Feeding patients
Feeding patients.—A nurse should bear in mind these two leading facts; that while in sickness there is usually a greatly increased tissue-waste, and consequently an increased necessity for nutriment, there is almost always a decreased appetite, or no appetite at all—often such a repugnance to food that, if left to himself, the patient would prefer taking none at all. Hence, although the medical attendant may decide what is the most suitable form of nourishment, on her devolves the more difficult task of inducing the sick person to take it. With this view, she must exercise all her ingenuity to tempt and encourage him, by bringing everything in the neatest possible form. On no pretext whatever should there be any cooking in the sickroom; nor should she take her own meals there; nor should any food be left standing near the patient. On the contrary, though his nutriment must be brought to him frequently—more frequently, of course, the less he can take each time—and punctually, it should only be in such quantity as he is likely to consume; and immediately that is done, everything in connection with food should be removed from sight and smell until the next time.
The nurse must devote much of her attention to the subject of diet, observing carefully the patient’s appetite, and attending carefully to the quantity of food and the effect of it. The sense of taste of many people is very acute when they are ill, and you must take care that the spoon in the arrowroot, which looks perfectly clean, does not taste to the patient of the soup for which it was used last. Eatables should not be kept in a sickroom: if you are obliged to have anything within reach, put it under a cover; a tumbler turned over does very well for biscuits or jelly, and for larger things a bell glass is useful; tin boxes, the next best thing, generally make a noise when they are opened. The water given to a sick person should not only be boiled and allowed to cool, but ought always to be filtered. It should frequently be changed, as it quickly absorbs the impurities with which the air of a sickroom is charged, and becomes injurious, if not dangerous to drink. In cases of faintness, where stimulants are not ordered, the patient should be made to sip some liquid slowly; the mere effort of sipping accelerates the action of the heart.
When solid foods cannot be taken, the best kinds are those which contain the most nourishing properties in the smallest and most easily digested form. Prominent among these is well-made beef tea: not the greasy watery broth which so often goes by that name, but nearly pure beef juice which has been slowly extracted, with the addition of little or no water, from fresh lean beef. A good substitute may be found in Bovril, which has the great advantage in an emergency of being immediately procurable at a chemist’s or grocer’s. Home made beef tea takes a long time to prepare properly, and even then it is deficient in staminal properties, whereas Bovril contains the entire nutritious constituents of pure beef, of which it takes 40 lb. to make 1 lb. of Bovril extract. Of equal value is milk; which, especially when combined with bread and butter, is very nourishing, and forms a most valuable article of sick diet. If it seems to disagree, or curdle on the stomach, it can generally be prevented doing so by the addition of about ⅓-¼ its bulk of lime-water. These may be varied by mutton broth, chicken or rabbit jelly, eggs in any form—plain, in custard, or in pudding with arrowroot and sago—and real turtle soup; which latter is, however, so terribly expensive as to be outside the reach of most people. Jellies made with gelatine, which contains scarcely any nutriment, are almost useless; and tea should be given only as an indulgence when specially wished for, and then it should be very weak, and with plenty of milk. All food given to the sick should be very fresh, of the best quality, and most carefully cooked.
Boiled Flour Gruel.—Where the illness has been long and tedious, and the strength reduced, the following will be found very useful: To prepare the flour, put into a basin as much as it will hold, pressed tightly down. Then tie a cloth over it, and allow it to boil hard for 6 hours. Then take off the cloth, and let the flour stand in the basin till next day, when remove the crust which will have formed, and put the remainder away in a covered jar. For use, mix 4 tablespoonfuls flour smoothly into a paste, then pour on it ½ pint boiling milk or water, and boil for 10 minutes, constantly stirring to avoid lumps. Brandy, sherry, lemon juice or cream may be added, according to taste. Gruel may also be made from baked flour, but it is not so easy of digestion.
Rice Gruel.—1 oz. each rice, sago, and pearl barley boiled in 3 pints water, which, in 2 hours, generally reduces it to 1 qt. Strain and flavour to taste. This forms a good nourishing diet, especially with the addition of a little isinglass.
Onion Posset or Gruel.—This has been found very efficacious for colds, and is made with Robinson’s groats with the addition only of an onion, which should have been previously boiled for 6 hours. The yolk of an egg well beaten is an improvement.
Chicken Broth.—The younger and fatter the birds are for this the better. It is made by immersing the legs, neck, and trunk of a fowl into just as much water as will cover them, and boiling gently for an hour. The white meat makes a delicious entrée if cut up finely and treated as a veal mince. Potato flour is useful for thickening in cases where boiled flour is not handy; but home-made things are always the best, as the ingredients are known.
Oyster Fritters.—Remove the beards, and put each oyster into a tablespoon, and fill with a batter made as follows: 1 oz. rice flour mixed with 2 tablespoonfuls water, 1 teaspoonful vinegar, and 2 salad oil, the yolk of an egg, and a little salt and pepper. Allow the batter to stand, and just before using, beat the white of an egg to a stiff froth, and mix with it. Fry the oysters covered with the batter in boiling fat, turn them, place them on blotting paper to drain; serve on a hot dish, and garnish with slices of lemon, and thin rolls of brown bread and butter alternately.
Potato Chops.—Mash nicely with a little milk, butter, pepper, and salt, any potatoes left from the day before, spread evenly over a boned loin chop previously sprinkled with finely chopped fried mint. Fry to a golden brown in boiling fat, then place it on blotting paper to remove the superfluous grease. Garnish with fresh mint and watercress.
Jellies and Creams.—The following recipes were published by Mary Hooper, in the Queen:—
When jellies and creams are ordered for sick people in families where there is not a good cook, they are usually obtained from the confectioner; but this is not at all in the interest of the invalid, and efforts should be made to provide his diet from the home kitchen. An idea prevails that it is very troublesome to make jelly. It is not at all necessary to clear the jelly through a bag for invalids, nor indeed for ordinary domestic use. By a little care in the use of citric acid, which is perfectly wholesome, a jelly nearly as bright as that which has been cleared with eggs may be produced. In some cases, jelly without wine is required for invalids, when coffee, cocoa, or Seville orange jelly will probably be useful. It is difficult to make these jellies palatable without making them sweet, and they will only keep a short time. If the doctor does not object, or where it is desirable to give stimulants in a disguised form, a very small quantity of absolute alcohol may be used, and it will obviate the last-named disadvantages.
Milk jellies, or creams, whenever they can be taken, are an excellent form of diet, and are very easily prepared by the following recipes. For those who require a quickly-made cream, “Nelson’s Blanc mange” will be found very useful; it merely requires to be dissolved in milk or water, and in a very short time is ready for use. This blanc mange is made of very rich milk, and tastes equal to that prepared at home with cream. The unflavoured blanc mange should, as a rule, be selected for invalids, as any home-made flavour can be added to it. These flavourings—lemon, Seville orange, almond and vanilla—are very easily prepared by infusing any of the three first-named in gin, the latter in brandy. As these are more digestible than any which can be bought, it is well worth while to take a little trouble in the matter. It is sometimes necessary to tempt the appetite of an invalid by a pretty looking dish, which is also nice and nourishing. Such a dish can be easily made by the recipe for Alexandra Cream.
Simple Jelly.—Soak 1 oz. gelatine in ½ pint cold water for 1 hour or more. It is an advantage to soak gelatine overnight when convenient, because it is then more easily dissolved. Boil 6 oz. lump sugar in 1 pint water, skimming it until clear; then throw in the soaked gelatine, let it boil slowly for 5 minutes, removing all scum as it rises. Dissolve in a basin ¼ oz. citric acid, in lump, in ½ gill boiling water, pour the jelly on to this, when more scum will rise, which should be carefully taken off. Now add 1 gill wine and a little lemon flavouring, and, when nearly cold, put the jelly into a mould. Lemon juice can be used instead of the citric acid, but the jelly will not then be so bright.
Cocoa Jelly.—Mix 1 dessertspoonful cocoa in ½ pint water, stir over the fire until it boils, sweeten it with ¼ lb. lump sugar, or according to the taste of the patient. Stir into it, whilst boiling, ½ oz. gelatine, soaked in ½ pint cold water for some hours, flavour with vanilla, and stir occasionally until the jelly begins to set.
Coffee Jelly.—Soak ½ oz. gelatine in ½ pint cold water, dissolve it in ½ pint very strong coffee, sweetened to taste. Extract of coffee can be used to flavour this jelly, and answers well.
Porter Jelly.—Procure a cow-heel (which should be thoroughly cleaned) and 2 calves’ feet; wash them in cold water, and put them into a pan with 5 pints water, and let them boil until the meat leaves the bones; strain the liquor through a hair sieve, and let it stand for one night in a cool place. Next morning put the stock into a pan with 1 lb. loaf sugar, ½ pint porter, the juice of 4 lemons with their rinds cut very thin, and the well-beaten whites of 8 eggs. Let all boil together till it rises to the top of the pan; then throw in a teacupful of cold water; then let it boil slowly about 20 minutes, at the expiration of which time add 1 wineglassful brandy. Boil 5 minutes longer, then lift the pan from the fire, and let it remain at the side of the fire, to keep hot. In about ½ hour the scum will collect in a lump, leaving the liquor quite clear. Run it into moulds.
Port Wine Jelly.—Take ½ pint port wine, 2 oz. isinglass, and ½ lb. white sugar candy. Let the ingredients be put together in a jar and stand for 6 hours; then put the jar into a saucepan of water, and as soon as it boils take it off the fire and strain through muslin; when cold it is fit for use.
Restorative Jelly.—Put into the jar in which the jelly is to be kept 2 oz. isinglass, 2 oz. white sugar candy, ½ oz. gum arabic, and ½ oz. nutmeg grated. Pour over them 1½ pint tent or port wine. Let it stand 12 hours, then set the jar in a saucepan of water, and let it simmer till all the ingredients are dissolved, stirring it occasionally. The jelly must not be strained. A piece the size of a nutmeg to be taken twice a day. If nutmeg is not liked, any other spice will do as well to flavour it.
Blanc Mange.—It is better, if possible, to soak the gelatine for this cream all night, because it will then dissolve in warm liquid, whereas if it is only lightly soaked, the milk must be boiling. Warm 3 gills milk or cream, and dissolve in it ½ oz. gelatine, previously soaked in ½ gill water. Sweeten to taste, and flavour with extract of vanilla. When nearly cold, stir into the blanc mange the whites of 2 or 3 eggs beaten to a strong froth. This blanc mange will be found light and nourishing in cases of great weakness.
Rice Cream.—(a) Boil 2 oz. fine rice in water for 5 minutes, strain it, and boil until tender in 1 qt. new milk. Rub the rice through a sieve to a pulp, and add to it any milk not absorbed in the boiling; ½ oz. gelatine to 1 pint rice and milk. The gelatine can be soaked and dissolved either in milk or water. Stir over the fire until mixed, sweeten and flavour to taste. Stir the cream occasionally until cold, then lightly mix in the whites of 2 eggs beaten to a strong froth; when on the point of setting put it into a mould.
(b) Make 1 pint milk or cream into custard with the yolk of an egg and 2 oz. sugar; then dissolve in it ½ oz. gelatine previously soaked. Mix with it 1 oz. rice which has been baked or boiled in milk until perfectly tender, flavour with vanilla, and add 1 teaspoonful brandy if liked. Rinse a mould with cold water, put the cream into it, and let it stand until firm enough to turn out.
Semolina Cream.—Soak 1 oz. semolina in 1 gill cold milk for an hour, boil it until soft in ½ pint milk. Dissolve ½ oz. gelatine, previously soaked in ½ gill water, in ½ pint boiling milk, sweeten it with 2 oz. lump sugar, flavour to taste, and when the cream is beginning to set, put it into a mould.
Alexandra Cream.—Make ½ pint rice cream (a) or blanc mange as directed in the foregoing recipes. Dissolve ½ pint Nelson’s port wine jelly (sherry can be used if preferred, but the colour is not so tempting), either adding water or claret, according to the directions given with the jelly. When both the cream and the jelly are on the point of setting, put first a layer of the latter into a mould, then of the former, and so on until all is used. (Mary Hooper.)
Beef Tea.—(a) Cut 1 lb. beefsteak into dice, rejecting all skin and fat. Put into a stewpan a bit of fresh butter the size of a bean, throw in the meat, and sprinkle over a small pinch of salt. Cover the stewpan closely, and set it on the range at a low heat to draw out the juices, which will take 20 minutes. Take care there is no approach to frying, as that would dry up the extract and destroy the character of the tea. About every 5 minutes during the process drain away the gravy as it comes; if the meat is fine and fresh there will be at least ⅓ pint, and when all is drawn set it aside, either to use as extract of beef or to be added to the tea when finished. Now put to the meat 1 pint water, and let it boil gently for ½ hour. Pour the tea off, but do not strain it, as such nourishment as it contains lies in the thick portion. Of course if a patient is unable to take any solid this rule will not apply, and the tea must then be strained either through a linen or flannel bag. Having drained off the tea whilst still boiling hot, put into it the juices at first extracted, and having taken off every particle of fat it will be ready to serve.
(b) Cut the meat into small pieces, cover with water, and simmer an hour. If it is allowed, 2 or 3 peppercorns and a minced shallot—it is milder than onion—will be a nice addition to the tea.
(c) Cut the meat into very small pieces, and put it in a jar having a closely fitting lid, with cold water. The jar can be placed in the oven for 1-2 hours, according to the heat, or in a saucepan of water to boil for 1½ hour.
In all cases where it can be taken, beef tea should be slightly thickened, and especially when bread is refused. Boiled flour is best for this purpose; genuine arrowroot may also be used. The yolk of an egg beaten up in the broth-cup, and the tea poured boiling on to it, is excellent.
The meat from which beef tea has been prepared will make good stock, or be excellent if properly treated for the dinner of the family, who, be it remembered, have the chief of the nourishment in the fibre.
It is important in the preparation of beef tea to preserve the fine flavour of the meat, and to use such scrupulously clean vessels that no foreign taste can be imparted to it. The shin of beef should not be chosen for this purpose, for it gives more gelatine than juice. The best part is beefsteak or the neck; the first will yield the most gravy, and does not cost above 2d. per lb. more than the coarser portion of the ox.
The idea that beef tea should be boiled a long time in order to extract all the goodness of the meat is a mistaken one, for the gelatinous matter thus gained is of comparatively little value, whilst the delicate aroma of the tea is lost by long boiling.
Gruel.—Made as it should be, gruel is rarely disliked, and is more nourishing, and in many cases to be preferred to arrowroot—a thing most difficult to procure genuine, and very expensive. Made thin, as is customary, it is a comfort in sickness, is soothing to the stomach, and gives warmth to the body; made thick as a porridge it is the most nourishing of cereal foods. Robinson’s Embden groats, and Robinson’s patent groats, prepared by Keen, Robinson, and Bellville, are the only kinds of which gruel can be properly made. They are entirely free from the acrid flavour which is so disagreeable in inferior preparations of oatmeal, make a most nourishing and digestible gruel, with the advantage of being easily and rapidly served up—if made from the patent groats, the Embden takes longer—ten minutes only being required in the process of cooking. Robinson’s Embden groats were introduced about the year 1764 by Mr. Martin Robinson as an improvement upon the “whole gritts” then in use. In 1823 letters patent were taken out for a greater improvement known as Robinson’s Patent groats, now in use in all parts of the world. Take of the patent groats one tablespoonful, mix into a smooth paste of the consistence of cream with a wineglassful of cold water, pour this into a stewpan containing nearly a pint of boiling water or milk, stir the gruel on the fire while it boils for ten minutes; pour into a basin, add a pinch of salt and a little butter, or if more agreeable some sugar, and a small quantity of spirits if allowed. If made with water, milk or cream can be added afterwards.
A delicious substitute for gruel is made as follows: 1 oz. each rice, sago, and pearl barley; put 3 pints water, and boil gently for 3 hours, when the liquor should be reduced to 1 qt. Strain it in exactly the same manner as groat gruel, and flavour with wine, brandy, or anything else that may be suitable. If made a little thicker, say with 1½ oz. each ingredient to 3 pints water, a jelly will be produced, which may be eaten cold with sugar, fruit, syrups, or preserve.
Arrowroot.—(a) To make plain water arrowroot, with an Etna, put on ½ pint water to boil in the saucepan; mix, in a cup, 1 dessertspoonful arrowroot with a little water; pour the mixture into the boiling water, and cook it for 2-3 minutes, stirring all the time.
(b) Milk arrowroot is prepared exactly in the same manner. Some persons affirm that arrowroot should never be boiled, or it will lose its astringent qualities. In some particular cases, when strong astringents are needed, it should not be boiled, and should only have boiling water or milk poured upon it; but when the digestion is weak, it is better for the patient to take arrowroot cooked. Sifted sugar may be added according to taste; and in water arrowroot a little wine or brandy is generally given.
Pastry and Bread.—Any fat that is greatly heated decomposes, and gives rise to certain fatty acids that are sure to disagree with delicate persons. That is the reason why pastry and fried food are unfitted for invalids. Very plain pastry, made light with baking powder, is sometimes admissible; but a small egg or milk loaf with the inside taken out, and baked crisp and hot, is a much better substitute. Sponge cake is best of all cakes, because it is made without any butter. Bread should not be new, but may be baked crisp in the oven. Crust is often more digestible than crumb. A change in bread is easy to arrange; if it is only a change of shape, it is better than monotony. A French roll, loaves of baking powder bread, brown and white pulled bread, crisp biscuits, are easy to get in most places.
Puddings.—(a) Boil ½ pint milk with cinnamon, lemon, and bay leaves; add 2 oz. sugar, 1 oz. flour, a little salt, and 3 eggs; beat all together, and steam this custard in a plain mould or basin, previously spread inside with butter; when done firm and quite cold cut into square pieces and dip in frying batter; drop separately in boiling fat, and fry a light brown colour, and dish them up on a napkin. (b) 6 oz. finely-grated bread, 6 oz. currants, 6 oz. sugar, 6 eggs, 6 apples, some lemon peel and nutmeg; let it boil 3 hours. (c) Weight of 2 eggs in butter, which beat to a cream, same weight of flour, same of pounded white sugar, the grated rind and juice of 2 lemons; bake ½ hour in a small flat pie-dish, with a rim of paste round the edge, serve with sifted sugar on the top, and send up very hot. (d) ½ lb. best beef suet, ½ lb. grated breadcrumbs, ½ lb. beaten white sugar, 3 eggs, well beaten and strained; the grated rind and juice of a large lemon, stick a mould with raisins, pour in the mixture, boil 2 hours.
Treacle Posset.—Heat ½ pint milk in the saucepan, and when in the act of boiling, pour in 1 gill (¼ pint) treacle. The milk instantly curdles. It must be taken off the spirit lamp and allowed to stand for 10 minutes, and then strained through a piece of muslin to separate the curds. This must be drunk hot. White wine, whey, and lemon whey, are prepared in a similar manner, only substituting a glass of sherry in one case, and a glass of lemon juice in the other, for the treacle. All wheys must be strained before they are taken.
Restorative Soup.—Take 1 lb. newly-killed beef or fowl, mince it very fine, add 8 fl. oz. soft or distilled water, 4-6 drops pure hydrochloric acid, 30-60 gr. common salt, and stir well together. After 3 hours the whole is to be thrown on a common hair sieve, and the fluid allowed to pass through with slight pressure. On the flesh residue in the sieve pour slowly 2 oz. distilled water, and let it run through while squeezing the meat; there will be 10 oz. extract of meat, of which a wineglassful may be taken at pleasure. It must not be warmed to a greater extent than putting a bottle filled partially with it to stand in hot water. If the flavour be disagreeable, 1 wineglassful claret may be added to 1 teacupful.
Milk Toast.—Take 2 slices bread and toast well—that is, crisp. Take new milk or cream, also a bit of butter (varying according to toast required), and melt in a saucepan together. Then dip in the slices of toast, let them soak for a moment or two, lift on to a deep plate, and pour the remains of milk and butter on top. Serve very hot; add salt as required.
Hot Milk.—Milk that is heated to much above 100° F. loses, for a time, a degree of its sweetness and density; but no one fatigued by over-exertion of body or mind who has ever experienced the reviving influence of a tumbler of this beverage as hot as it can be sipped, will willingly forego a resort to it because of its having been rendered somewhat less acceptable to the palate. The promptness with which its cordial influence is felt is indeed surprising. Some portions seem to be digested and appropriated almost immediately; and many who fancy that they need alcoholic stimulants when exhausted by labour of brain or body will find in this simple draught an equivalent that will be as abundantly satisfying and more enduring in its effects.
Caudles.—The basis of all caudles is flour gruel, made either with water or milk, that made with milk being the most nutritious, while both are equally digestible. In cool weather a quantity of gruel may be made and kept in a cool place, and portions of it heated and used as required. When gruel enters largely into the diet, its acceptability to the patient will be augmented by varying the flavouring or spice used in its preparation. If, therefore, a quantity is made plain, it can be sweetened and variously flavoured as it is heated for immediate use.
Cold Wine Caudle (a nutritious, digestible, and slightly stimulating food, useful in all sickness where starch and wine are not objectionable).—Make a good gruel by mixing smoothly 1 tablespoonful flour with ½ pint cold milk or water, and stirring it into ½ pint boiling milk or water; add a level teaspoonful of salt, and let the gruel boil for 5 minutes, stirring it to prevent burning. To ½ pint cold gruel add 1 egg beaten to a froth, 1 glass of good wine, and sugar and nutmeg to suit the palate of the patient.
Hot Wine Caudle (preferably to cold caudle generally, and useful in the same physical condition indicated in the preceding recipe). Heat ½ pint gruel; beat the yolk of a raw egg to a cream with 2 tablespoonfuls pulverised sugar; beat the white of the egg to a stiff froth; when the gruel is boiling hot, quickly beat a glass of good sherry or Madeira wine into the egg yolk and sugar, stir the hot gruel into it, and then add the beaten white of the egg. Work very quickly, and serve the caudle hot.
Cream Caudle (an equally valuable food with the two preceding caudles, useful under similar physical conditions). To 1 pint gruel add 1 glass good wine, 1 gill sweet cream, 1 tablespoonful noyeau or any good cordial, and sugar to suit the patient’s taste. Use hot or cold, but preferably hot.
Digestive Foods.—Where the digestion is weak, as is generally the case in sickness, much benefit may be derived from partially digested foods. Maltose is a sugar which does not readily undergo acetous fermentation, and therefore will not give rise to acidity and dyspepsia. This is a great matter, as cane sugar added to stewed fruit and milk puddings readily undergoes acetous fermentation in many stomachs. The lævulose sugar of fruit, like maltose, readily undergoes alcoholic but not acetous fermentation. Maltose being less powerfully sweet than cane sugar, a greater quantity is necessary to sweeten the pudding. If the raw starch, semolina, sago, or tapioca be first put in the dish by itself, and placed in the oven for an hour (taking care not to have it burnt by the oven being too hot), not only are the starch cells cracked, but a certain conversion of the starch into dextrine takes place. If to this be then added an equal quantity of ground malt and some hot milk poured on, and the dish be allowed to stand a few minutes before being put into the oven again, the diastase of the malt acts upon the farina and converts it into dextrine and maltose. Dextrine and maltose being soluble, the pudding is very thin. Such a pudding is admirably adapted for invalids and dyspeptics, as requiring scarcely any digestion in the body. For those with whom ordinary milk puddings produce acidity, such a pudding is specially suitable. Ground malt may be added to fresh milk, and forms an admirable food in cases of acute disease. Baked flour perhaps goes better with meat broths, to which it gives a high food value. (Well-baked flour requires but a touch of saliva to render it soluble, and, added to meat broths and gravy soups, renders them very nutritive.) Malt, being sweet, goes better with milk, or apple-water, or tamarind-water, or lemonade, and gives us a food which being all but independent of the digestive act, can be most usefully employed in the sickroom. Beef-tea (which alone is scarcely a food) and milk-and-seltzerwater pall upon the palate of the sick person, who craves variety just as do healthy persons. The adoption of ground malt as a food will solve for us one or two knotty questions connected with feeding people when the digestive power is feeble. Drinks like lemonade, made with malt instead of cane sugar, would not only not go sour in the mouth and stomach, but would contain some phosphates and soluble albuminoids, and so form admirable beverages in feverish states. The many malt extracts now in the market are well adapted for such end. (Lancet.)
An excellent peptonising apparatus, for the predigestion of foods for the sickroom, is sold by Savory and Moore.
Drinks.—Orange-whey.—The juice of 1 orange to 1 pint of sweet milk. Heat slowly until curds form, strain and cool.
Egg-Lemonade.—White of 1 egg, 1 tablespoonful pulverised sugar, juice of 1 lemon, 1 goblet water. Beat together.
Sago-Milk.—3 tablespoons sago soaked in a cup of cold water one hour; add 3 cups boiling milk; sweeten and flavour to taste. Simmer slowly ½ hour. Eat warm.
Baked Milk.—Put ½ gal. milk in a jar, and tie it down with writing-paper. Let it stand in a moderate oven 8-10 hours. It will be like cream, and is very nutritious.
Punch without Liquor.—Take the juice of 6 oranges and 6 lemons, adding sugar to suit the taste. Put to this a quantity of pounded ice and some sliced pine-apple, pouring over it 2 qt. water. This is an agreeable summer beverage for anybody, sick or well.
Rice Water.—Wash 2 oz. best rice and boil it fast for ½ hour in 1 qt. water. Any flavouring may be added, or a small piece of stick cinnamon or shred lemon peel may be boiled with the rice, and sugar used according to circumstances. Lemonade made with rice water when cold is very nice and refreshing.
Gum Arabic Water.—Put into an earthenware jar 1 oz. finest picked gum with 2 oz. sugar candy and 1 pint water; set it in a saucepan of water, and stir occasionally until dissolved. This is very useful as a night drink for hectic cough, and will allay the tickling in the throat. It should be kept as hot as possible. The little French porcelain veilleuse is best adapted for this purpose.
Lemon Juice.—Few people know the value of lemon juice. A free use of lemon juice and sugar will always relieve a cough. Most people feel poorly in the spring, but if they would eat a lemon before breakfast every day for a week—with or without sugar, as they like—they would find it better than any medicine. Lemon juice, used according to this recipe, would sometimes cure consumption:—Put 1 doz. lemons into cold water and slowly bring to a boil; boil slowly until the lemons are soft, then squeeze until all the juice is extracted; add sugar to taste, and drink. In this way use 1 doz. lemons a day. If they cause pain, lessen the quantity and use only 5 or 6 a day until you are better, and then begin again with 1 doz. a day. After using 5 or 6 doz., the patient will begin to gain flesh and enjoy food. Hold on to the lemons, and still use them very freely for several weeks more. Another use for lemons is for a refreshing drink in summer, or in sickness at any time. Prepare as directed above and add water and sugar. But in order to have this keep well, after boiling the lemons, squeeze and strain carefully; then to every ½ pint juice add 1 lb. loaf or crushed sugar, boil and stir a few minutes more until the sugar is dissolved, skim carefully and bottle. You will get more juice from the lemons by boiling them, and the preparation keeps better.—Lancet.
Linseed Tea.—Take 3 tablespoonfuls linseed, about 1 pint water, and boil for 10 minutes. Strain off the water, put in a jug with 2 lemons, cut in thin slices; put also some brown sugar. A wineglassful of wine is an improvement. This has been found most nourishing for invalids.
Barley Water.—Barley water is an important article in the invalid’s dietary. Dr. Pye Chavasse, in his work entitled ‘Advice to a Mother,’ strongly recommends Robinson’s patent barley, prepared by Keen, Robinson, and Bellville, of London. Take of the patent barley one ounce mixed with a wineglass of cold water, pour this into a stewpan containing nearly one quart of boiling water, stir this over the fire while boiling for five minutes, then flavour with a small bit of lemon peel or cinnamon and sweeten according to taste. Equal quantities of milk and barley water make a very nourishing drink, especially useful in feverish cases. Barley water should not be mixed with milk or syrup before required for use, as in a warm atmosphere it undergoes changes, and sometimes slightly ferments.
Almond Milk (an exceedingly nutritious beverage, useful in most conditions of illness).—Pour 1 qt. boiling water upon ¼ lb. shelled almonds, and when the skins soften rub them off the kernels with a clean towel; pound the almonds thus blanched in a mortar, putting in 3 or 4 at a time, and adding 4 or 5 drops milk, as the almonds are being pounded, to prevent oiling—about 1 tablespoonful milk will be required for the ¼ lb. almonds; when the almonds are finely pounded, mix them with 1 pint milk, 2 tablespoonfuls sugar, a level teaspoonful salt, and the yellow rind of a lemon, and place the milk over the fire to boil; meantime, beat 3 eggs smoothly, and strain the almond milk into them, stirring the mixture as the milk is strained in; return it to the saucepan, and place it in another pan of hot water, over the fire, stirring it constantly until it begins to thicken; then remove it at once from the fire, strain it, and use it.
Barley Milk (a demulcent, refreshing, and nutritious beverage, useful in fevers and gastric inflammation).—Wash 4 oz. pearl barley in cold water until the water is clear; put it over the fire in a double kettle with 1 qt. milk and a level teaspoonful of salt, and boil it until the milk is reduced one half; then strain off the milk and sweeten to suit the taste of the patient. The barley may be used as food by adding to it a glass of wine and a little sugar.
Irish Moss Water (a bland, nutritious drink, excellent in feverish conditions and in colds).—Wash ½ oz. moss in plenty of cold water; then soak it for 10 minutes in 1 pint cold water; then add 2 pints cold water, 1 tablespoonful sugar, and 1 in. stick cinnamon to it, and boil it until it is about as thick as cream; strain it, add more sugar if it is desired, and use while warm. The yellow rind of a lemon may replace the cinnamon as flavouring.
Icelandic Moss Chocolate (a very nutritious drink, suitable for use when abundant nourishment is required).—Wash 1 oz. moss thoroughly in cold water; then put it over the fire to boil in 1 pint water. Grate 1 oz. chocolate fine, mix it with ½ cupful cold milk, stir it into 1 pint boiling milk, and boil it for 5 minutes; then add it to the boiling moss, strain them together, sweeten them to suit the taste of the patient, and use the beverage warm.
Imitation Kumys (Koumiss).—(a) Fill into a strong champagne bottle, good, fresh, unboiled cow’s milk to such a height that after the addition of 1 oz. granulated or powdered sugar, and after corking, there would still be left at least 1 in. of empty space below the cork. Before corking, add a piece of fresh compressed yeast, about the size of 2 peas, then cork and tie the cork firmly down. In place of compressed yeast, 1 teaspoonful good beer yeast may be taken. The contents of the bottle are well shaken, repeatedly, then the bottles are placed in the cellar, where they are turned up and down a few times during the day. From and after the fifth day the mixture is ready and may be drunk to about the twentieth day. It is best to prepare about 6 bottles full at a time, refilling each after it has been emptied and cleaned, so that the treatment, after being begun, may not be interrupted. On opening the bottles, the contents are very apt to foam over, hence the bottle should be opened while being held over a plate. It should never be opened where there may be any furniture or dresses about, which might be soiled by spattering. A good milk-wine or kumys should have a homogeneous appearance of the consistence of thin cream, should be effervescent when poured out, of an acidulous, agreeably vinous odour and taste, and should not be full of lumps, or taste like butter-milk. On first using kumys it produces loose bowels, but this effect soon passes off.
(b) 200 parts condensed milk, 2000 parts water, 2 parts lactic acid, 1 part citric acid, and 30 parts brandy are mixed and carbonated. Cork well and let it stand for 2 days in a warm room till it froths.