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TAMARINDS.

The “tamr hindee,” or Indian date, is chiefly grown in the West Indies. The pulp is preserved in sugar. It is both sweet and acidulous. The latter attribute is due to citric, malic and tartaric acids as well as potash bitartrate. Tamarinds are an essential ingredient of Indian curries. The tamarind is an excellent antiseptic and is thus advantageously used in fever cases.

Tamarind Water.

4 ozs. tamarinds, 1 pint cold water. Pour the water over the tamarinds and let stand 1 hour. Before using, stir or beat, and strain. Chopped figs are a useful addition to this beverage. The dose of tamarind water is from 2 teaspoonfuls to 2 table spoonfuls or more.

Tamarinds with Milk.

1 tablespoonful of tamarinds, 1 pint of milk warmed. Allow to dissolve, strain, and then drink.

If this beverage is made by boiling the two ingredients together, a whey is obtained which is very palatable.

TAR (VEGETABLE).

Vegetable tar is obtained by dry distillation from various pines and firs. It consists of resinous matter, united with acetic acid, oil of turpentine and charcoal.

Tar Water.

Bishop Berkeley in 1744 published a remarkable treatise on the wonderful virtues of tar water, and this treatise was much criticised and satirized at the time. It is prepared by stirring 1 pint of vegetable tar with ½ a gallon of water for 15 minutes, then allowing the tar to subside and straining off the liquid. Half to 2 pints can be taken daily in divided doses. It is not an unpleasant drink and can be sweetened with honey or liquorice if desired. Tar water is practically a coffee made from roasted wood so that the difference between it and ordinary coffee is not so great as one might imagine.

TEA.

Tea is drunk in different ways, according to local custom.

In China, where tea is rarely used until it is a year old, and is drunk constantly during the day, a small quantity of the leaves is put in a cup and hot water poured upon them. This is allowed to stand for a very short time and is then taken without any admixture of either milk or sugar.

In Russia, where only the very best teas are used, a slice of lemon is added to the infusion, and it is drunk without milk or sugar.

“The Mongols and Tartars use what is called brick tea. This is the refuse of tea mixed with decayed leaves and twigs, and made into hard masses or bricks with the fluid of ox or sheep’s blood. It is rubbed into powder, boiled with the impure water of the Steppes, and salt and fat are added. This is drunk in enormous quantities, mixed with milk, butter and meal.” (Cassell’s Family Doctor.)

Tea contains approximately: Caffein or thein (combined with tannic acid) 1·8, dextrin 9·7, albumen 2·6, cellulose 22·0, tannin 15·0, extractives 20·0, ash containing potash, soda, magnesia, phosphoric acid, chlorine and iron, with oil, wax, resin and silica 5·4.

“Tea is stimulative and restorative, and its action upon the nervous system is reinforced by the fact that it is usually taken hot. It results in the pulse being quickened. The elimination of pulmonary carbonic acid and that of the skin being increased.”

“The active principle in tea called theine exerts a very powerful influence upon the nerve structure of human beings if administered in a concentrated state. It first lessens the heart’s stroke, then producing a feeling of pleasant excitement. In large doses it causes wakefulness. In very large doses it may be followed by convulsions and death. It is a compound similar to morphia and nicotine. 2 teaspoonfuls furnish 4 to 6 grs. which is a full stimulant dose. 1 lb. of the leaves contains about 175 grs. of theine.” (Dr. R. J. Mann: Familiar lectures on the physiology of food and drink).

“Tea is a light beverage and taken in moderate quantity is exhilarating and restorative. When tea is consumed in a strong state and immoderately, it is capable of acting in a powerful manner on the nervous system; nervous agitation, muscular tremors, a sense of prostration and palpitation constitute effects that have been witnessed. It also constipates.” (Pavy.)

Tea-tasters suffer from head troubles, tremors and eye disorders, heart troubles and dyspepsia also occur.

Tea checks stomach and bowel digestion, and the digestion of starch ceases entirely in the presence of tea and coffee.

Tea and coffee are among the most powerful poisons of the vegetable kingdom. Their bewitching influence lies in their narcotic properties.

Strong Indian tea is a cause of excessive constipation.

“Green tea” is seldom used nowadays. Its colour and flavour are produced by a peculiar method of drying the leaves. As this method includes the use of copper pans, and the tea appropriates a proportion of copper, the use of green tea is to be strongly deprecated. A cup of green tea will, it is true, temporarily cure even the severest headache, but the cause of the headache, whatever it may be, is untouched, and possibly only aggravated by such irrational methods of “cure.”

The drinking of “Chinese Soup” (as we may call it) is a habit which may profitably be dispensed with altogether. The British custom of deliberately coaching children into the taste for tea is very silly. Children whose diet from the outset contains fresh fruit and pure water, will never crave for tea, coffee, or alcohol.

1 lb. of tea contains about 2 ozs. of tannin. This is a powerful astringent and is the same as the oak bark used by tanners to harden the skins of animals in the process of manufacturing leather. It has been computed that if a person consumed a good average number of cups of strong tea (with milk) daily he would partake in one month of enough liquid leather to make a fair sized pair of boots! There is, indeed, no doubt whatever that the tannin present in all tea (and to the largest extent in the popular Indian tea of to-day) hardens the lining of the stomach and bowels, thus inevitably inducing many serious disorders. It also hardens the food eaten, and in particular delays and diminishes the digestion of proteid substances.

China tea contains more theine and less tannin than the Indian or Ceylon varieties. This fact should make the former more popular, especially when the more delicate flavour comes to be appreciated.

Tea is best kept in lead foil or in tins impervious to moisture. It readily absorbs strong odours, and is soon tainted thereby. It also acquires the taste of the paper in which it is wrapped.

An early morning cup of weak China tea taken without sugar or milk is a source of comfort and refreshment to a good many persons, when the mental and physical faculties are in a more or less lethargic state. The preparation of the early morning tea necessitates the stirring betimes of the domestics of the household, who are thus enabled to set a good example to those who employ them!

It is very unwise to purchase cheap tea, for it is not only much more astringent and harmful (being made from the coarse leaves of the tea plant) but it is not really economical. Fine tea (1s. 10d. to 2s. 6d. per lb.) if purchased of reliable blenders is always more healthful, goes farther, and gives greater pleasure to the consumer. The middle and upper classes in Russia would not tolerate the quality of tea which is generally used in Great Britain.

The presence in tea (as bought) of tiny golden “tips” is a good indication of it containing a fair proportion of the tenderest shoots of the tea plant—a distinct sign of sound quality.

Those who really wish to break off the tea and coffee habit will find that the sipping of any pure fruit or vegetable juice (in summer cold, and in winter hot) such as this book describes, is by far the best method. The use of “cereal coffees” seldom eradicates the craving for stimulant.

On Brewing Tea.

Care and exactitude are imperative. Earthenware pots are best as, if warmed, they retain the heat better, although they do not get so quickly heated as metal pots. The pot used should be quite clean and free from old leaves. Metal pot infusions are often stronger than those prepared in earthenware pots, because the polished surface quickly takes up the heat and retains it, if previously scalded out; but the heat radiates more quickly from a metal surface, therefore, it more quickly cools.

Freshly drawn water should be used. See that it boils thoroughly. Do not allow it to boil for more than a few minutes. If water contains much lime or iron it will not make good tea. First clear such water by boiling or other means to get rid of the temporary hardness and then pour through a watering can two or three times to get it well aerated and then proceed to boil it again for use. Distilled water, thus aerated is the best to use. The quality of the tea is much influenced by the kind of water used, and one tea will do better with one kind of water than another.

To boil the water use a kettle free from fur. Allow 1 teaspoonful of tea to each person. Infuse 5 minutes. When the leaves sink it is ready. Pour off from the leaves, or put tea in a muslin bag and when drawn take out the bag and throw it away. A cold teapot spoils the tea. Therefore warm the teapot first. Always use furiously boiling water.

The Japanese powder the tea, put a certain portion in a teacup, pour boiling water upon it and drink it as soon as it is cool enough.

Other Methods of Infusing.

Put the tea in a kettle with cold water, cover it close, place it on the fire and make it all but boil. When a sort of white scum appears on the surface take it from the fire. Another method is, on the night before, to pour cold water on the leaves. The next morning pour off liquor and heat it as required.

Tea with Lemon (Russian style).

Use black, not green or mixed teas; place a very thin slice of lemon in the cup after it is filled. Use no milk. The organic citric acid in the lemon juice offsets the tannin.

Tea Punch.

Quart of made tea, wineglassful of grape juice (the freshly extracted juice is the best), 2 ozs. lemon juice, and some orange juice. Serve cold.

Cold Tea.

This is very refreshing in summer and is widely used throughout Australia, especially in the Bush. It is a remarkable fact that in Australia, where the consumption per head of meat and tea is the highest in the world, the mortality from cancer is also highest. This may not be a strong enough basis for a definite theory, but it should surely give English people cause to “furiously think.”

TOAST AND WATER.

This is a very old and still popular drink. It is thought to purify the water by reason of the charcoal which it contains. Cut crusts from a stale wholemeal loaf, twice as thick as usually cut, toast carefully until browned and hard, but not burnt or blackened. Instead, the crusts may be cut up into dice and slowly roasted.

Next pour boiling water into a heated jug and put the toast crust or the roasted dice into the jug. Do not pour the water upon the toast. Let it stand until cold, strain to remove grit, and serve either hot or cold as desired.

A little sliced lemon, orange juice, currant jelly or grated apple can be added for flavouring as desired. The beverage should be as brown as sherry.

“Put into a jug of hot water

A piece of bread toasted dark brown;

It’s refreshing in any complaint

And helps to keep fever down.”

(Cookery Rhymes by Miss Potter, 1862.)

TOMATO.

This is a splendid salad vegetable which closely approximates to fruit. The flavour is much appreciated although often an acquired taste. Far from being a cause of cancer (as is still ignorantly held by some) the free use of tomatoes is one of the best methods of preventing it. The finest tomatoes in the market are those grown in soils free from animal manures.

Tomato Juice.

It is easy to extract the juice from sound ripe tomatoes. First scald the tomato to easily remove the skin; then pulp the fruit and strain through butter muslin.

Tomato Soup.

To make this, first skin the tomatoes, then beat up and mash into a pulp, add celery or parsley and water, simmer until soft, then strain and serve.

TURNIP.

The turnip lends itself to uses similar to those indicated on other pages where vegetables of the salad or root variety are referred to. Scraped or grated it forms an excellent addition to salads. It makes a good addition to soups, and a tea can be made from it by infusing the grated turnip pulp in boiling water.