Tomatoes are good for those who suffer from sluggish liver. The popular fallacy that they are liable to cause cancer, which was circulated by thoughtless persons some few years since, has been pronounced, by the highest medical authorities, to be unsupported by any evidence whatever, and to be most improbable and absurd. In the Island of Mauritius this fruit is eaten at almost every meal, and Bishop Royston stated that during his episcopate of eighteen years he only heard of one case of the disease.
Lettuce is soothing to the system and purifying to the blood. It should be well dressed with pure olive oil and wine vinegar (2 spoonfuls of oil to 1 of vinegar, well mixed together, with a pinch of sugar). A lettuce salad eaten with bread and cheese makes a nutritious and ample meal. The thin and tender-leaved variety (grown under glass if possible) should always be chosen.
Figs contain much fruit sugar which can be rapidly assimilated, and are very nourishing and easily digestible; when they can be obtained in their green state they are specially desirable. They may be considered one of the most valuable of all fruits, and are most helpful in many cases of sickness on account of their laxative medicinal properties.
Dates are very similar to figs, and are both sustaining and warming; they are easily digested if the skins are thin.
Gooseberries, Raspberries, Currants and Grapes are cooling and purifying food for hot weather; but, if unripe, they will often upset the liver. This type of fruit should not be eaten unless ripe and sweet.
Walnuts, Hazel and Brazil Nuts contain a considerable amount of oil, and are consequently useful for warming the body and feeding and strengthening the nerves. Vegetable fat in this form is emulsified and more easily assimilated than free animal fats, as in butter, etc. Nuts are also rich in proteid matter. Where people find that they cannot masticate nuts, owing to impairment of teeth, the difficulty may be removed by passing the nuts through a 'Dana' nut-mill. When thus flaked and spread between thin slices of bread and butter, with honey, they make delicious sandwiches for lunch. A pinch of curry powder (instead of the honey) makes them taste savoury.
Chestnuts contain a larger proportion of starch, but are digested without difficulty when boiled in their jackets until fairly soft. If eaten with a pinch of salt they make a nice dish.
Pineapples are valuable for cases of diphtheria and sore-throat, as the juice makes an excellent gargle. This fruit is considered to aid digestion in certain cases.