THE DIETETIC VALUE OF FRUIT 1403 



MASTICATION OF KIM I Ts 



Digestive troubles are often ascribed to tlie eating of fruits, 

 when the trouble is wholly due to the swallowing of unchewed 

 particles. Kven the green apple would be less deadly than it is 

 commonly believed to be, were it not for the haste with which it 

 is bolted by secret f casters. 



UNRIPE AND OVERRIPE FRUIT 



In spite of what has just been said, it is sometimes a dangerous 

 experiment to eat unripe fruit raw, and it is moreover an unneces- 

 sary one, since such fruit is made both wholesome and palatable 

 by cooking. Among the unripe fruits that require cooking, few 

 people include the banana. Yet it is true that we in the North 

 often get them green, before the starch in them has even begun 

 to be changed to the more digestible sugar. In this condition they 

 are suitable for cooking, but not for serving raw. 



Fruit that is overripe, which means that it h&s begun to fer- 

 ment, is not a safe food, and there is no economy in eating it " to 

 save it." The saving should have come at an earlier stage. 

 Herein lies the importance of canning the surplus supply. 



SERVING FRUIT CLEAN , 



If fruit is to be eaten raw, it is especially important that it be 

 clean. This may seem a superfluous caution in the country, 

 where we are safe from the infected dust of city markets. Never- 

 tlieless, it is not wise to disregard wholly the much-quoted theory 

 of Metchnikoff that harmful parasites or their eggs may be carried 

 to the intestines from raw fruits that have come in contact with 

 the soil. Apples picked from one's own orchard, or grapes from 

 one's own vines, may be considered safe Avithout sacrificing their 

 bloom by washing ; but the strawberry, notwithstanding the fact 

 that it grew in the home bed, may easily be tainted with fertilized 

 soil and needs careful washing, even when it looks clean. Berries 

 of all kinds are most conveniently washed, after they have been 

 looked over, by putting them into a colander and letting water run 

 over them ; or, failing running water in the kitchen, by lowering 

 the colander full of berries into a bowl of cold water, and raising 

 it up a number of times so that the water flows freely over the 

 fruit. It will be necessarv to renew the water several times. 



