iby BULLETIN 123, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
before preparing them for the table, to remove any hellebore, copper 
salts, or other poison which may still adhere to them. 
During the cleaning process it is advisable to sort out the coarsest 
portions to add to soup materials; the next best may not be attractive 
to serve by themselves, but can be cut or shredded for combination 
with other materials, while the best of all—the heart of the cabbage, 
celery, or lettuce—should be served in the least elaborate way with 
salt or a simple dressing. 
No plan for serving salads should be encouraged which leads to a 
waste of food material. For example, if the outer portion of a cab- 
bage is to be used for a salad bowl, dig out the center after cutting 
a layer from the top. Chop this fine, mix with dressing, and pack 
in the case of larger leaves which were left in place; later, any dress- 
ing adhering to these larger leaves may be washed off and they may 
be used for a scallop or soup. Many materials may be combined 
with the cabbage, celery, and lettuce in salad making; for instance, 
raw apples, pears, or radishes, or canned fruit, such as pears cut in 
slices or cubes. 
Lettuce is the principal salad plant in this country both for use 
alone and in combination with other foods. There are many varieties, 
adapted to different conditions, but all may be classed under two 
general heads—the cabbage lettuce, where the heads are solid and 
compact, and the cos lettuce, where the leaves are long, loose, and 
sometimes less delicate. Romaine is an example of cos lettuce. 
There are also varieties with blanched centers and others with curly, 
dark-tinged leaves. 
Other good salad plants are chicory and its near relative, endive, 
both of which are improved by being blanched for a few days before 
they are picked; corn salad or lamb’s lettuce, a small plant often 
found in city markets; sorrel, wild and cultivated; some young and 
tender seaweeds; and many mild-flavored plants or weeds. Others 
are better for partial cooking, even if served cold as salads. 
Celery in its wild state is an unpromising if not harmful vegetable; 
but by cultivation, and especially by blanching its leafstalks, it has 
been made into an excellent salad plant, sometimes said to have cer- 
tain medicinal virtues. The fibrous outer stalks and larger white 
leaves of a bunch of celery should be reserved for soup making. 
Some of the larger stalks, too stringy to serve whole, may be cut up 
and used in salads, or if too tough for that, may be cut, cooked, and 
added to soups or served with white sauce, perhaps on toast. The 
tender inner stalks should be served plain to eat with salt. Some- 
times the groove in the stalk is filled with prepared cheese. The 
center of the root is a delicate morsel. Leaves and root may be dried 
to flavor future soups. Celery exposed to contamination in unclean 
cars, markets, and wagons, must be carefully washed before it is safe 
