FROST-FISH

See Tomcopv. The title is also applied in northern New York to the Menominee whitefish. FRUIT- Its Food Value, Etc. It is not so many vears ago that the arrival of the **strawberry season’’ constituted as real and distinct a mark on the calendar as the closing of schoo] and the beginning of the summer holidays. The season was short—and for that reason perhaps the berries seemed doubly delicious! Then, later on, the Raspberry reached the markets and the hucksters heralded its arrival through the streets. And so the spring and summer divided their honors among various fruits, sometimes singly and again in groups. But now, modern methods of refrigeration and transportation have broken down all the bars! We may enjoy most fruits the year round—the prices vary, but there is seldom any ‘‘closed season.’? And many kinds formerly rare are now plentiful. The best example of this is the banana—a few vears ago a curiosity to the inhabitants of inland towns, but to-day found in every hamlet throughout the country. The sub-tropical and tropical erops of California, Florida, Cuba, and elsewhere are supplemented during the winter months with fancy melons, peaches, and plums, from various parts of the world—in eluding southern Europe, South America, and South Africa. And early in the spring, long before they are ripe in the North, various southern points are shippmeg carloads of berries up through the states. Much has been done for American health, and thus indireetly for American civilization, by the cheapening and popularizing of fruits during the past forty years. The composition of a majority of ripe, fresh fruits includes about 80% water, a fair percentage of carbohydrates—principally sugar and crude fibre, a small percentage of protein and mineral salts, and valuable vitamin properties— vitamins B and C, especially the latter. The sugar percentage is lowest in berries (as blackberries and strawberries) and highest in bananas, dates, figs, sweet grapes, loquats. American persimmons, and sweet plums (especially those dried as prunes). In hetween are apples, cherries, medlars, pears, Japanese persimmons, pomegranates, sapodillas, and haws. It is particularly their vitamins and their minerals—and their characteristic combination of water, sugar, and erude fibre—rather than their nutritive components which make most fruits so desirable an addition to the diet (see the article on Foon Va.turs). In numerous ways they greatly a ist digestion and bodily functioning in general, and thus increase and supplement the value obtainable from the ‘‘main’’ foods. The quantity that may he eaten raw depends upon individual circumstances, but a moderate amount of sound fruit in a properly ripe condition will generally be found very advantageous. The correct degree of maturity is important, for unripe fruit may cause stomach irritation by an exce ive generation of acid, and over-ripe sweet fruit may set up abnormal fermentation. Cooked fruits can be used and enjoyed with equal benefit, excepting on the score of vitamins, and with greater freedom—both in quantity and in range of maturity. —: Dried fruits, such as dates, prunes, figs, raisins, and apples, should be consumed more freely than at present. Their convenience and economy (from the minimized lo by spoilage or wasting) add to the recommendation of their dietetic value. With the exception of vitamins, they contain all the nutritive qualities of the fresh fruit. A course to be avoided, though, (except under medical advice) is the general tendency to employ fruit to tempt the appetite of some member of the family who does not feel entirely well and lacks zest for his or her meals. This is decidedly inadvisable, for many forms of indisposition are accentuated by its consumption. Nearly all fruits are best held at a temperature of about 40° Fahr. (the temperature of the ordinary refrigerator if well iced and in good condition) and this temperature is e ential to avoid lo in fancy fruits such as hothouse grapes, fine peaches, and green figs. The Baxana (which see) is an exception, as also are fruits; which require ripening after receipt (and therefore need a higher temperature). Anything below 40° Fahr., any approach to freezing, is dangerous to the hest qualities of most kinds. Tough or thick-skinned fruits, such as apples, pears, and oranges, may be kept. for a comparatively long time without cold storage or refrigerator facilities if the conditions are favorable—if they have not been bruised, so as to let the mold get through the skin; if the cellar or other storage place is dry. cool, and well ventilated; and if imperfect fruits are promptly removed and others are occasionally wiped off to remove mold spores and sweat. All these precautions are, though, insufficient for fruits with delicate skins, and the last is, of course, impracticable in the case of berries and other small fruits—they should therefore be promptly consumed while still fresh or with equal promptne be preserved by canning or made into jams, sirups, ete. At higher temperatures, there are new dividing lines in susceptibility. Temperate-climate fruits, as apples and pears, will under ordinarily good conditions keep fairly well for a limited period in a temperature not exceeding 60° to 65° Fahr., but when the thermometer goes higher all stock except that for immediate use should be removed to cooler storage. All fruits should be washed before eating. As, however, most berries require very careful handling to wash them without spoiling their appearance or flavor, the hest advice is to exercise care in purchasing —avoiding those which are too soft or which show sand—so that only a minimum of washing shall be nece ary. Only fresh, clean, fine berries should be eaten raw—others are better cooked or discarded depending on their condition and general food circumstances. See also the special articles on individual fruits.