VEGETABLES

The average American housewife is increasing her use of vegetables—to the advantage of the general health of the community—but there is room for still greater appreciation of them as part of the every-day diet. Many are especially valuable for their vitamins and minerals. Some—as beans, beets, peas, and potatoes—are also highly nutritious, and others — as greens — are additionally useful for their alkalinity and render important a istance to the intestines by the peristaltic action of their moist bulk. A delightful diversity may be given to meals by the use of vegetables in soups, meat-pies, stews, omelettes, and salads—sucli use being supplementary to their ordinary separate service boiled, baked, or fried. In making soup, some young vegetables (such as very small carrots, beets, and turnips) may advantageously be added whole (both leaves and roots) a sufficient length of time ahead of service to ensure thorough tenderne . Long over-cooking should be avoided—this results in losing or nullifying much of their flavor and destroying their vitamin-C value. Other vegetables—as green peas, cauliflower in small sprigs, lima beans, and fancy-cut mixed vegetables—are best cooked separately in a very little water and added shortly before serving. Many left-over vegetables can be added, with results as pleasing as economical. For separate service there are many po ibilities in attractive combinations—two or more kinds being mixed, either during cooking or before serving, according to circumstances. Succotash, a mixture of sweet corn and green lima beans, is a popular example of this idea, but it is only one of numerous others agreeable to the palate—among them, carrots and peas, corn and tomatoes, and cooked celery and creamed potato. Onions, parsley, sweet peppers, ete., may also be added in small quantities to a great many vegetables and vegetable dishes in order to give them a new relish. The tops of beets, turnips, radishes, and other root vegetables and salads should always be saved. Thoroughly washed, they can be used as greens, if young, or added to soups, if more mature. They are particularly useful (if tender) for cooking with spinach, ete. Greens are more generally hked if thus blended--if two or three kinds of different characteristics are cooked together. Tubers, roots, and all greens should be firm and crisp before cooking. Wilted specimens may generally be freshened by soaking in cold water—the time nece ary depends on their age, varying from a few minutes to several hours. Spinach and other low-growing leaves—except the inner leaves of ‘‘head’’ vegetables (as the head styles of cabbage and lettuce)—should be thoroughly washed in several waters to remove all soil or other dirt.: Head vegetables should be soaked before using, head downward, in cold, salted water containing a little vinegar. This will draw out worms and caterpillars. Vegetables that have been scraped or pared should be set in cold water until ready to cook, in order to avoid discoloration. Baking is, from the standpoint of food values, the most satisfactory method of cooking potatoes and other suitable vegetables when intended for separate service, because little, if any, food component is lost in the proce . In boiling cabbage, turnips, and similar vegetables of sulphurous content, a large quantity of water is desirable, and the water is best discarded after cooking, but the reverse in both respects should be the general rule, or the lo of sweetne in green peas, beets, carrots, ete., will be considerable. Furthermore, all vegetables, except dried peas, beans, and similar products, should be placed in boiling water. If the water is to be thrown away afterwards, it should (in a majority of cases) be continuously maintained at the boiling point so that as little as po ible of the food value escapes. Rapid boiling is suitable for most varieties, but it should be more gentle for cauliflower and young tubers in order to avoid breaking them, and should be reduced to a simmer for green, shelled peas and beans. Winter potatoes, beets, and other roots need considerably longer cooking than the same kinds in summer. It 1s a common, but extremely unwise, practice to add baking-soda to the water used for boiling green vegetables in order to retain their green color. The result (as noted also in the article on Sopa) is to lower or destroy their vitamin-C content (see Foop Vauves). There is not the same objection to the use of a little soda in boiling ordinary ripe beans, peas, and lentils if it is actually nece ary to hasten their cooking—but the quantity must be small or their flavor will be impaired. It should never be added in the cooking of germinated, or sprouted peas, etc. (see GERMINATED SrEps) as the result is to destroy the virtue for which chiefly they have been germinated. Retailers who handle vegetables and fruits chiefly or exclusively are sometimes termed ‘‘ereengrocers.’? Many general grocers also have discovered the profit to be derived from these lines, and the public that they ean often purchase them from the grocer at a cheaper rate than from the special dealer. It requires, though, a good deal of time and attention to handle fruits and vegetables profitably and satisfactorily, and a grocer who is not in a position to devote a proper share of both to them had better confine his energies to staple goods. It is important to have the earliest supplies as soon as Florida and other parts send them in. Equally so is it to be particular in buying —to confine oneself to handling only fine, fresh vegetables and sound, ripe fruits. The supply should always be lighter than the demand —in which it differs from the balance of the grocer’s stock. Late enquiries for perishable kinds are better unfilled than prepared for, since the latter means in most cases that the grocer will be still earrving part of his supply when he closes, and will have deteriorated stuff on his hands with which to commence busine next day. Mauy merchants keep their stock of vegetables fresh and crisp by occasionally spraying them with water. Judgment and experience must be exercised in so doing, or 548 _ the result is liable to be the reverse of satisfactory. Tomatoes will soften and spoil if so moistened; string and wax beans will grow tough if applications are frequent; and white wax-beans will show rust marks where the water dries on them. Radishes will take a lot of water and be the better for it, but their tops may rot unle care is exercised. On the other hand, spinach, lettuce, and other green leaves will generally improve with sprinkling and, if they have become dry, by the water-soaking suggested to the housewife in an earlier paragraph of this article. Green peas never need sprinkling, but a cool place is e ential, for heat dries and bleaches them. Beets require very little water—they will ordinarily keep fresh for several days. All vegetables, except those for immediate sale, should be stored in a dark, dry place of cool, even temperature. See also the special articles under the titles of individual vegetables and the general article on Driep, Kvaporatep, anp Deny prateD Foops.- VELOUTE (“Velvety’’), rich chicken and veal broth, thickened and strained until of smooth appearance. It is the principal ‘‘white’’ sauce, as Espagnole is the chief ‘*brown’’ sauce.