A NEW WINTER SALAD. 17 



thermometer sinks below 10 c F., and as it requires moisture there 

 would be no reason for testing it on the dry plains. The irrigated 

 rice fields of Texas, with their unoccupied dikes and narrow strips of 

 land between the fields, would form excellent trial places for the plant, 

 and the Colorado Desert, with its rich soil and abundant water supply, 

 might prove well adapted to its cultivation. The moister portions of 

 Florida and Louisiana could be used for experimental cultivation, and 

 the irrigated regions of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers would 

 probably be suitable for the growth of this Japanese paper plant. 



TJDO, A NEW WINTER SALAD. 

 INTRODUCTION. 



Nothing has yet been found which competes with lettuce for the 

 first place as a winter salad, but for a change there are so few salad 

 plants which can be had in the winter that a new and eligible one is 

 surely worthy the serious attention of the public. 



Udo is a plant which has been in cultivation for many years in 

 Japan, and was probably introduced from China, where it is known 

 as a vegetable under the name of t'u-tang-kuei, according to Dr. 

 Augustine Henry in his notes on the Economic Botany of China. 



In the tea houses all over Japan its crisp, blanched stems are served 

 fresh with salt or boiled with a soy sauce. Eaten as served by the 

 Japanese, it would not be likely to attract the attention even of one in 

 search of such things except as being the best of the collection of 

 those characteristic dishes which form the menu of a Japanese meal. 



To Miss Fanny Eldredge, of Yokohama, belongs the credit of having 

 first adapted this udo to the requirements of the Western table, and it 

 was at the home of Mrs. Stuart Eldredge that the attention of Mr. 

 Lathrop was first called to this novelty in winter salads. Even old 

 residents in Japan are unfamiliar with this truly delicious vegetable. 



As served in Western style, udo is a mass of thick white shavings, i! to 

 3 inches long by a half inch wide, with a brilliant, .silky luster. Miss 

 Eldredge has found that the best dressing is a French one of oil, vine- 

 gar, salt, and pepper, and her method of preparation is to cut the 

 shoots into long, thin shavings and allow these to stand in ice water 

 for several hours before putting them into the salad bowl and pouring 

 over them the French dressing prepared in the usual way/' 



These slices of udo are crisper than slices of celery and have none 

 of the objectionable stringy fibers of the latter. They have a fresh 



« The recipe for the dressing is as follows: For one salad bowl of udo, take one 

 tablespoonful of vinegar, one teaspoonful of salt, a liberal sprinkling of bla^k pepper, 

 with a drop or two of tabasco sauce; stir thoroughly until the salt is dissolved and 

 then add five tablespoonfuls of olive oil. 



2<;6-23— No. 42— 03 2 



