100 A HOME VEGETABLE-GARDEN 



The time of harvesting garden cabbages depends 

 on when the head is firm and hard and big enough. 

 A hard cabbage is solid and firm throughout ; the 

 outside leaves have done their work of blanching 

 the heart and so making it tender and sweet and 

 crisp. Cut the head early in the morning and 

 keep it where it is cool. This is absolutely essen- 

 tial if it is to be used fresh as a salad. Nothing 

 is so tasteless, so disappointing as a wilted salad. 

 Preparing it early helps to keep any salad fresh 

 and crisp. Put the shredded cabbage in a cheese- 

 cloth bag in the ice-chest, on the ice itself if we 

 are sure the ice is clean and pure enough for food. 

 Keep it cool somewhere ; and whatever the dress- 

 ing, the salad will be good. Whether used in 

 salads or cooked, any vegetable must be gathered 

 while fresh and kept fresh until it is put over to 

 cook. Wilted vegetables lose much in crispness 

 and flavor. Some of the early morning freshness 

 may be restored by putting them into cold water 

 for a while before cooking. Plunging into the 

 cold water stiffens the cellular tissue, plumps the 

 partly dried starch cells of the roots, and freshens 

 the leaves. It restores crispness and partially 

 brings back the flavor. No one needs telling how 

 corned-beef and cabbage are prepared. That is a 

 dish as well-known, almost as widely used, I pre- 

 sume, as the cabbage is widely grown. For that 

 dish, the corned-beef must be first class. Then, if 

 the cabbage is cooked right, there will be nothing 



