TABLE TOPICS

Behind the nutty loaf is the mill wheel ; behind the mill is the wheat field ; on the wheat field rests the sunlight ; above the sun is God. — yames Russell Lowell.

Bread forms one of the most important parts of the ration of the German sol- dier. In time of peace, the private soldier is supplied day by day with one pound and nine ounces of bread ; when fighting for the Fatherland, every man is entitled to a free ration of over two pounds of bread, and field bakery trains and steam ovens for providing the large amount of bread required, form a recognized part of the equip- ment of the German army.

The wandering Arab lives almost entirely upon bread, with a few dates as a relish.

According to Count Rumford, the Bavarian wood-chopper, one of the most hardy and hard-working men in the world, receives for his weekly rations one large loaf of rye bread and a small quantity of roasted meal. Of the meal he makes an infusion, to which he adds a little salt, and -with the mixture, ^\hich he calls burned soup, he eats his rye bread. No beer, no beef, no other food than that mentioned, and no drink but water ; and yet he can do more work and enjoys a better digestion and possesses stronger muscles than the average American or Englishman, with their varied dietary.

TABLE TOPICS. 163

The following truthful hit of Scandinavian history well illustrates the influence of habits of frugality upon national character : " The Danes were approaching, and one of the Swedish bishops asked ln)w many men the province of Dalarna could furnish.

" 'At least twenty thousand,' was the reply ; 'for the old men are just as strong and lirave as the young ones.'

" ' But what do they live upon ? '

"'Upon bread and water. They take little account f)f hunger and thirst, and when corn is lacking, they make their bread out of tree bark.'

" ' Nay,' said the bishop, ' a peo[)le who eat tree bark and drink water, the devil himself could not vancpiish 1 ' and neither were they vanquished. Their progress was one series of triumphs, till they placed Gustavus Vasa on the throne of Sweden."

Thi-: word bisciiil embodies the process by which this form of bread was made from time immemorial down to within the last century. Bis (twice), and coc/us (cooked), show that they were twice baked.

Fragments of unfermented bread were discovered in the Swiss lake-dwellings, which belong to the Neolithic age.

P'ermented bread is seldom seen in Northern Europe and Asia except among the rich or the nobility. At one time, the captain of an English vessel requested a baker of Gottenburg to bake a large quantity of loaves of raised bread. The baker refused to undertake an order of such magnitude, saying it would be quite impossible to dispose of so much, until the captain agreed to take and pay for it all.

I M.A.nE a study of the ancient and indispensable art of bread-making, consulting such authorities as offered, going back to the primitive days and first invention of the unleavened kind, and traveling gradually down in my studies through that accidental souring of the dough which it is supposed taught the leavening process, and through the various fermentations thereafter till I came to" good, sweet, wholesome bread," — the staff of life. Leaven, which some deemed the soul of bread, the spiriliis which fills its cellular tissues, which is religiously preserved like the vestal fire, — some precious bottleful, I suppose, brought over in the Mayflower, did the business for America, and its influence is still rising, swelling, spreading in cerulean billows over the land, — this seed I regularly and faithfully procured from the village, until one morning I forgot the rules and scalded my yeast ; by which accident I discovered that even this was not indispensable, and I have gladly omitted it ever since. Neither did I put any soda or other acid or alkali, into my bread. It would seem that I made it according to the recipe which Marcus Porcius Cato gave about two centuries before Christ: " Make kneaded bread thus : Wash your hands and trough well. Put the meal into the trough, add water gradually, and knead it thoroughly. When you have kneaded it well, mold it, and bake it under a cover," that is in a baking kettle. — ThoreuH in IVn/deii.

^s^^ftF all the articles which enter the list of foods, none are ^,,jipvi|| more wholesome and pleasing than the fruits which na-

Vwvf ^^^^ 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 ma- jority 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 plenti- ful supply, never think of placing it upon their tables, unless cooked. Ripe fruit is a most healthful article of diet when par- taken 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 [164]

FRUITS. 165

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 trans- formable for use in the system, the cellular structure of the fruit is not so easily digested. In some fruits, as the straw- berry, 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 quan- tity 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 cer- tain 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 gener- ally 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