CHAPTER XVI.
FRUITS.
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Pro- Etherial Carbohy- Calories
Water tein Extracts drates Ash per lb.
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Apples……….. 84.6 0.4 0.5 14.2 0.3 290
Bananas………. 75.3 1.3 0.6 22.0 0.8 460
Figs, fresh…… 79.1 1.5 … 18.8 0.6 380
Lemons……….. 89.3 1.0 0.7 8.5 0.5 205
Muskmelons……. 89.5 0.6 … 9.3 0.6 185
Oranges………. 86.9 0.8 0.2 11.6 0.5 240
Peaches………. 89.4 0.7 0.1 9.4 0.4 190
Pears………… 80.9 1.0 0.5 17.2 0.4 …
Persimmons……. 66.1 0.8 0.7 31.5 0.9 630
Rhubarb, stalk… 94.4 0.6 0.7 3.6 0.7 105
Strawberries….. 90.4 1.0 0.6 7.4 0.6 180
Watermelon……. 92.4 0.4 0.2 6.7 0.3 140
Dried Fruits:
Apples……….. 26.1 1.6 2.2 68.1 2.0 1350
Apricots……… 29.4 4.7 1.0 62.5 2.4 1290
Citrons………. 19.0 0.5 1.5 78.1 0.9 1525
Dates………… 15.4 2.1 2.8 78.4 1.3 1615
Figs…………. 18.8 4.3 0.3 74.2 2.4 1475
Prunes……….. 22.3 2.1 … 73.3 2.3 1400
Raisins………. 14.6 2.6 3.3 76.1 3.4 1605
Currants……… 17.2 2.4 1.7 74.2 4.5 1495
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Apricots, avocados, blackberries, cherries, cranberries, currants, gooseberries, grapes, huckleberries, mulberries, nectarines, olives, pineapples, plums, raspberries and whortleberries are some of the other juicy fruits. They are much like the apple in composition, containing much water and generally from 6 to 15 per cent of carbohydrates (sugar). Olives and avocados are rich in oil.
You may classify rhubarb, watermelons and muskmelons as vegetables, if you wish. On the table they seem more like fruit, which is the reason they are given here. Melons are fine hot weather food. They are mostly water, which is pure. During hot weather it is all right to make a meal of melons and nothing else, at any time. The melons are so watery that they dilute the gastric juice very much. The result is that when eaten with concentrated foods they are liable to repeat, which indicates indigestion.
Fruits are not generally eaten for the great amount of nourishment to be obtained from them. They are very pleasant in flavor and contain salts and acids which are needed by the body.
The various fluids of the body are alkaline, and the fruits furnish the salts that help to keep them so. A few secretions and excretions are naturally acid. Sometimes the body gets into a too acid state, but that is very rarely due to overeating of fruit. It is generally caused by pathological fermentation of food in the alimentary tract. The salts and acids of fruits are broken up in the stomach and help to form alkaline substances.
The water of the fruit is very pure, distilled by nature. The acid fruits are refreshing and helpful to those who have a tendency to be bilious. Fruits are cleansers, both of the alimentary tract and of the blood.