254 JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
as the palate. It was originally grown in pots and in gardens as a 
pretty plant, to satisfy the eye, but not to be eaten. It owes its 
pleasant sour taste to oxalic acid, and on that account, like rhubarb 
stalks, it is generally forbidden to those of a gouty tendency, since 
oxalic acid forms insoluble salts with lime and magnesia. 
The aubergine or egg-plant (also known as egg-apple) is really a 
tropical vegetable fruit, but is now being cultivated in England to 
some extent. The fruit is not unlike a small cucumber. There are 
many kinds, which can be distinguished by their shape and colour ; 
both the black and the violet varieties are edible, whilst the others are 
purely ornamental. A favourite West Indian method of serving auber- 
gines is to stuff them with minced meat and breadcrumbs, and then 
bake them in the oven. 
3. The legumes or pod vegetables are chiefly represented by the 
pulses, viz. peas, beans, and lentils, which are particularly valuable 
as a food owing to the large quantity of nitrogenous matter they 
contain in addition to carbonaceous material. Pulses, however, are 
rather indigestible, and frequently cause flatulence owing to the 
presence of sulphur. Peas are not quite so nutritious as beans, being 
poorer in fat and proteids. Peas are, perhaps, the oldest known 
vegetable, for they existed in prehistoric times, having been found in 
the Swiss lake dwellings of the Bronze period. Broad beans, except 
when quite young, should have the pale outer skin removed before 
serving at table. 
Okra pods are better known in the West Indies and America than 
in this country. On account of their mucilaginous and aromatic 
properties they are largely used for making soup, especially the popular 
gumbo soup, made of the green pods. When quite young, okra or 
gumbo pods are often pickled and preserved in tins. 
Dried peas, green or yellow, are most useful in the winter, when 
other vegetables are both scarce and dear. All dried pulses require 
soaking for several hours, and if possible should be cooked in soft 
water to loosen the husks. 
Fungi form a class by themselves. The chief edible fungi are the 
common mushroom, cepes or ceps, which have a most agreeable and 
nutty flavour, and make an excellent vegetable side-dish or after- 
dinner savoury, and the morel, rare in England, but much used on 
the Continent. All the above are cooked after various methods, 
besides being used in ketchup, or dried for flavouring purposes. 
The truffle is a subterranean fungus grown chiefly in the chestnut 
forests of France and Italy, where it is rooted out by dogs trained 
for the purpose. In England truffles are chiefly found in Wiltshire, 
Hampshire, and Kent. There are two varieties, the black truffle and 
the white truffle, the former being the most valuable for culinary 
purposes. Both forms, however, are very indigestible. 
The following recipes for the cooking of the various kinds of vege- 
tables mentioned have been specially selected from the book entitled 
" How to Cook Vegetables," by C. H. Senn. 
