THE SELECTION OF FOODS.

In the adoption of uncooked foods more care in selection is required than when they are to be cooked, for in the process of cooking, mixing and dressing, the real quality, taste and flavor of the articles, becomes changed, lost and dissipated. The most inferior articles of food can be cooked and artificially flavored, as they usually are, and still appeal to and satisfy the taste.

In all public eating places the special duty of the chef and steward is to use left-over foods. They are hashed, minced, flavored, spiced and peppered until the smell from the fermented or decayed portions is so concealed that they cannot signal the olfactory nerves; therefore the most inferior and unhealthy articles can be used which could not be done were these foods not cooked.

When using uncooked foods the senses of sight, smell and taste demand the best, and it is only fair that these senses should be satisfied. It is as criminal to deceive our taste and sight in matters of food, as it is to obtain money under false pretense from our friends; and the penalty for this wrongdoing is more certain to be paid. We often escape justice in deceiving our friends, but never in deceiving ourselves. We cannot jump our bail with nature. We are always caught and punished for two crimes instead of one.

One may be thoroughly convinced that the theory is correct, but if such articles are selected as do not conform or appeal to the taste, the effort will prove a failure. Food should be selected that has ripened on the parent stalk or tree, in the sunshine, as far as possible. Those who are acquainted with the curative and life-giving properties of air and sunshine will readily perceive why the selection of thoroughly ripe and full-grown foods are so necessary.

In selecting an apple of a red variety, get a deep, rich red, not a pale pink one. The deep red color indicates that the fruit has ripened on an outer twig of the tree, exposed to the sunlight; while the paler colors show that it has ripened under cover of the foliage. This rule should be observed in the selection of all fruits and berries, and melons of every kind as far as possible, the rule being that whatever color is selected, get it as pronounced as possible. In other words, get the best.

BANANAS.

Bananas, the second-best article of food known, should never be eaten so long as a spot of green is visible on the skin. The majority of people seem to select this most delicious and nutritious fruit merely to please the eye; and just when it is at its best, that is, when the skin is covered with tiny black spots, or assumes a pied appearance, it is discarded and considered unfit for use. Where the consumption of bananas is large enough, they should be purchased by the bunch, and where it is not, they should always be purchased by the hand, not detaching them until they are needed for use. They should also be kept in the sunshine as much as possible.

SWEET FRUITS.

Dates, figs and seeded raisins constitute a group of the best foods known to the dietary. They contain about seventy-five per cent. of carbohydrates, which is sometimes called the powder of the human system. The black French date, known as the “Fard Diamond R.,” is one of the best varieties imported to this country.

The Turkish pulled fig, that is, the unpressed fig of the largest variety obtainable, is much preferable to and more cleanly than those that have been pressed.

Raisins should never be eaten without discarding the seeds; therefore, the seeded raisin is always preferable.

EVAPORATED FRUITS.

The process of evaporating the water from fruits, so they can be kept from season to season, is of great importance. It has added one of the greatest luxuries known to the uncooked bill of fare. In the selection of peaches care should be taken to secure the largest, best ripened and unpeeled variety. Never select peaches from which the peeling has been removed, because the fruit must be taken in an unripe condition, so that it is firm enough to peel and handle easily without crushing. The same rule should apply to the selection of apricots.

Prunes are one of the best evaporated fruits in the American market. The largest varieties, running from 20 to 30 to the pound, should be selected for the uncooked table.

OLIVES AND OLIVE OIL.

Olives have become as standard on the American table as pickles, but we do not recommend their liberal use. The ripe olive has something to recommend it; mainly because it was allowed to get ripe. Pure olive oil occupies a conspicuous and necessary place on the uncooked bill of fare. For those who cannot thoroughly masticate nuts—because of defective teeth—olive oil, or even good peanut oil, affords one of the most necessary articles of diet. An ordinary body requires each twenty-four hours from two to two and a half ounces of pure fat (fuel). The required quantity of nuts may be eaten, but unless mastication is perfect, they do not contribute to the body all the fats they contain, while olive oil overcomes completely this difficulty.

MILK AND HONEY.

Milk and honey seem to be the only two things in existence that were made primarily for no purpose except food. All other articles upon which people subsist were created for some other purpose. All cereals, legumes, fruits, nuts and vegetables in the great scheme of nature, grow wholly to reproduce themselves; but the primary purpose of milk and honey, when they are created, is for food. They seem to have no other purpose to fulfill.

In order to be sure of securing pure honey it is best to purchase it in the comb.

Pure milk as it comes from the cow should contain twelve to fourteen per cent. solids and from three and a half to four and five eighths per cent. cream. Pure milk is one of the best proportioned foods known to science. Great care should be exercised, therefore, in its selection. The best results are obtainable when it is taken unskimmed, as nature has proportioned its nutritive elements in accordance with the requirements of the body.

The custom of salting butter is altogether wrong, and inexcusable from a hygienic standpoint. It had its origin, no doubt, in the fact that it became commercially necessary in order to preserve it for the purpose of shipping, transporting and marketing. During the last few years fresh or sweet butter has come into general use in all the large cities and well-appointed hotels and cafés. In Paris, where the culinary art is studied and kept at a higher standard than at any other city in the world, it is considered an offense to serve salted butter. It is taken for granted that the article is aged and would have spoiled had it not been preserved with salt.