It has been said, with considerable truth, that man is not by nature a drinking animal. If present-day economic and climatic conditions permitted, and man’s normal palate called for, a universal, daily and abundant use of fresh fruits and vegetables, the necessity for drinking, _per se_, would disappear, and this book would not need to have been written. Modern civilized life, however, includes an omnivorous diet, widespread adulteration of foodstuffs, a sparsely cultivated countryside and a scarcity throughout the greater part of the year of cheap, sound fruit and salad vegetables. Such factors have produced a physical degeneracy in our midst, clear to all who have eyes to see and perfectly obvious to anyone who is of necessity brought into immediate daily contact with physical disease and ill health. This degeneracy is revealed in bodies all more or less clogged with waste and effete material, a condition clearly traceable to faulty diet and unnatural environment.

A human body thus clogged needs liquid for cleansing purposes, and that need expresses itself in thirst, since it is Nature’s voice. Unfortunately, civilized man is in the habit of answering that cry for liquid by imbibing beverages which not only do not cleanse, but which in many instances sadly _aggravate the very conditions which created the thirst_.

The aim of this book is to make known the vast array of cleansing, curative, tonic and nutritive beverages which, at any given season of the year, can be prepared from the materials supplied by a prodigal Nature.

In the following pages, much light is thrown (in passing) upon the working of the human body, the nature of disease, the process of digestion, the rationale of Nature Cure methods, the principles of sensible diet and the harmful nature of certain popular beverages and commodities.

The chief indication of the need of liquid is thirst. This statement needs qualifying. When thirst is caused by over-indulgence in stimulating drinks, alcoholic or otherwise, the drinking of further stimulants will not satisfy Nature, even if, for the moment, the feeling is stilled. Moreover, when thirst is induced by the eating of salted, over-seasoned, or adulterated and preserved foodstuffs, the mere fact of freely drinking fluids of any kind will not correct the sensation of thirst.

To permanently overcome thirst it is not only necessary to choose a suitable beverage that is really cleansing and cooling, but also to remove the cause of that unnatural thirst by abstaining from the types of food and drink which produce it. Hence the urgent need, among the public, of a better knowledge of food chemistry, of the simple construction of the human body, and of the right kind of food reform, which is inseparable from that study.

Every care has been taken to ensure accuracy. Most of the recipes have been tested, and the subjects have been arranged alphabetically to facilitate easy reference.

I have to thank Mr. E. J. Saxon for carefully revising the MS. of this book and for preparing same for the press. His wide knowledge of the subject has eminently fitted him to give me this assistance.

H. Valentine Knaggs, L.R.C.P., etc. 55a, Welbeck Street, W.

A

ACORNS.

Acorns are the ripened fruit of the oak tree. They once formed a considerable part of the food of primitive man and are still used in some countries as a substitute for bread.

Acorns contain starch, sugar, albumen, citric acid, and tannin; to the last named all parts of the oak tree owe their astringency.

Acorn Coffee.

When dried, roasted, and ground, acorns constitute a fair substitute for coffee, and mixed or blended with a due proportion of either coffee or cocoa they are used as popular beverages in Germany. It is a pity that the acorn is not better known and more freely used in this country, seeing that the oak tree is so widely grown here.

Acorns are gathered in the late autumn, when they are fully ripe; they are shelled, cut into pieces, slowly dried in hot dry air, then roasted to a cinnamon brown colour, ground, and put away in any air-tight package.

Beverages made of roasted acorns are tonic and astringent, and are thus useful in cases of catarrhal irritability of the digestive and other organs. In Germany acorn cocoa is often given to children so suffering as a temporary substitute for milk when the latter is found to be exerting an injurious effect. Acorn coffee is also thought to diminish the desire for strong drink in those afflicted with this craving. If used alone, acorn coffee is best served up as a decoction, the ground roasted acorns being boiled for about five minutes in water, then strained and served.

ALCOHOLIC DRINKS.

Alcohol, especially if taken in the form of whisky, brandy, or strong spirits of any kind, stimulates the nervous system of the body and produces a temporary feeling of well-being. This ultimately lapses into a variable degree of intoxication, drowsiness, and sleep, according to the quantity taken. Alcoholic indulgence exacts an enormous toll in the form of paralysing influences upon the whole human system. Surely, then, it is sheer lunacy for anyone acquainted with the real facts to talk of alcohol as being serviceable and useful to mankind.

There is not the slightest necessity for anyone, whether in health or ill-health, to partake of alcoholic beverages, and no enlightened Food Reformer would dream of touching them in any shape or form.

If one must indulge in alcoholic beverages, then the light wines and beers, such as are used universally on the Continent, should be chosen in preference to the stronger wines and spirits resorted to in this country.

Wine.

Wine contains albumen, sugar, dextrin, with an abundant supply of organic mineral salts. The light native wines of France and Italy, etc., contain relatively little alcohol, and thus do not bring on those destructive changes in the tissues which occur as a result of imbibing spirits or the stronger wines and beers. The organic salts in the light wines, although verging on the inorganic, may play an important part, since they are asserted to be highly anti-scorbutic. The Food Reformer will, however, infinitely prefer to obtain these same salts by eating the grapes themselves, or similarly constituted fresh fruits or vegetables, before they have been allowed to get into the despoiling hands of the brewers and wine-makers.

Beer.

Beer, like wine, in addition to the alcohol present, contains sugar, dextrin, and organic mineral salts, combined with the yeast extract derived from the yeast fermentation. Its distinctive taste is due to the added hops and bitter aromatics.

When beer is freely drunk, the alcohol, sugar, and dextrin will greedily appropriate the oxygen supply of the body. In this way it saves the fatty and muscular tissues of the body from combustion and equally retards the destruction of uric acid and other partially burnt-up forms of tissue waste. Heavy beer-drinkers either become fat, some of them abnormally so, or they develop rheumatism or gout.

Furthermore, the free acids present and the bitter principles from the hops act as a stomachic and tonic. They stimulate appetite, thereby inducing people to eat more food than they need.

The mineral salts of beer, especially the phosphates of potassium and magnesium, are often present in relatively large amounts, and, as in the case of wine, are said to be anti-scorbutic. Beer has, unquestionably, a decided effect upon the blood in some cases of scurvy, acne, and skin troubles of a pustular kind. This may be due to its inorganic salts, or it may equally be caused by the yeast extract which beer contains (see under Yeast).

Taken in any excess, beer, especially the modern bottled gaseous varieties, will excite attacks of gout and rheumatism even more readily than wine. For such reasons alone it should be rigorously avoided by those who are in any way predisposed towards the rheumatic diseases.

From a nutriment point of view, beer or stout are supposed to give us a supply of soluble carbohydrates, important organic mineral salts, and bitter tonic principles. This may be so, but the whole effect is marred by the alcohol and vinegar present. A better way would be to give these items in the form of “Sweetwort,” the beer liquid before it has undergone the fermentative, destructive alcoholic process, or by the use of malt extracts suitably diluted and flavoured with tonic aromatics. A still better way is to eat the grains first-hand, as some form of wholesome cereal food, and drink with it plain water, to which fruit or vegetable juice has been added.

The following information culled from the _Vegetarian Messenger_ of August 1909 may interest readers:--

“_Reprinted from the ‘Hospital’_:--‘A glass of beer is 89 to 94 per cent. water, 2 to 6 alcohol, 1 to 5 malt sugar, 2 to 3 the nutriment in bread crust, and half that in meat. A glass of good ale is as nourishing as one of milk. A quart of good beer equals nearly 1⁄4 lb. bread. It contains one-sixth of the energy a working man needs daily.’

“A correspondent writes:--‘_This is rather disturbing_--what is the truth? Surely some comment is needed in the _Messenger_.’

“I am astonished that a medical journal of such standing as the _Hospital_ should print such a statement. The writer, if a medical man, must be strangely ignorant of simple food analyses. Here is Professor Church’s analysis of a pint of pale ale, _i.e._, 20 ounces:--

oz. grains grains grains 18 409 water 17 acetic acid 10 mineral matter 1 12 alcohol 372 extractive matter

“Here is Church’s analysis of a pint of milk:--

oz. grains oz. grains grains 17 330 water 0 333 milk fat 72 mineral matter 370 protein 1 22 milk sugar

“The comparison speaks for itself; apart from water, the chief ingredient of beer is alcohol, described by some dictionaries as a powerful narcotic poison.”

ALMONDS.

Sweet almonds are one of the most highly nutritious forms of food known to mankind. They contain approximately 21 per cent. albumen, 55 per cent. pure fat, 17 per cent. carbohydrates, and 2 per cent. organic mineral salts.

The sweet Valencia and Jordan varieties, on account of their purity of taste and composition, are particularly suitable for making nut milks and nut beverages. Almond milk is especially useful as a demulcent in catarrhal troubles. The bitter almond is sometimes used for flavouring and culinary purposes, but it contains certain principles which render it impossible to be used freely as a food stuff.

Almond Milk.

One method of preparing a milk from almonds is that known as the old-fashioned Almond Mixture which the chemist of olden days often found a troublesome thing to prepare. To make this it is first necessary to prepare the compound powder of almonds. This is composed of 8 ozs. of almonds, 4 ozs. of refined sugar, and 1 oz. of gum arabic. In selecting the almonds for use they should not be too old, as they are then too oily and do not lend themselves to beverage making. They should not be rancid or unpleasant to taste, otherwise the beverage will be undrinkable. Pine kernels can be used with almonds if desired, if it is wished to cheapen the cost of the finished article. Assuming that the nuts are fresh and of good quality, the next thing is to blanch them. The best way to do this is to soak them overnight in cold water, then rub off the skins and subject them to a slow dry heat until all moisture has been removed and the nuts are found to break crisply. It is a bad plan to put the almonds into very hot or boiling water, as this coagulates the albumen of the nut, toughens it and so renders it difficult of assimilation.

When the almonds are blanched and thoroughly dry they must be pounded or buttered. In the olden times it was usual to place the almonds in a mortar and pound them until they were reduced to a soft buttery mass. Nowadays it will be found better to put the dried nuts through a food chopper which possesses a nut butter attachment, or through the flaker attachment of the Dana Food Flaker. In this way we get an almond butter in a state of very fine subdivision. This will answer equally well either as a nut butter for table use, or for the purpose of making the almond mixture or almond milk. Pure almond butter (or “almond cream”) is sold by most “Health Food” stores, ready prepared in tins and can be purchased by those who do not wish to go to the trouble of making it for themselves. To make the compound powder of almonds, mix the pounded or buttered nuts with the sugar (or with an equal amount of sugar of milk) previously mixed with the gum arabic also in a state of fine powder. Rub them all lightly together and pass through a coarse sieve. To make the almond mixture, add gradually one part of the compound almond powder to 8 ozs. of distilled water, then triturate and strain.

_To make almond milk_, add water to the prepared “almond cream” mentioned above, little by little, working the cream and water together all the time with the back of a spoon, until the desired consistency is attained. This constitutes a very digestible and extremely valuable substitute for cow’s milk. Pine kernels can be used to replace almonds if desired.

Almond Emulsion Milk.

Almond milk of a sort can be made by mixing 3 ozs. of pure almond oil with 1 oz. of the best quality of powdered gum arabic, then adding water gradually with constant stirring until it has become thickened, then adding more water until the required consistency is obtained. Rose water, or orange flower water, used to be added to this in the olden days, but powdered cinnamon, or lemon juice, or other flavouring can be added instead, if preferred.

APPLES.

The apple is the best of all fruits, and has also the immense advantage of now being practically available all the year round. It contains ·4 per cent. of protein, 14·2 per cent. of sugar in its perfect form, ·5 per cent. of fat, ·5 per cent. mineral matter, with 84 per cent. water, also in its purest form.

Apple juice stimulates life and activity, owing to the purity of its ingredients and the large store of organic nerve-feeding phosphorus that it possesses.

Naturally the best way to drink apple juice is by eating the fruit itself, ripe and ready to hand, finished by Nature. As this is not yet compatible with the modern view, which calls for endless variety and no end of cooking, the apple has of necessity to lend itself to all forms of cookery, and, as such, has to be prepared in many different ways as beverages. In the case, also, of ill people, the cooked apple, although in reality less digestible than its unfired prototype, yet may appeal more to the jaded appetite of the invalid.

One noted fact which should not be forgotten is that the typhoid bacillus, and many other germs of the same family, cannot exist in fresh apple juice for any length of time. Hence fruit and vegetable juices are obviously the remedy for typhoid fever, not milk or whey.

Fresh Apple Juice.

The juice of fresh apples is extracted in cider-producing districts, and is a very excellent drink. Cider, too, is good if the amount of alcohol contained in it is very small. At the present time there are several brands of sterilised apple juice on the market which are practically free from alcohol.

To extract quickly the juice from apples so that it may be available in an uncooked or unsterilised form, all that is necessary is to pass apples, from which all bruised and tainted parts have been cut out, through an Enterprise Fruit Juice Press. This costs from 18s. upwards according to size and capacity required. In this way the juice can be quickly extracted in a vital, uncooked state.

Crab-apple juice, or verjuice, is much appreciated in certain parts of the country, the sharpness appealing to some palates more than sweetness. If some of our farmers in the apple-growing districts would start small factories and have one or two machines with a quantity of bottles and a sterilising outfit, they could use their windfalls, and any ripe apples which they could not sell to advantage, for the purpose of bottling sterilised apple juice.

Apple-peel Tea.

The peel of an apple contains quinic acid, which is a powerful natural solvent of uric and other acids. Some food reformers have even advised people to eat the peel, and discard the pulp. The peel of apples should never be thrown away, but made into a drink, or added to other beverages. It should, of course, be rubbed clean, and any decayed parts removed before use.

Apple Soups.

Fruit soups are made on a general plan of utilising one or more fruits to give the distinctive flavouring, then adding some form of starchy material, such as potato flour, sago or barley, to thicken, then adding honey, dried fruits, and spices to flavour the soup. This is a strange way of treating one of Nature’s finest productions, but the modern palate has to be led, not pushed.

Apple soup should preferably be served cold, or iced, in small cups. It is a food--spoilt to some extent by the cooking process--and should always be very slowly sipped, and used as an appetiser.

A plain apple soup can be made as follows:--Take 2 lbs. of apples, preferably of the sour cooking kind; either slice them along with peel and core, or, if the soup is wanted at once, finely grate the apples on a flat grater, or the apples can first be roasted or baked. To the apples prepared in one of these alternative ways add 1 oz. of mealy baked potato, or flaked rice or pot barley, and about 21⁄2 pints of water. Simmer until soft, strain through a wire sieve, and serve either very hot or very cold. If the apples are sour, season them with honey or prune juice; and if sweet, use parsley, spices as cinnamon or cloves, or ginger. Chemical-free “cracker” or “wafer” biscuits, or macaroons, can be served with the soup.

Apple Water.

This is an excellent cooling, antiseptic fever drink provided it is not too much dosed with sugar. To prepare it, cut a few sound apples into small pieces, or grate them finely; remove any tainted or wormy parts, while doing this, but do not throw away the peel, as this, as mentioned, contains valuable organic salts which exert a strong purifying effect upon the blood. If the outside surfaces of the apples are dirty, they can be scrubbed and dried before use. Place the apples (say three large ones) into a quart of boiling water, cook, or, better, simmer in a double-lined saucepan until soft. Pour off the liquor, season with a little lemon juice, grated lemon peel, and honey, and serve very hot. Unripe apples make the best apple water, or windfalls can be used for this purpose.

Another method of making apple water is to bake some sound apples in the oven. When softened, stick a few cloves into them and sprinkle with a little brown sugar. Let the apples fully bake and the cloves and sugar become slightly browned, then pour boiling water upon them. Let them stand until the water has taken up the goodness, then finally strain and serve hot.

Apple Coffee.

Apple coffee, or apple tea as it is sometimes styled, as sold commercially, is made by taking a quantity of apple rings or pippins, drying and roasting them slowly until quite crisp, then grinding them and storing away in an air-tight receptacle. Moisture causes the powdered roasted apple coffee to become sticky, and eventually to cake together in a mass.

To prepare apple coffee for use, add to one teaspoonful of the powder a half pint of boiling water, boil for a few minutes to bring out the flavour, then serve hot by pouring through a strainer into a breakfast cup. Add milk or cream and lemon juice if desired.

Apple coffee is a pleasant beverage if nicely made, but people soon tire of it and return to ordinary coffee or tea, unless they have entirely evolved out of the use of all stimulating beverages, and then they would not require even the apple coffee.

B

BANANAS.

The banana, on account of its peculiar flavour, does not lend itself well to the making of beverages. This fruit contains 1·3 per cent. of protein, 22 per cent. of carbonaceous material, ·6 per cent. of fat, ·8 per cent. mineral matter, with 75·3 per cent. water.

The banana contains a relatively large amount of starch and sugar. While unripe the fruit develops starch, and in that state closely resembles the potato. As the fruit ripens this starch is converted into sugar. If the fruit ripens naturally on the plants, this sugar will become fruit or grape-sugar. If, on the other hand, the bananas are picked unripe, and then imported from the Tropics to this country, the sugar obtained will be largely cane sugar. The latter sugar is evolved by the starchy part of the unripe banana undergoing fermentative changes which lead to the production of cane, and not fruit sugar. It is this cane sugar, developed in the imported and artificially ripened fruit, that makes the banana more difficult to digest here than in the countries where it is allowed to ripen naturally.

Banana Soup.

Pass a number of bananas through a potato masher to finely pulp them, then sterilise by prolonged boiling in a steamer or double-lined saucepan. Dilute, if necessary, with rice water and serve as a soup. This soup _exclusively used_ is said to be excellent as a cure for severe diarrhœa or dysentery. 10 to 40 ozs. of banana pulp can be taken daily in this way.

Banana Water.

Unlike apple water, banana water is not very pleasant, and it is difficult to make it palatable. To make it, put about three fully ripe sound bananas into a pint of boiling water, allow to slowly simmer until dissolved, then strain and warm up for use as required. A little honey or malt extract, with ginger, cinnamon, or other spice, can be added to give flavour.

Banana Coffee.

This is not at all an unpleasant drink if properly prepared and not burnt.

It is made from the dried bananas which are sold usually at 6d. per lb. These are cut up, slowly dried in the oven until crisp, then ground and stored away in any damp-proof packages. The beverage is prepared by pouring 1⁄2 pint of boiling water upon a teaspoonful of the ground coffee. A few minutes’ simmering brings out the flavour more strongly, and so does a small pinch of salt, if the user has no objection to this. The coffee should be poured through a fine strainer before serving.

BARLEY.

Barley is a cereal grain which in many respects differs from wheat and other cereals. The Roman gladiators were trained on barley; and barley cakes, or bread, constituted the staple article of diet among the labourers of earlier days. The protein of barley consists chiefly of albumen and casein (not gluten). Hence, like oatmeal, it cannot readily be made into bread, unless wheat or rye flour, which is rich in gluten, be mixed with it. Barley cakes are a splendid food and have the advantage for most people of being decidedly laxative. Barley contains from 15 to 17 per cent. albumen or protein, 2 to 3 per cent. fat, 70 to 75 per cent. starch and dextrin, 2·5 to 5·5 per cent. of mineral salts, being specially rich in iron and phosphates, and from 10 to 15 per cent. water. There are several varieties of barley sold commercially. The grain sold varies according to the amount of treatment that it has undergone at the hands of the miller. Thus, we have whole barley, which when ground is known as barley meal, a favourite food, alas, for pigs. This when rolled and supplied as flaked barley is best for making beverages, etc. Scotch milled or pot barley is the grain deprived of its outer husk by the miller. Pearl barley is this same pot barley deprived of all its covering layers and rounded and polished by attrition. Patent barley is the flour made from pearl barley. Pot barley bears the same relation to the pearl variety as unpolished rice does to the polished kind. The polishing process removes the outer coating of the grain, in which much of the protein and the bulk of the organic salts are secreted.

Barley Water.

Barley water is useful as a remedy for colds and catarrhs, and, when taken for coughs and chest troubles, is usually flavoured with liquorice, figs, and raisins. To make it, proceed as follows: Take 4 tablespoonfuls or 2 ounces of either pot or flaked barley, wash same and put into 1 or 2 pints of clean cold water, preferably distilled. Bring to the boil and simmer for from 5 to 20 minutes. The time allowed should be regulated according to the consistency required. The more glutinous the longer should it boil. When done to the required consistency the water should be strained and served up very hot. To season, just before time has expired for boiling, add strips of lemon rind and some lemon juice. Gum arabic can be used to increase demulcency, and honey or malt extract to sweeten. To make “Barley water pectoral” for coughs, etc., add to each quart 2 ounces of sliced figs, 1⁄2 ounce of bruised liquorice root, 2 ounces of stoned raisins, and 1 pint of water, then boil down to 1 quart and strain.

Barley water as usually made is said to contain to each pint 43·6 grains of solid matter. It is composed thus in 100 parts: Protein ·028, fat ·025, carbohydrates ·375, mineral salts ·021, water 99·551.

Barley water, unless made with the whole or flaked barley, is much overrated as a food for infants. It is better to give extract of malt (a teaspoonful to a pint of fresh cow’s milk) than a mixture of milk and barley water made with pearl or patent barley.

Infants under 5 months of age secrete very little “diastase,” the mouth ferment which digests starch or sugar. Mother’s milk is rich in diastase and other ferments.

Barley water should not, as a rule, be made from the patent barley flour, which is mainly starch and sadly deficient in protein and mineral salts. The sole justification for its use is urgency, for barley water can be prepared at once with the patent flour. One teaspoonful of the flour is added to two tablespoonfuls of cold water, and a pint of boiling water is poured upon it; it is then boiled with constant stirring for 5 minutes until clear.

BEEF TEA.

Considering what an almost endless series of palatable and really nourishing drinks can be produced from purely vegetable sources, it is surely unnecessary to add beef tea to their number.

Yet a few words about beef tea may not be out of place, in order to clear up any doubts that the public may have about it.

Beef tea imparts a sense of well-being and exhilaration, because it stimulates the living tissues of the body to increased and unnatural activity. This is naturally followed by a subsequent stage of fatigue.

Claude Bernard found that dogs fed on meat extractives and beef teas died sooner than dogs having nothing at all but water. This arose from the stimulation of these preparations.

Dr. Austin Flint of New York also showed that beef tea and urine gave practically identical results on analysis. (Bulletin No. 28, revised edition, Agricultural Dept., U.S.A.)

Urine is an extract of the tissues; the blood bathes the tissues and washes out from them the poisonous waste; these are carried by the blood-stream to the kidneys, by which they are thrown out of the body as urine. An extract from the tissues, as in the case of meat extracts or beef tea must thus possess the same characteristics as urine. Why, therefore, drink it, or indeed any form of meat beverage?

The truth has been well expressed by Mr. Edgar Saxon in the following passage (extracted from _The Christian Commonwealth_ of June 7, 1911):--

“It is obvious to all who have studied animal physiology that conservative cookery applied to mutton or any meat is a fatal error. Animals function in the same way as you and I. Their processes of digestion, assimilation, and excretion are, especially in the case of the higher mammals, almost identical with our own. When their life ceases under the poleaxe or the knife their tissues are inevitably saturated with waste matter on its way to excretion through the kidneys, the lungs, and the skin. The comparatively pure arterial blood escapes; the impure venous blood to a large extent remains, and gives the colour and flavour to the gravy so highly prized by meat-eating nations.

“So that the only way to get the proteid (or the body-building element) out of meat, without at the same time getting all this highly undesirable and distinctly poisonous broken-down waste matter is to make the strongest possible ‘beef tea’ or ‘mutton tea,’ throw it down the sink, and then eat the tasteless fibre that is left behind. The latter is rich in proteid, the former is simply a harmful and intrinsically repugnant stimulant. These are not the wild ravings of a one-eyed vegetarian crank, but plain scientific facts which cannot be refuted.

“It would seem to be, therefore, a fair working principle to lay down if we say that the juices of vegetables should be conserved as cleansing tonics, and the juices of meat eliminated as poisonous stimulants.

“I hasten to add that I am not suggesting that people should live on vegetable broth and meat fibre! The former is an excellent natural medicine, but not a food in the sense of building tissue. The latter is very nourishing, but insipid to a degree.”

BEETROOT.

The beetroot of our kitchen gardens contains a large amount of cane sugar, mixed with, relatively, an abundant supply of organic mineral salts. Sugar is extensively manufactured from beetroot on the Continent. Among the organic salts, that of soda predominates, so that in a raw state beetroot is an excellent food to remove acidity.

Beetroot is in almost universal use as a form of salad. For this purpose it is cooked, peeled, cut into slices and then served steeped in vinegar. In this state it is decidedly indigestible. The vinegar should be omitted and the cooked beet should be put through a wire sieve to form a purée. In this form it can be taken freely without discomfort.

Undoubtedly the best way to serve beetroot as a salad is to first clean and scrub the uncooked roots, then scrape them with a cobbler’s knife, which should have a saw-edge made by sharpening it upon a piece of sandpaper. A plateful of fine beetroot shavings is thus obtained which are very light and digestible. They contain also the full available amount of the mineral salts in the roots. Scraped beetroot, mixed with lemon juice, makes an excellent dressing for green salads. It can also be used to give colouring to salads or to drinks.

Beetroot Juice.

The juice from beetroots can be extracted by means of the Enterprise Press, or it can be had by finely grating and then extracting the juice under pressure. 1 ounce of juice can be obtained from about 2 ounces of the freshly pulled roots.

Decoction of Beetroot.

Take 1 large fresh beetroot, scrub, clean and chop it up into pieces, add 1 quart of water, boil until the goodness has been fully extracted, then strain and serve.

BLACK CURRANTS.

The black currant, on account of its rich flavour and acid, astringent juice, lends itself specially to the making of pleasant beverages.

Black Currant Juice.

The freshly expressed juice of black currants _sparingly taken_, diluted with distilled water, makes an excellent cooling and tonic beverage. The juice can be extracted in quantity when the fruit is in season by means of the Enterprise Press and, after first being sterilised, can be kept in bottles for use as required. If only small quantities are needed an ordinary potato masher will do quite well for extracting the juice. When ordinary wine bottles are used for sterilising purposes the juice must be bottled into them and then sterilised. If corks are used instead of stoppers they must be first boiled in paraffin wax.

Black Currant Drink.

Take one 1⁄4 lb. jar of best black currant jelly, add the contents to 1 pint of hot water, dissolve and serve hot. This should be sipped at intervals and not taken freely.

BRAN.

The bran and husks of wheat are the richest known substances in potash and phosphate salts. 1 lb. contains 93·1 grains of potash and 201·6 of phosphates. There are several kinds of bran, but that known as “Pollard” (the part of the flour rejected in making “Standard” flour) is the best for making beverages.

Bran Water.

To make this, select bran that is fresh and clean, so that a fair percentage of the cerealin, or bran ferment, adheres to it. Take two handfuls of this fresh bran and pour pure cold water over it. Allow it to stand four hours, or overnight; then strain off the clear part for use.

Add lemon juice for making bran lemonade. Do not boil or heat the bran used for making bran water, as heat destroys the action of the bran ferment. This drink is invaluable in cases of rickets, and can be sweetened with honey or malt extract.

Bran Tea.

Take three heaped-up tablespoonfuls of good fresh bran. Place in a large jug. Pour upon it a quart of boiling water. Cover with cosy, and let stand for fifteen minutes to draw. Strain and sweeten with lemon and honey, and if required in a thickened form add a few pieces of good gum arabic.

If required thick and glutinous, the bran should be boiled in the water until it has attained the requisite consistency. An eggshell is useful to clarify the liquid. The gum arabic would not be needed if the bran were boiled for any length of time.

Bran Coffee.

To use bran as a coffee substitute, old bran will do just as well as new. It needs to be roasted until a strong coffee flavour has developed; but great care should be taken not to burn the bran. It is often a very desirable thing to bake or roast old bran, as thereby it is effectively sterilised.

BROOM.

The tops of the ordinary broom, which grows freely on moors and commons, are said to be a good remedy for dropsy and kidney trouble. The tops contain much carbonate of potash, and a powerful sedative.

Broom Tea.

This is made by pouring a quart of boiling water upon a large handful of fresh or dried broom tops, placed in a warmed jug, allowing to stand until drawn, straining and serving up warm as required.

Broom Decoction.

This is made by boiling broom tops in water in a covered vessel for 10 minutes and then straining for use. Use 1 oz. of tops to the pint of water.

Compound Broom Decoction.

Boil half an ounce each of broom tops, dandelion leaves and juniper berries, with 11⁄2 pints of water. Continue to boil until the liquid has been reduced to 1 pint, then strain for use.

BUCHU.

Buchu leaves come to us from South Africa, and contain a strong aromatic principle which has an excellent effect upon the kidneys.

Buchu Tea.

Put 1⁄4 oz. of the leaves in a teapot, previously warmed, pour on them 1 pint of boiling water. Allow to stand for 5 to 10 minutes and then pour into cups and drink.

C

CABBAGE, CAULIFLOWER AND BRUSSELS SPROUTS.

These forms of green vegetable come in very usefully during the winter months. They are abundantly supplied with purifying, acid and waste-eliminating, organic mineral salts. Most of these salts are lost when these vegetables are cooked and served in the orthodox way.

Cabbage heart, the flower part of cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, first washed, cleaned and cut into quarters, can be used in salads or as an addition to mixed salads. As a general rule, it is best to eat these vegetables in an uncooked form. Cooking, by decomposing their sulphur mineral salts, with which they are richly endowed, makes them smell unpleasantly. It is quite a mistake to imagine that the vegetables, cited in the above heading, are indigestible in their raw state since, if finely prepared by grating or by slow mastication, they are not only digestible but markedly blood-purifying as well. A dish of cooked cabbage or Brussels sprouts often increases indigestion and induces, as well, sleepiness and tiredness.

Vegetable Broth.

These vegetables, with any other winter green foods, as leeks, onions, etc., can be made into a thick broth or purée by slow stewing in an earthenware jar in the oven. In this form they are not so cleansing as when taken in the salad form, but still serve a useful purpose, especially if taken the last thing at night. A little oatmeal, pot barley or unpolished rice may be added, if relished, to the other ingredients.

CARROTS.

Carrots contain a fair percentage of starch and sugar, combined with a little proteid and organic mineral salts. Carrots in a grated form (raw) make an excellent salad eaten with oil and lemon juice, or the grated roots can be used as a dressing for a mixed green salad.

Carrot Juice.

The juice extracted by the Fruit Press, or by grating and squeezing, is strongly antiseptic, and moderately palatable, and is thus a valuable remedy to correct acidity. Carrot juice is especially good in the case of children who are anæmic and ailing and they usually like the taste of it.

Carrot Tea.

Grate a large cleaned carrot; add a few of the green tops, well bruised, mix them together with a pint of boiling water, strain and then serve.

CELERY

is one of the most appreciated of all the salad vegetables and it comes to us freely in the winter time when other green vegetables are scarce. Its aromatic flavour and delicious crispness appeal to the palates of most people. Celery, growing as it does in the ground, is very rich in organic mineral salts and for this reason it is found to be an excellent remedy for catarrh and rheumatism. The seeds are useful, owing to their strong celery flavour, for seasoning soups and drinks of various kinds.

Celery Juice.

The juice can readily be extracted from cleaned celery heads by the Fruit Press or by the slower process of grating and chopping, and then squeezing the juice out under pressure by means of a potato masher.

Celery Tea.

1 large celery root (or from 4 to 6 ounces); 1 pint water. Boil the celery until soft, strain the water off, and serve hot. 1 ounce of butter, some vegetable stock, or other seasoning, can be added if the soup type of “tea” is wanted.

CEREAL BEVERAGES.

It is asserted by some authorities that beverages made from roasted cereal grains are free from the stimulating effects of tea or coffee. This statement is, however, erroneous. The germ portion of all grains contains fat and proteid elements which are analogous to the caffein and aromatic oils of tea and coffee. When the grains are roasted they develop, although to a less degree, the same stimulating principles found in the latter. It is well known that dextrinized cereals are markedly stimulating when given to the lower animals. To discard tea, coffee and cocoa altogether and to replace them with cereal beverages, is like, so to speak, tumbling from the frying pan into the fire. In the case of the latter, so to phrase it, the fire is not so uncomfortably warm as the frying pan.

Cereal Coffee.

These forms of beverage, some of which are sold in packets under proprietary names, are made from roasted grains, and are often advised by food specialists who think that tea, coffee and cocoa are injurious, owing to the caffein or “drugs” that they contain. To most people they are not so palatable as tea or coffee, although, with use, many people get to prefer them after a time.

Wheat Tea

is made from brown and roasted wheat berries to which some oats and barley can be added if desired. Grind finely, pour 1 pint of water upon 1 ounce of the meal, bring to the boil for one minute and drink alone, or with cream.

An alternative method is to take 11⁄2 ounces of roasted mixed cereal grains finely ground. Add 2 pints of boiling water, set on stove and boil, then set it back and let it soak 15 minutes. Add the white of one egg before serving.

Cereal Coffee.

Well mix together various cereals, good clean bran, and either dried malt extract, honey or molasses. Slowly dry and roast until browned, but not charred. Use as required for preparing a cereal coffee. The addition of almond cream improves the flavour.

“Cerealis.”

Take of wheat, barley, oats, rye, maize and bran, each two heaped tablespoonfuls, grind in an ordinary coffee mill--or the whole grains may be used. Add 8 pints of water. Boil for three hours and, when cold, pass through linen. Sweeten and flavour to taste. This beverage contains from 4 to 6 drachms of soluble organic saline matter to the quart. The use of “Cerealis” yields excellent results in cases of disorders characterized by marked loss of phosphates, since it contains a large percentage of organic phosphates.

CHAMOMILE FLOWERS.

Chamomile flowers possess a strong and distinctive aromatic odour and taste. They are tonic, stimulating, and soothing, and are excellent for strengthening digestion. When made into a beverage and taken between meals, they check fermentation and flatulence, and are especially good for children suffering from summer diarrhœa. The German flowers are said to be less bitter and more laxative than the English or Italian varieties.

Chamomile Infusion.

Add 1⁄2 ounce of the flowers to a pint of boiling water, allow to stand in a covered vessel for two hours, strain and, when cool, take a wineglassful before meals. The addition of a little liquorice root or juice removes the bitter taste.

Chamomile Tea.

Take six heads of chamomile flowers, a little bruised ginger, add six ounces of boiling water, allow to stand a few minutes, strain, and drink, hot or cold, as desired. This is a good remedy for children.

CHERRIES.

This fruit in season is very suitable for preparing beverages. The morella cherry is the best, on account of its strong aromatic flavour.

Cherry Juice.

The fresh juice of cherries is obtained by washing and stoning a quantity of sound fruit, then passing the pulp through a Fruit Juice press. If much juice is required, a cherry stoner will be found a time-saver.

Cherry Water.

Mash 1⁄2 lb. of cherries (morellas by preference), crush a few of the stones with their kernels, add a little honey and cinnamon, pour upon them a pint of boiling water, set back on stove, or place in a fireless cooker, for several hours, then strain for use.

Cherry Soup (1).

Take 1 pint of cherries, the juice of one lemon, honey and two teaspoonfuls of some form of starchy cereal. Mix cereal with cold water, and then with boiling water to dextrinize. Add other ingredients and simmer all together for 30 minutes with 1 pint of water. Serve cold or iced.

Cherry Soup (2), German Method.

Take 1 lb. of cooking cherries, 1⁄2 ounce of banana flour, 1 teaspoonful of lemon juice, 1⁄2 ounce of malt extract or honey, 21⁄2 pints water. Boil until cooked, rub through sieve, and serve with fried bread croûtons and little dumplings.

CHESTNUTS.

The chestnut is similar in composition to the potato. It may be likened to a potato growing upon a tree. It has very little in common with other nuts.

Chestnut Tea.

Scald some fresh chestnuts to loosen the skins, carefully remove all the outer skin and then grate them, using an ordinary nut grating machine. Mix from 4 to 8 ounces of the grated chestnuts with a pint of boiling water, simmer for a few minutes, strain and serve hot. Chestnut flour, sold commercially, can be used instead of the freshly ground chestnuts.

CINNAMON.

Cinnamon is the bark of a tree and comes chiefly from Ceylon. It contains astringent matter and an essential oil which is said to exert a deadly effect upon disease-producing germs. Thus it makes an excellent fever drink for influenza, catarrh of the bowels, and consumption. It has also been known to cure cancer. It is inadvisable to use the ground cinnamon as supplied by grocers, as this is frequently adulterated. The cinnamon sticks, or “whole” cinnamon, should be purchased always.

Cinnamon Water.

Take 1 ounce of cinnamon sticks, bruise, or coarsely powder, pour upon them a pint of boiling water, allow to stand until drawn, strain, then drink a small teacupful hot, several times a day.

Cinnamon Decoction.

This is made like the water, with the exception that the water and cinnamon should be boiled together for 15 minutes before straining.

Strong Cinnamon Decoction.

The very strong decoction, used in cases of cancer, is made by boiling 1 lb. of the best cinnamon sticks with 2 pints of water (preferably _in vacuo_), and allowing it to simmer down to 25 ozs. The resulting decoction should be poured off without straining and 10 per cent. of glycerine added to preserve and sweeten. Of this decoction about 1⁄2 pint should be taken as the daily dose.

COCOA.

Cocoa is a very popular form of beverage. It is more of a food than either tea or coffee, because it contains a considerable amount of fat and albuminous matter. The beans contain 1 to 11⁄2 per cent. theobromin, an alkaloid identical with the thein or caffein found in tea and coffee. They also contain from 45 to 50 per cent. of cocoa butter, a pure type of vegetable fat, as well as from 13 to 18 per cent. proteids. Phosphate of soda is one of the chief organic mineral salts contained in cocoa.

The beans before use are roasted, which changes the starch into dextrin and develops aromatic substances as in the case of tea and coffee.

Cocoa is seldom sold here in its pure state, as the beans are hard and require powerful machinery to crush them. We can, however, obtain forms of cocoa which contain the full constituents of the beans. Among these may be included “cocoa nibs” and “rock cocoa,” the last named being mixed with sugar and being usually prepared on the Estate where the beans are grown.

Most of the cocoa sold in this country is in the form of a fine powder called “Cocoa Essence.” By means of machinery the beans are finely ground and the oil is extracted; the fibre is also extracted, or well broken down.

Cocoa made from the “Cocoa Nibs” or “Rock Cocoa.”

Crush 1 ounce of the nibs in a mortar or grate them in a small nut mill. Put into a pot, simmer 4 hours. Pour into a clean dish, skim the fat. When cold reheat and serve. Or grate as much “rock cocoa” as is required, boil for an hour or more until fully dissolved. “Swizzle up” and serve. The great drawback to these articles is the difficulty of dissolving the cocoa, and the time wasted in preparation.

Cocoa made from the Essence.

The great advantage of the various Cocoa Essences is their ease of preparation. One teaspoonful has merely to be dissolved in 1⁄2 pint of boiling water or milk and water and the drink is ready to serve. In making, it is always best to first mix the cocoa essence with a little cold water before adding the hot water to ensure a smooth beverage free from lumps.

Chocolate.

Another form of cocoa beverage is that made from ordinary chocolate, or chocolate in a powdered form. Chocolate is prepared by crushing and finely grinding or pulping the beans, adding sugar, dried milk, etc., and, when it is in a soft state, running it into moulds to set. To make a chocolate beverage, dissolve a sufficient amount of the prepared chocolate in boiling water, add milk to taste and serve. To many people it is sickly, owing to its sweetness; to others it is fermentative.

Cocoashell as a Drink.

The cocoashells, or the husks of the cocoa beans, like the bran of cereal grains, are well laden with organic mineral salts, especially those of iron and phosphorus. A very valuable nutritive beverage can thus be made from them. They also possess the advantage of cheapness. To make the beverage, place a handful of the shells into a covered saucepan with 11⁄2 pint of water, bring to the boil, strain, serve very hot, either alone or with milk or cream. (It is best to buy one of the sifted and cleaned or malted preparations of cocoashell now on the market, as the ordinary loose cocoashell obtainable at grocers’ shops is frequently inferior and often very dirty.) Another method is to grind the cocoashells in a Dana machine or a nutmill, and make exactly in the same manner as tea, in a teapot, adding milk or cream to taste.

COFFEE.

The dried and roasted berries of the coffee plant make an agreeable and exhilarating beverage, which does not produce the same dire results as wine or alcohol, although it affects its votaries in other ways. It stimulates the nervous system and, if taken to excess, produces tremors and irregular action of the heart. It increases the frequency of the pulse, removes the sensation of fatigue during exercise, and also increases the action of the waste-eliminating organs.

Coffee contains an aromatic oil (which gives to it its distinctive flavour), a peculiar drug principle, called caffein, and also dextrin and mineral salts. The aroma of the oil is brought out by the roasting process.

In England, coffee is usually made from a poor quality of bean, served up tepid and muddy, and drowned in a deluge of water. Probably it was prepared in this way, when first introduced into this country, since in a petition against its use in 1674 it was described as “a base, thick, nasty, stinking, puddle water.”

It is always wise to pay a good price and obtain the best quality and then prepare it with due care and attention.

Coffee should preferably be taken either as a pure infusion called “Black Coffee,” or with an equal part of hot milk. Two teaspoonfuls or more of whipped egg cream greatly improve its flavour.

Above all, cane or beet sugar should not be added to it, as these spoil the characteristic flavour of the beverage and eventually ruin the digestion of the person taking it.

How to Infuse Coffee.

Coffee is always at its best when the berries are freshly roasted as wanted, and then immediately ground and used. This roasting process, however, takes up much time, which few people are prepared to give.

The roasted beans keep fairly well, even for months, if packed in small air-tight hermetically sealed tins or bottles. A slight warming or parching of the beans, or of the ground coffee, is a fair expedient, although nothing can compare with the fresh roasting immediately before the coffee is made.

From 2 to 4 dessertspoonfuls, or 1 to 2 ounces, of coffee should go to the pint.

Fast boiling water, or milk at a temperature of 180° to 200° F., should be poured over the infusion, and it should then be allowed to stand for a few minutes with occasional stirring or shaking until ready.

It has been found that coffee gives up 19 to 25 per cent. as an infusion, but yields up from 30 to 35 per cent. if prepared as a decoction. To get this extra value out of the grounds the latter are often boiled with more water after the infusion has been made. This decoction is then added to the next lot of fresh infusion to give it colour and body. The objection to this is that the boiling process extracts much of the undesirable caffein and astringent matter, which it is unwise to drink.

In some restaurants, coffee is made in an enamelled saucepan, a pinch of salt is added to increase the flavour, and boiling water is poured on. It is set back on the fire, stirred well at intervals and allowed to come to the boil without actually boiling. The lid is put on and it is set on a slow fire till a scum arises. It is now lifted from the fire. Lastly it is allowed to settle and the process repeated.

This is a common (and undesirable) method usually adopted when a maximum amount of coffee has to be made from a minimum amount of berries.

Pale Roasted Coffee.

This is a favourite beverage among Food-Reformers. When coffee has been lightly roasted the caffein is said to be undeveloped and thus passes away in the grounds. According to the late Joseph Wallace, pale roasted coffee corrects fermentation, and, unlike ordinarily roasted coffee, removes dyspepsia and sleeplessness; it is also antidotal to food poisoning and cholera. Pale roasted coffee, taken in strict moderation, may be safely looked upon as a distinctly useful beverage in spite of what may be said against it on the score that it contains caffein (which is a xanthin or uric acid type of substance).

In preparing pale roasted coffee, the correct way is to use 1 ounce or 4 dessertspoonfuls of freshly ground berries to each pint of water. It must not be boiled. Infuse in warmed earthenware pot. Pour on fast boiling water, stir with a wooden spoon, pour backwards and forwards, then allow to settle. Distilled water is the best to use. When the coffee settles and goes to the bottom of the pot it is ready.

How Coffee is Spoilt.

A poor cup of coffee is produced as a result of:

(1) Inferior quality, or bad roasting.

(2) The purchase of too large a quantity of ground coffee which thus loses its aromatic oil as a result of prolonged keeping.

(3) The use of an insufficient or excessive amount of coffee to the quantity of water used.

(4) Not allowing it to stand long enough or, on the other hand, boiling it or permitting it to stand too long.

(5) By not serving either coffee or milk thoroughly hot.

Turkish Coffee.

To make this, put into a little metal pot, two large tablespoonfuls of very finely ground coffee and 1⁄2 pint of boiling water; sweeten if necessary with a tablespoonful of honey. Bring to the boil three times, then pour into small hot cups without straining.

French Coffee.

The so-called “French Coffee,” as usually sold over here, is a mixture containing a preponderating amount of chicory, and the coffee used is often over roasted. It is questionable whether coffee made from this blend can be truthfully styled “French.” It is well known that the French people make far better coffee, as a rule, than we do in this country.

Fig Coffee

is a special kind of prepared compound containing coffee mixed with roasted figs, etc. It is sold in square blocks and is an Austrian product. It enters largely into the composition of the celebrated Austrian or Vienna coffee. In making coffee usually a small quantity of the fig compound is added to give body and colour to the finished beverage.

CHICORY

is a cheap product of the dried endive root. It yields a darker and more bitter infusion than does coffee. It sinks in water while coffee floats for a long time, owing to the gases formed in the roasting process. It is best avoided.

COKERNUTS.

The cokernut (sometimes spelt “cocoanut,” though it has, of course, no connection with cocoa) is a sort of “ugly duckling” when compared with other nuts, and few people partake of it regularly. Probably the only time when it is freely eaten in England is during Bank holidays, when the cokernut shies of the fairs force the nuts upon those members of the speculative public who venture their pennies and secure the prize. The milky fluid in the cokernut, as well as the nut substance itself, is very nourishing, and being fairly cheap, it might to advantage be more freely eaten as a form of proteid food. It makes an excellent curry. The nut does not seem to make, or appear in, any popular beverages. “Desiccated cokernut” is not to be compared with the fresh cokernut, but if it is used at all, the cokernut _meal_ should be procured.

Cokernut Milk.

The fluid obtained from the inside of the ripe nuts is an excellent and nourishing drink, and is strongly antiseptic.

Cokernut Soup.

Take half a cokernut and finely grate the white pulp, or use an equivalent amount of fine cokernut meal; 2 or 3 small onions, fried; 1⁄4 to 1⁄2 ounce of curry powder; 1 or 2 apples; any root vegetables. Stew 1 hour, then mix in 3 teaspoonfuls of cream, 1 teaspoonful of flour, 2 tablespoonfuls of butter and 1 teaspoonful of lemon juice.

CRANBERRIES.

Fresh cranberries are astringent and acid and are said to be one of the finest fruits for purifying and vitalizing the blood. Dr. Robert Bell strongly recommends them in cases of cancer.

The Fresh Juice.

The juice extracted by means of the Fruit Juice Press is invaluable in disorders affecting the blood. It can be used as an application outwardly applied for certain skin troubles. It is also a useful and pleasant salad dressing.

Cranberry Tea.

Take one tumblerful of cranberry jelly, dissolve it in 1 pint of hot water; when dissolved, serve hot, and slowly sip it.

CUCUMBER.

The cucumber belongs to the melon tribe of plants and is a favourite vegetable for use with or as a salad. For this purpose it is best eaten in pieces and not cut into thin slices. It consists chiefly of pure nature-distilled water mixed with fibre and a little mineral organic salts.

The rind is often very bitter, but it contains valuable organic salts, like the husks of cereals or the peel of apples. It is a good thing to eat this rind as a remedy for constipation, or to include it in the extracted juice when an aperient effect is desired.

Cucumber Juice.

The juice extracted by the Fruit Juice Press and taken in small cupfuls is a cooling refrigerant drink. It is a valuable remedy for outward application for which purpose it is sometimes mixed with glycerine.

CURRANTS (DRIED).

The ordinary currants used for culinary purposes are the dried fruit of a small grape. They come from the Grecian Archipelago. They must not be confused with the red and black currants which grow in orchards and kitchen gardens here. Currants make a useful sweetening agent for drinks, and for this purpose they should first be well cleaned and afterwards mashed by passing through a Dana Food Flaker. It is always wise to buy the better quality, as the cheaper kinds contain much unripe, inferior, and imperfectly dried fruit.

D

DANDELIONS.

The juices and salts of the dandelion exert a stimulating influence over the whole system, helping the liver, kidneys and bowels. The fresh leaves are an excellent addition to salads, but should be quickly grown and partially bleached, otherwise they are intensely bitter and tough. The flowers also, which grow freely in the springtime, are a good addition to salads.

Dandelion Tea.

Chop finely or bruise 2 ozs. of fresh young dandelion leaves. Pour over them 1 pint of boiling water. Let stand 2 hours in a covered vessel and then strain for use.

A wineglassful can be taken cold three times a day, or this quantity can be added to a breakfastcupful of hot water and drunk as a tea.

To make a Dandelion Decoction.

Add 4 ounces of finely chopped or well bruised fresh green dandelion leaves to 11⁄2 pints of water. Boil the liquid until it measures a pint, then strain and use in the same way as the tea. This is a stronger preparation than the tea.

Dandelion Coffee.

This is a fairly pleasant beverage, and closely resembles ordinary coffee in taste. It is especially advantageous when tea or coffee are found to disagree. It is an excellent drink for dyspeptics, as it stimulates all the organs of the body and also exerts a cleansing action upon them.

The roots are usually dug up in October, dried, cut into small pieces, carefully roasted and ground.

To make it add 1 teaspoonful of the roasted dandelion coffee powder to 1⁄2 pint of boiling water, bring just to the boil, strain, and serve, adding milk or cream if desired.

DATES.

The distinctive feature of the date is its large sugar content. This sugar is of a mixed kind, being partly fruit sugar, and partly cane or invert sugar. The presence of this latter makes the date somewhat difficult of digestion in cases where the power of digesting cane sugar is small. Dates go well with nuts of all kinds. They are better assimilated when eaten with fresh green salad.

On account of their sweetness, dates have at times been used for preparing a coffee by drying and roasting them in a slow oven or kiln. So made, the resulting powder must be kept in an air-tight tin, otherwise it will absorb moisture, and become caked.

The stones of dates also have been used, after careful roasting, to make a coffee, but the grinding process is difficult, owing to the intense hardness of the stones.

In the deserts of Arabia and northern Africa the date is a food of immense importance and frequently constitutes the sole food of the Arabs when travelling. Even the stones are pulverised, and fed to the camels. In the East, the date palm bears the title “the tree of life”: its length of life and fertility are certainly astonishing.

It is not necessary to pay a high price for good dates. The Hallawi, Khedrawi, and Caliphat varieties are the best, having the softest fibre and thinnest skins, and their price is moderate, the Hallawi, for instance, being quoted by one well-known London store at 1s. 6d. for a 7 lbs. carton.

Date Decoction.

Add 1 quart of water to 11⁄2 lb. of washed and scalded dates. Allow the dates to soak for a few minutes. Then, with a potato masher or something of the kind, break up the dates until the water has reduced them to stones and fibre. Strain off the liquor and heat it to very near boiling point. Add cream or milk, according to taste. This makes an excellent drink with about half milk. To those who lack energy it will often bring about surprising results. (Bernarr Macfadden.)

E

EGGS.

Eggs, being in a liquid form, and at the same time highly nourishing, constitute a very important ingredient of food beverages. Moreover, in their raw state they are very easy to digest. Many advanced vegetarians, especially the Hindoos, abjure eggs because they assert that they exert an injurious effect upon the generative system. It is quite practicable to entirely discard eggs from a dietary with proper training. Beginners at any vegetarian régime will find it wise to include eggs until they have trained their digestive organs to do without them.

Those who follow the “uric acid theory” in diet, take the white only and discard the yolk for the reason that the latter contains xanthin, a form of uric acid.

Albumen Water.

This is a light, easily digested food for those who require rest from ordinary foods, as in cases of gastric catarrh, fevers, diphtheria, etc. It is made as follows:

Take 2 egg whites, separate in patent egg-white separator, add a teaspoonful of lemon juice, or if preferred, use dill or cinnamon water, and 1⁄2 pint of distilled or barley water. Mix well together and sip slowly. An easy way to prepare this is to first beat up the egg whites, add to water, transfer to a bottle and well shake contents until thoroughly combined. A tablespoonful of pure preservative-free cream is a useful addition in cases where cream is easily digested.

Albumen Lemonade.

This also is a light restorative fever drink. Make thus: 1 egg white; 1⁄2 oz. malt extract or honey; juice of 1 lemon or orange; 1⁄2 pint of distilled or barley water.

Egg-Nogs.

These are forms of beverage containing usually both whites and yolks, and if combined with other foods are perfectly balanced meal-nutrients. Thus:

Malted Egg-Nog.

1 new laid egg beaten up well; 1⁄4 oz. dry malt extract or 1⁄2 oz. thick malt extract; teaspoonful of lemon juice; 1⁄2 pint of water. Serve cold and sip slowly.

Egg-Nog with Fruit Juice.

1 new laid egg whipped well; grated nutmeg or cinnamon to taste; 1⁄2 tumblerful of unfermented cider, apple, grape, or other acid fruit juice. Serve cold or lightly warmed. (It must not be boiled, or the egg will become coagulated.)

Egg-Nog with Fruit or Vegetable Juice and Cream.

An egg mixed with fruit juice and pure cream constitutes a full and perfectly balanced light meal, if sipped slowly. Thus: 1 beaten-up new laid egg; 1 oz. pure cream; 1⁄2 tumblerful of grape, apple, orange, or other fruit juice. Tomato or some vegetable juice extracted by the Enterprise Fruit Juice Press, can be used to replace the fruit juice, if preferred.

Egg and Milk.

This constitutes a full meal, but to render it digestible it must be very slowly sipped through a straw: 1 egg; grated nutmeg or other spice; a little tomato or vegetable juice; tablespoonful of pure cream; pint of fresh rich milk. Mix well together, and sip slowly.

Egg and Cocoa.

2 tablespoonfuls of prepared clean cocoashell; 1 teaspoonful of cocoa essence. Boil in some water for about 15 minutes; then add 1⁄2 pint of fresh (not boiled) milk, and lastly, 1 beaten-up new laid egg. Serve cold or moderately hot; but do not boil, or the egg will coagulate and spoil the beverage.

EUCALYPTUS.

There are many varieties of the Eucalyptus tree which grow in special abundance in Australia and New Zealand. Unfortunately, however, the tree does not flourish in Great Britain, as the winter frosts kill it. The leaves of the Eucalyptus tree possess powerful antiseptic properties. When the fresh leaves are not available, the dried leaves can be substituted.

Eucalyptus Tea.

Place in a teapot 1⁄2 oz. of broken leaves, add 6 ozs. of water; infuse 1⁄2 an hour; add liquorice or honey to sweeten. This is said to be an excellent remedy for colds, influenza, and diabetes. The oil used similarly is not found to have the same effect (Mr. Faulds, in _British Medical Journal, Jan. 1902_.)

F

FRUIT DRINKS.

All fresh fruits are rich in organic potash salts, such as the citrates, malates and tartrates. These are essential to the renewed construction of the tissues and organs of the body. These salts, as they exist in fresh fruits, are acid, but in the body they undergo combustion and become converted into alkaline carbonates so that fresh acid fruit juices are really curative of acidity when this is due to ill health and fermentation. Far different is the case of mineral acids, which remain acid throughout.

Fruits contain more than two-thirds water (in this resembling the human body) and are therefore good thirst quenchers. The water in fruits is practically the purest and most perfect distilled water obtainable. The man who eats fruit freely is seldom thirsty.

Fruit Soups and Teas.

These are real foods, and are best made by extracting with a fruit press the fresh juices of the fruits available. They are served cold or iced in small China bowls or bouillon cups. Excellent drinks are made by mashing and pulping bananas, gooseberries, strawberries, raspberries, currants, plums, or any moderately soft fruits. Then adding the pulp to a quantity of hot or cold water, straining, sweetening (if necessary) and serving in dainty cups or glasses.

G

GINGER.

Owing to its hot aromatic constituents ginger is frequently used as an addition to foods, medicines and beverages, to correct any tendency they may have to disturb the stomach and create colic. Ginger is obtainable as whole roots (green, dry, or in syrup), in powder form or as an essence in a liquid concentrated form. Ginger is preserved by the Chinese in a ripe form with sugar, and imported into Great Britain both in the familiar quaint jars and in a dry form. The latter is dry externally, but soft within, and much to be preferred to the made-up heavily sugared varieties sold in cubes and chips by confectioners.

Green Ginger Punch.

Teacupful of dry Chyloong ginger cut fine; 4 breakfastcupfuls of water. Boil 20 minutes, strain, add a teaspoonful of lemon juice, or 1 oz. of orange juice. Serve cold.

GOOSEBERRY.

The gooseberry is a common and relatively cheap spring and summer fruit, and is well adapted for the purpose of making beverages. The green gooseberry from its tartness is preferable. It is one of the first of the spring fruits to come in.

Gooseberry Drink.

2 lbs. green gooseberries; 1⁄4 lb. malt extract or black treacle; 1⁄4 pint water; cornflour to thicken. Trim and wash gooseberries; stew until soft; add more water as needed, but use as little as possible; sieve, and finally add the malt extract or treacle. Serve either quite cold or quite hot, according as circumstances render desirable.

GRAPES.

The value of the grape as a food is remarkable. This fruit is especially good in cases of anæmia, and as a restorative in severe illnesses. For this purpose the hot-house black grapes are the best.

Fresh Grape Juice.

By far the best juice is that which one gets from eating sound ripe grapes, or from drinking the recently extracted juice from fresh grapes. The many unfermented grape juice beverages on the market are not so good as the fresh juice, because they have been sterilised to enable them to keep. It is easy to extract the juice in its fresh state by means of the Fruit Juice Press and it is best to include the stalks when passing the fruit into the machine. If a press is not available the grapes can be mashed and pulped by putting them into an ordinary potato masher and collecting the juice as it runs from the wire meshes.

Grape Tea.

Add a wineglassful of either fresh or sterilised grape juice to a tumblerful of hot water. Add lemon and some form of cooked cereal (cornflour, oatmeal flour, etc.), if desired, for grape soup.

GRASS AND CLOVER.

In America there is a group of vegetarians who believe in grass-eating on the Nebuchadnezzar plan. If it is tender and young it is said to be by no means unpalatable. It makes an excellent addition to salads. The generality of mankind are, however, strongly averse to eating grass in any form although there is no reason why it should not, in common with other greenstuff, form a part of the daily diet. The analysis of grass shows that it is a very useful food. According to a recent analysis it consists of Proteins 3.5, fat 0.8, Carbohydrates 9.7, fibre 4.0, mineral salts 2.0, water 80.0.

Clover possesses valuable medicinal properties. There is a form of clover which exerts a marked effect in imparting fertility to the ground by restoring nitrogen to it after it has been depleted by wheat and other nitrogen using crops. The red, or meadow, clover has been used as a remedy for cancer.

Clover Tea.

Take a handful of clover, fresh clover by preference, or if this is not in season the dried clover must do instead; place it in a warmed teapot; pour a pint of boiling water over it; allow to stand until drawn, and take a teacupful at frequent intervals.

GUM.

Many of the edible gums known to commerce, such as gum arabic and gum tragacanth, are often found useful as additions to beverages to thicken them or to make them more soothing and demulcent.

Gum Water.

1 teaspoonful of best quality gum arabic; tumblerful of cold water; let stand until dissolved; then flavour with lemon, or any other fruit or vegetable juice.

H

HONEY.

Honey consists of pure fruit sugars extracted by bees from flowers. Its colour, taste and odour thus partake in some degree of the flowers from which it has been collected. The virgin honey in the comb is the best to use, although the most expensive. Honey is a useful addition to many beverages as a pure and natural sweetening agent. For this purpose it is preferable to either cane or beet sugar. As a rule, it is better to avoid low priced foreign honey (unless it bears an absolute guarantee of purity) as few articles of food are more widely adulterated.

Mulse.

This was a famous drink in ancient times. It is made by boiling together one part of honey and 8 parts of water.

Mead.

This also was a popular drink with the early Norsemen and our own Anglo-Saxon forebears. It was a mixture of light red wine and honey, with a little fresh herb added sometimes.

HOPS.

Hops possess tonic and sedative properties. They contain an aromatic oil which gives to the plant its medicinal virtues. Practically all fragrant herbs have a tendency to bring on sleep and hops are no exception to this rule. Hops are often given in various ways to induce sleep and to soothe the nervous system. A hop pillow is a device to attain the same end.

Hop Infusion.

1⁄2 oz. hops; 1 pint water; infuse in the usual way. Dose is 4 to 8 tablespoonfuls. Malt extract can be added to improve the taste and mitigate the intensely bitter flavour of the hop.

HORSERADISH.

This is an excellent relish to go with salads. It should be scraped into fine shreds using a cobbler’s knife sharpened with sand paper. It makes an excellent addition to vegetable drinks.