116 HINTS ON COOMING RARE VEGETABLES? 



ding by flattening a suet crust with a rolling-pin,, 

 then spreading on the fruit, roiling it up in an oval 

 shape, and boiling it in a cloth. The fruit this way 

 will retain its virtues, and the pudding maybe served 

 up hot by cutting it in slices of from half an inch to an 

 inch thick, and then spreading butter and sugar be- 

 tween the layers. 



Some boil the stalks to a juice, which being strained 

 through a colander will keep for years, if well spiced 

 and seasoned with sugar. 



Salsify.— The mode of cooking this vegetable, as 

 recommended by an American author, is cc to cut the 

 roots transversely into thin pieces, and then boil them 

 in water, or milk and water ; when boiled soft, mash 

 them* and thicken the whole with flower, to some 

 degree of stiffness; then fry them in the fat of salt 

 pork or butter ; they are a luxury ." In England the 

 tops are considered excellent food when boiled tender, 

 and served up with poached eggs and melted butter. 

 They are by some considered salutary for persons in- 

 clined to consumptive affections. Those afflicted with 

 any symptoms indicating an approach to such a state of 

 health, cannot harm themselves by eating the tops, 

 when they are to be got, which is in the month of 

 April, and if the roots are eaten when attainable, they 

 may perhaps answer a still better purpose, and even 

 the liquor in which they are boiled, may possess some 

 of the most valuable properties of the plant. 



Scorzonera. — This vegetable is very similar to 

 the Salsify, only that the roots are of a darker colour, 

 but they, no doubt, possess the same good qualities. 

 Some boil and eat them like carrots, &c, in which case 

 they should be deprived of their rind and immersed in 

 cold water for half an hour, to take off the bitterness 

 to which old roots are liable, as this plant, being pe- 

 rennial, is often cooked when three or four years old. 

 Those who choose, may prepare them for the table in 

 the manner recommended for Salsify. 



