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.
DIVISION II.—FOREIGN FRUITS.
The more important of these are the banana, pine-apple, and orange, and fig, raisin, prune, and date. The first three need no cooking, two of the last four may be cooked. The date is one of the best—the orange one of the worst, because procured while green, and also because it is stringy.
Receipt 1.—The prune. Few things sit easier on the feeble or delicate stomach than the stewed prune. It should be stewed slowly, in very little water.
Receipt 2.—The good raisin is almost as much improved by stewing as the prune.
I do not know that the fig has ever yet been subjected to the processes of modern cookery. It is, however, with bread, a good article of food.