EXTENSION COURSE IN VEGETABLE FOODS. 55 



CHOOSING, SORTING, AND CLEANING VEGETABLES. 



Careful choosing, sorting, and cleaning should precede any process 

 of cookery. 



Medium-sized vegetables are always to be preferred to the over- 

 large. 



Plants grown slowly are liable to be tough and corky, while those 

 having abundant moisture and sunlight are crisp, tender, and well 

 flavored. 



The shorter the time and journey between garden and table the 

 better for green plants. It is wiser not to gather vegetables while 

 they feel the effects of the midday sun, but rather to pick them after 

 the dew has evaporated in the morning, or, if that is not possible, in 

 the cool of the late afternoon. 



Wilted vegetables can never be wholly satisfactory, but may be 

 improved by careful washing and removal of inferior portions, and 

 then soaking in cold water, or, in the case of salad plants, by wrapping 

 in a damp cloth. 



The soaking of vegetables in cold water to freshen them probably 

 extracts some of the valuable saline matter. When they are blanched 

 in hot water or parboiled still more mineral matter is lost. If boiled 

 in considerable water, of which no use is made, some of the soluble 

 saline matter is wasted. This mineral matter is generally conceded 

 to be valuable. It would be of great importance if the dietary were 

 such that little was obtained from other sources, such as fresh fruits, 

 salad plants, and other foods with a reasonably high ash content. It 

 has already been indicated how the waste may sometimes be avoided 

 by using the water for soup. 



Often it is convenient and wise to cook a double portion of a vege- 

 table and serve part of it a second day in a different form. This 

 should not be attempted in warm weather unless a refrigerator is 

 available. Ordinarily a vegetable well salted while cooking and 

 drained and cooled quickly will keep 24 or 48 hours in cool weather. 



A double quantity of potatoes may be cooked one day, part to serve 

 as plain boiled or mashed to-day while the firmer ones are reserved to 

 broil or grill in slices, fry, or cream the next day. When gas or oil is 

 the fuel this is an economy as well as a convenience, for it would take 

 30 minutes to boil fresh potatoes and only 10 minutes to reheat them. 



Most vegetables are lacking in fat, so it is added in some form 

 while preparing them for the table or they are served with fat meats, 

 etc. So far as the need of the human body goes it makes little differ- 

 ence whether this fat is in cheap or expensive form, whether the veg- 

 etable is cooked with fat or dressed with cream or salad oil ; one form 

 may be more agreeable to some than another. 



