f all the articles which enter the list of foods, none are more wholesome and pleasing than the fruits which nature so abundantly provides. Their delicate hues and perfect outlines appeal to our sense of beauty, while their delicious flavors gratify our appetite. Our markets are supplied with an almost unlimited variety of both native and tropical fruits, and it might be supposed that they would always appear upon the daily bill of fare; yet in the majority of homes this is rarely the case. People are inclined to consider fruit, unless the product of their own gardens, a luxury too expensive for common use. Many who use a plentiful supply, never think of placing it upon their tables, unless cooked. Ripe fruit is a most healthful article of diet when partaken of at seasonable times; but to eat it, or any other food, between meals, is a gross breach of the requirements of good digestion.
Fruits contain from seventy-five to ninety-five per cent of water, and a meager proportion of nitrogenous matter; hence their value as nutrients, except in a few instances, is rather small; but they supply a variety of agreeable acids which refresh and give tone to the system, and their abundant and proper use does much to keep the vital machinery in good working order.
Aside from the skin and seeds, all fruits consist essentially of two parts,—the cellulose structure containing the juice, and the juice itself. The latter is water, with a small proportion of fruit sugar (from one to twenty per cent in different varieties), and vegetable acids. These acids are either free, or combined with potash and lime in the form of acid salts. They are mallic, citric, tartaric, and pectic acids. The last-named is the jelly-producing principle.
While the juice, as we commonly find it, is readily transformable for use in the system, the cellular structure of the fruit is not so easily digested. In some fruits, as the strawberry, grape, and banana, the cell walls are so delicate as to be easily broken up; but in watermelons, apples, and oranges, the cells are coarser, and form a larger bulk of the fruit, hence are less easily digested. As a rule, other points being equal, the fruits which yield the richest and largest quantity of juices, and also possess a cellular framework the least perceptible on mastication, are the most readily digested. A certain amount of waste matter is an advantage, to give bulk to our food; but persons with weak stomachs, who cannot eat certain kinds of fruit, are often able to digest the juice when taken alone.
Unripe fruits differ from ripe fruits in that they contain, starch, which during ripening is changed into sugar, and generally some proportion of tannic acid, which gives them their astringency. The characteristic constituent of unripe fruit, however, is pectose, an element insoluble in water, but which, as maturation proceeds, is transformed into pectic and pectosic acids. These are soluble in boiling water, and upon cooling, yield gelatinous solutions. Their presence makes it possible to convert the juice of ripe fruits into jelly. Raw starch in any form is indigestible, hence unripe fruit should never be eaten uncooked. As fruit matures, the changes it undergoes are such as best fit for consumption and digestion. The following table shows the composition of the fruits in common use:—
ANALYSIS.
| Water. | Albumen. | Sugar. | Free Acid. | Pectose. | Cellulose. | Mineral Matter. | |
| Apples | 83.0 | 0.4 | 6.8 | 1.0 | 5.2 | 3.2 | 0.4 |
| Pears | 84.0 | 0.3 | 7.0 | 0.1 | 4.6 | 3.7 | 0.3 |
| Peaches | 85.0 | 0.5 | 1.8 | 0.7 | 8.0 | 3.4 | 0.6 |
| Grapes | 80.0 | 0.7 | (Glucose.) 13.0 | (Tartaric.) 0.8 | 3.1 | 2.0 | 0.4 |
| Plums | 82.0 | 0.2 | 3.6 | 0.5 | 5.7 | X | 0.6 |
| Gooseberries | 86.0 | 0.4 | 7.0 | 1.5 | 1.9 | 2.7 | 0.5 |
| Strawberries | 87.6 | 0.5 | 4.5 | 1.3 | 0.1 | X | 0.6 |
| Raspberries | 86.+ | 0.5 | 4.7 | 1.3 | 1.7 | X | 0.4 |
| Currants | 85.2 | 0.4 | 6.4 | 1.8 | 0.2 | X | 0.5 |
| Blackberries | 86.4 | 0.5 | 4.4 | 1.1 | 1.4 | X | 0.4 |
| Cherries | 75.0 | 0.9 | 13.1 | 0.3 | 2.2 | X | 0.6 |
| Apricots | 85.0 | .08 | 1.0 | X | 5.9 | X | 0.8 |
| Oranges | 86.0 | [A] | 8 to 10 | X | X | X | X |
| Dates | 20.8 | 6.6 | 54.0 | (Fat.) 0.2 | 12.3 | 5.5 | 1.6 |
| Bananas | 73.9 | 4.8 | 19.7[B] | (Fat.) 0.6 | X | 0.2 | 0.8 |
| Turkey Figs | 17.5 | 6.1 | 57.5 | (Fat.) 0.9 | 8.4[C] | 7.3 | 2.3 |
[Table Note A: Small quantities of albumen, citric acid, citrate of potash, cellulose, etc.]
[Table Note B: Sugar and pectose.]
[Table Note C: Starch, pectose, etc.]