ten cents apiece for a fancy table variety in the winter. When you buy fresh fruit, inquire the prices of the many kinds offered, note which is cheapest, and then observe whether the cheaper kind is such because it is abundant, or because it is of inferior quality. If you chance to want apples for cooking, and the only cheap apples are spotted and bruised, then buy dried apples, or even canned. It is best to decide upon the fruit after you have studied market conditions rather than before.
GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES
Fresh Fruits
=Principles of preparation.=
Thorough cleansing in clear water.
Cleanliness, in avoiding use of the fingers.
Making convenient for eating, sometimes by paring or cutting or expressing the juices.
=Adjuncts.=——Sugar.
The juice of an acid fruit with an insipid fruit.
=Tools.=——A sharp steel knife for paring and peeling.
A silver-plated knife for cutting.
A glass lemon squeezer.
=Methods.=
_Berries._——Pick over.
Wash in colander with a gentle stream of water, and shake carefully to avoid bruising and breaking.
Chill in the refrigerator.
Sprinkle with sugar when served.
_Oranges._——Scrub the peel with a brush.
(1) Cut in two crosswise and serve.
(2) Peel with a sharp knife and remove the pith.
Cut crosswise, remove seeds, and break up the slices. Sprinkle with sugar.
Chill in the refrigerator.
_Grapefruit._——The same method as with the orange, but in method (2) the pulp only should be served.
_Bananas._——Wash thoroughly.
(1) Cut in two lengthwise, and serve, _or_
Pour a teaspoonful of lemon juice on each half, and sprinkle with sugar.
Chill in the refrigerator.
(2) Pull off the skin, lengthwise.
Cut in slices crosswise.
Chill, and serve with sugar and cream, _or_
Pour on lemon or orange juice, add sugar, and chill.
_Peaches._——Wash gently.
Hold the peach on a fork at one end.
Peel with a plated knife, and slice.
Chill in the refrigerator for a short time only before serving, as peaches discolor quickly.
Sprinkle with sugar when served.
_Pears and apples._——When very mellow, these are delicious sliced and served with sugar and cream.
_Fruit juice._——Cut the fruit in two, and press on the glass squeezer over a cup.
Cooked Fruits
=Principles of cooking.=
The fiber, and skin when retained, are softened.
Flavors are developed at a low temperature long continued. A high temperature at the end of process, browns, and adds flavor.
Flavors retained by prevention of evaporation through covering tightly.
Bacteria and molds are destroyed.
=Adjuncts.=——Sugar. Sometimes a bit of butter.
Acid fruit juices, _or_
An acid jelly.
Seeded raisins, with acid fruit, as sour apples.
Nutmeg or cinnamon with some fruits.
=Cooking processes.=——Stewing and baking.
=Utensils.=——Knife and corer.
Stew pan, enamel ware, close cover.
Round or square baking pans, enamel ware, covered.
Earthenware pot, covered.
=Methods.=——If you can cook one fruit, you can cook all. Two common fruits are selected for your experiments, the apple and the prune; both are delicious, and both contain iron, the prune more than the apple.
_The apple._——A tart variety is best for cooking. The Greening and the Baldwin are excellent.
Apples are cooked whole, or as a sauce.
_Whole_, cooked with or without the skin, either stewed or baked.
For cooking whole, select those of uniform size.
For cooking whole, with the skin, select those with fair skins.
For cooking whole without skin, select firm texture, not mellow.
_An apple sauce_ may consist of slices, or may be mashed or strained, and may be either stewed or baked. Less perfect apples may be used than for baking.
_First step for all._——Wash, and examine carefully for blemishes, bruises, and insects in the interior.
=1. Whole apple baked, with skin.=
(1) Remove core.
(2) Place in pan, with enough water to barely cover the bottom of the pan.
(3) Pour sugar into the holes.
(4) A bit of butter may be put on the top of the sugar.
(5) Nutmeg or cinnamon may be mixed with the sugar if the apples are flat in taste.
(6) Cover the pan, and bake in a moderate oven, until the apples are tender. The length of time depends upon the quality of the apple. (See class experiment.)
=Half apples.=——This is a modification of (1).
Cut the apples in two crosswise, and proceed as with the whole apple.
=2. Whole apples baked, without skin.=——A good method when skins are tough.
(1) Remove core and pare.
(2) Place in _earthen_ baking dish. The remainder of the process is the same.
(3) Serve in the dish in which they are baked.
(4) Currant jelly, or seeded raisins may be placed in the core holes instead of sugar.
_Class experiment._——Bake side by side two apples of uniform size, one with, one without, the skin. Note carefully the length of time for baking each. What difference? Why is this? It may be necessary in the school kitchen to bake in a quick oven, on account of the shortness of the class period. It does not spoil the apple to do this; but the longer process that you can use at home gives a richer color and flavor.
For this experiment, one pupil may bake the apple without the skin, and the next pupil one with the skin in case there is but one apple apiece; or it may be made a class experiment with two apples.
=3. Whole, stewed.= (Compote.)——This is a more difficult method than method 2, and really no better.
(1) Core and pare five or six apples.
(2) Dissolve 1/2 cup sugar in 1/2 pint water in a saucepan.
(3) Place apples in the sirup. They should be barely covered.
(4) Cover closely and keep just below the boiling point, until the apples are tender.
(5) Cool slightly, remove the apples with care and place in the serving dish. Put a spoonful of jelly in each apple.
(6) Boil down the sirup and pour it over the apples.
(7) Chill, before serving with plain or whipped cream.
=4. Apple sauces.=——In the cooking of the whole apple you have all the principles and processes of apple cooking. You can now make apple sauce of your own invention, and need no printed directions. Answer these questions before you begin work. After you have made the sauce, record the work exactly in your notebook.
If you want the slices of apple to remain whole, will the method be like 1, 2, or 3?
If you wish a smooth sauce, what utensil will you need?
How will you determine the amount of sugar required? If you are very fond of sugar, your taste may not be the safest guide.
_Practical home work._——If you can secure a very slow oven, say a coal oven at night, or a gas oven with a low flame, make an apple sauce in an earthenware pot, as heavy as a bean pot, closely covered, leaving the pot in the oven from six to eight hours. This process is satisfactory in a fireless cooker where a hot stone or iron is used. Remember that water keeps down temperature, and also that it evaporates steadily even in a slow oven. How much water will you put over the apples when the process begins?
If you have never cooked apples in this way you will be surprised at the color and flavor.
* * * * *
_Some other fruits._——_Pears_ and _quinces_ develop pleasing flavors when baked.
Cook the quinces sliced, as suggested for the apples, in the bean pot, using a little molasses for sweetening and you will have the delicious old-time “molasses quince.”
_Prunes._——We are dealing now with a dried fruit. If you compare the raisins with the grapes in Fig. 26, you will see how much water is lost in the drying process. The same difference would be evident if you had pictures of a fresh plum and a prune, side by side. This water must be supplied in the process of preparation. The best way to accomplish this is by soaking the prunes many hours, say over night. Prunes have a most undeserved reputation, because they are not well cooked, and at some tables are served too often.
With this one new step introduced you may plan the cooking of the prunes, from what you know of apple sauce. The slower and longer the process, the better. The cheaper kinds of prunes will be very satisfactory, with the soaking and slow cooking. What is the sensible thing to do in regard to sugar?
If on some occasion you would like prunes to be unusually nice, remove the stones carefully, and in their places slip in seeded raisins which have also been soaked and gently stewed.
_Other dried fruits_ may be treated in the same way.
Apricots and peaches yield delightful flavors when carefully prepared; and dried apples are also excellent.
PRESERVATION OF FRUIT AND OTHER FOODS
The preservation of fruit and other foods has been a household industry for generations, and it is now an important commercial industry. The old-time farm had its smokehouse where hams and beef were “cured,” the barrel of brine stood in the cellar for pork and corned beef, apples and corn were dried for winter use, and rows of preserve jars stood upon the shelves. Food was preserved by simple processes long before the reason for the decay and spoiling of food was fully understood, but with larger knowledge and better appliances, we now preserve food more effectively and in quantities larger than were possible in former days.
Fruit is the food material now most commonly preserved in the home kitchen. Vegetables need to be subjected to heat for a much longer time than fruit, and many people prefer to buy canned vegetables rather than to go to the trouble and expense of canning them at home. Where there is an oversupply of vegetables in the home garden, it is sometimes economy to can them, and this may be done if care is exercised. The cost of fuel and labor must be counted in, when studying the question of home preserving versus buying the canned product.
Whatever the food material, and the process, the principles of preservation are the same for all.
=Why does food spoil?=——The decay and moldiness of fresh fruit are matters of common observation; and the housekeeper knows that mold is liable to cover the top of a jelly glass, and that a can of fruit will ferment at times, even to the point of bursting the can.
We recognize another kind of deterioration in meat and fish that have become tainted, even when no mold is visible, and there is no opportunity for ordinary fermentation. The microscope has given us eyes to see, and as a result of the patient work of the scientist with this instrument we now know that the difficulties in keeping food are caused by the presence of minute vegetable organisms known as molds, yeasts, and bacteria. It is impossible in some cases to draw a sharp line between these different forms of lower life, yet we are able to distinguish them sufficiently for practical purposes.
[Illustration: FIG. 28.——Three species of mold. _Buchanan’s Household Bacteriology._]
Masses of _mold_ that can be seen with the naked eye are distinguished by a feathery appearance and bright color. Figure 28 shows three species of the green mold that affects jam and jellies. Other species are found in Roquefort and Camembert cheese, and give the flavors characteristic in these cheeses.
The presence of _yeast_ can be detected by its action, but it cannot itself be seen without the microscope. When canned fruit or homemade fruit juice “works,” yeasts cells are present in great number. Figure 29 shows one form of yeast, highly magnified, and Fig. 30 shows a single yeast cell. The yeast cake is a mixture of thousands of such cells with some flour or flour and meal, and the cells lie dormant in the cake, until we are ready to use them in bread. (See