94 FRUIT RECIPES 



general term to sweetmeats or stood as the symbol of all 

 sugared and particularly mysterious goodies. 



The leaves of the sloe are sometimes steeped to be used 

 as tea, and the fruit, which is so astringent as to stop the 

 flow of blood, is, when unripe, not infrequently pickled, 

 resulting in an excellent resemblance to olives. 



Prunes, the dried form of certain varieties of plums, are 

 as food the most valuable of all of them. Over a century 

 ago Richard Brook declared them "both food and physick" 

 and such they are to-day. A German chemist, Bonneberg, 

 has extracted crystallisable sugar from prunes equal to 

 cane sugar. With their large amount of nitrogenous ele- 

 ments and great percentage of sugar the nourishing 

 qualities of prunes are indisputable and virtually unsur- 

 passed among fruits and, in the sense of being fine for the 

 nerves, may be termed "brain food." They are laxative, 

 giving this property to water in which they may be stewed 

 and which, therefore, is sometimes used as a vehicle for or 

 addition to purgative medicines. Like other dried fruits, 

 prunes should be pretty well softened — soaked or stewed — 

 that they may be thoroughly masticated and digested, for 

 they are a concentrated food and their skins of a texture 

 requiring deliberate processes whether of softening or 

 chewing. Like other plums, or plums in less mature stages, 

 prunes are apt to cause unpleasant sensations of griping 

 when eaten in any great quantity at one time. 



In Hungary a brandy is distilled from prunes called 

 Zwetschenbrannwein, which contains about 40 per cent, of 

 alcohol. In parts of France a strong alcoholic beverage is 

 distilled from plums by mixing honey and flour with them ; 

 Kirschwasser is sometimes manufactured from wild plums; a 

 pleasant wine is made from various kinds — ^wild or culti- 

 vated — and where apples are added in process of fermenta- 

 tion a strong liquor results, 



