DIVISION I.—DOMESTIC FRUITS.
Section A.—The large fruits—Apple, Pear, Peach, Quince, etc.
Receipt 1.—The apple. May be baked in tin pans, or in a common bake pan. The sweet apple requires a more intense heat than the sour. The skin may be removed before baking, but it is better to have it remain. The best apple pie in the world is a baked apple.
Receipt 2.—It may be roasted before the fire, by being buried in ashes, or by throwing it upon hot coals, and quickly turning it. The last process is sometimes called hunting it.
Receipt 3.—It may be boiled, either in water alone, or in water and sugar, or in water and molasses. In this case the skin is often removed, that the saccharine matter may the better penetrate the body of the apple.
Receipt 4.—It may also be pared and cored, and then stewed, either alone or with molasses, to form plain apple sauce—a comparatively healthy dish.
Receipt 5.—Lastly, it may be pared and cored, placed in a deep vessel, covered with a plain crust, as wheat meal formed into dough, and baked slowly. This forms a species of pie.
Receipt 6.—The pear is not, in every instance, improved by cookery. Several species, however, are fit for nothing, till mid-winter, when they are either boiled, baked, or stewed.
The peach can hardly be cooked to advantage. It is sometimes cut up, and sprinkled with sugar and other substances.
Receipt 7.—A tolerably pleasant sauce can be made by stewing or baking the quince, and adding sugar or molasses, but it is not very wholesome.
Section B.—The smaller fruits. The Strawberry, Cherry, Raspberry, Currant, Whortleberry, Mulberry, Blackberry, Bilberry, etc.
None of these, so far as I know, are improved by cookery. It is common to stew green currants, to make jams, preserves, sauces, etc., but this is all wrong. The great Creator has, in this instance, at least, done his own work, without leaving any thing for man to do.
There is one general law in regard to fruits, and especially these smaller fruits. Those which melt and dissolve most easily in the mouth, and leave no residuum, are the most healthy; while those which do not easily dissolve—which contain large seeds, tough or stringy portions, or hulls, or scales—are in the same degree indigestible.
I have said that fruits were next to bread in point of importance. They are to be taken, always, as part of our regular meals, and never between meals. Nor should they be eaten at the end of a meal, but either in the middle or at the beginning. And finally, they should be taken either at breakfast or dinner. According to the old adage, fruit is gold in the morning, silver at noon, and lead at night.