VEGETABLE FOOD. 295 



removed, or a large amount of salts will pass out. The addition of 

 common table-salt to the water is advantageous, for it helps to re- 

 tain the natural salts. The boiling should be thorough, otherwise 

 the starchy grains are undigested. From twenty-five to thirty-five 

 minutes is the time usually required, according to the kind of 

 potato boiled. Potatoes should be served up immediately they are 

 cooked, and not, as is too frequently the case, placed over the fire an 

 hour or so before meals. Old potatoes are improved by being 

 peeled overnight and put into cold water, by which process they 

 regain, in a measure, their natural color and consistency. Potatoes 

 are rendered more digestible by being finely mashed and mixed 

 with a little red gravy as it runs from the cut surface of a joint. 



Roasted potatoes are more nutritious than boiled. Potato 

 soup is rendered more nutritious by the addition of peas, and 

 potato-food by being mixed with cheese and curds. 



Potatoes are spoiled by germination or growing, and by frost; 

 severe frost almost invariably kills them, so that when the thaw 

 comes the process of putrefaction immediately sets in. 



Choice of Potatoes They should be large and firm to the 

 touch, should present no evidence of disease or fungi, should not 

 have been exposed to frost, neither should they be germinating or 

 growing, for then the starch is undergoing a saccharine change. 

 Further, when cooked they should not be close, watery or waxy, 

 but floury or mealy. 



JERUSALEM-ARTICHOKE is a vegetable somewhat similar to the 

 potato, but does not become mealy when boiled. It is devoid of 

 starch, but contains a considerable proportion of sugar; it therefore 

 does not become brittle, but i s sweeter than the potato. It is not largely 

 used as an article of diet, though it has the recommendation that it 

 can be kept in the ground through the winter and dug up when 

 required, without injury from frost. . It is not very nutritious nor 

 very digestible ; it should therefore only be eaten as an occasional 

 change on account of the flavor. 



CARROTS are apt in some cases to produce flatulence. The less 

 they have of the central, yellow part, and the more of the outer, red 

 part, the better. Carrot-pap, prepared from the juice of the root 

 without the indigestible fibre, has been recommended for scrofulous 

 children and adult dyspeptics. 



PARSNIPS possess the same general character as the carrot. 

 Being sweet, they are well adapted for children's use, but should be 

 avoided when old and stringy. 



TURNIPS contain a very large proportion of water (91 per cent, ac- 

 cording to Dr. Letheby), are of little nutritive value, and more 

 difficult of digestion than carrots or parsnips. Young turnip-tops 

 gathered in the spring are often used as " greens." 



RADISHES are usually eaten raw and often prove indigestible. 



Greens The leaves, shoots and stems of some plants are val- 

 uable for food, chiefly on account of the salts they contain, and 



