146 FRUIT RECIPES 



THE BARBERRY 



The beautiful Barberry (Nat. Ord. BerberidacecE) , 

 with its brilliant red clusters of minute, juicy ovals 

 of pulp, is known all over the world in temperate and colder 

 climates except in Australia — either as the common Bar- 

 berry or the Ash-leaved Berry, the latter, however, being 

 insipid or unpleasant in flavour. The former, Berberis 

 vulgaris, is not only extremely ornamental but its tartness 

 is of decided value and so recognised, scientifically, in 

 France, where malic acid is manufactured from the berries. 

 A certain, smaller per cent, of citric acid is associated with 

 the malic acid but the latter is its chief source of acidity 

 and value. 



These loose bunches of little oval berries are generally 

 too acid and astringent to be pleasing as food in their 

 natural condition of ripeness (admitting exceptions), but 

 cooked, a syrup, preserves, jelly, and jam of fine flavour 

 and colour are made from them, and in tarts they rival 

 the cranberry. Also, some varieties are susceptible of 

 being dried in the sun and kept indefinitely for future use^ 

 The bark and the root are used in tropical countries for 

 tanning and dyeing yellow. Their juice is refrigerant and 

 anti-scorbutic and they are used in fevers for their cooling 

 effect and in diarrhoeas a preparation of them is fre- 

 quently prescribed by some physicians because of the malic 

 acid which so effectively kills germs of this type. In 

 larger doses they are cathartic; in small ones tonic and 

 laxative. 



THE MAY APPLE 



Another member of the Berberidacea is the American 

 May Apple {Podophyllum peltatum), sometimes called 

 mandrake but not related to the mandrake proper (Man- 

 dragora officinarum, Nat. Ord. Solanacem, or the Night- 



