Vinegar.— Vinegar is derived from a variety of sources. The best vinegar is the French vinaigre d’Orleans. It is made from white wine ; but common vinegar is mostly prepared from malt in this country. The uses to which vinegar is applied in cookery are very numerous ; it forms the foundation of many sauces, and if taken -with food in small quantity it is said to assist digestion ; if taken, however, in excess, it is highly injurious. Owing to its antiseptic and agreeable flavour it is largely used for preserving vegetable substances known under the names of ‘ pickles.’ It also has the faculty of softening the fibres of meat and making them tender. SEASONING AND FLAVOUBING 109 Sugar is largely used for fruits of all kinds, and farinaceous foods ; besides seasoning tasteless things, sugar also affords considerable nutri- ment. The value of sugar as a condiment is not always sufficiently realised. It renders watery and insipid vegetables more digestible, and in unsuspected quantities it softens and heightens the flavour of sauces and ragouts. If mingled with otherwise insipid food articles, it stimulates the stomach to a slight degree and hastens the action of the digestive organs. Sugar is also found useful in rendering watery vegetables, such as peas, cucumbers, pumpkins, spinach, cooked endive, &c., more digestible, and assists digestion in the same manner to starchy matters which are used for soups, sauces, gruel, &c. Lemons. — Lemons play an important part in cookery. The rind, juice, and essential oil all contain valuable properties. The rind or peel is used for flavouring a variety of dishes. As a rule the rind is grated, but the best way to obtain the largest amount of the essence from the lemon is to pare the rind with a very sharp knife as thinly as possible, without encroaching on the white part of the rind, thus cutting right through the many cells containing the essence. Some cooks obtain the zest by rubbing the lemon with lumps of sugar. It is from the rind that the essential oil of lemon is obtained, which is a more reliable substitute than fresh lemon-peel. The peel preserved by sugar forms the well-known candied peel. Vanilla. — Vanilla was first discovered by the Spaniards. It is the fruit of a parasitical plant — an orchid — and the best is found in Mexico. It has a delicious fragrance, and is now largely used for flavouring puddings, cakes, custards, liqueurs, and chocolate, &c. For flavouring purposes it is better to use the vanilla pods or vanilla sugar than the essence of vanilla, the odour of which quickly escapes. Ginger. — Ginger is the tuber of a perennial plant called Zingiber officinale, growing chiefly in the West Indies. It is tbe most generally used of all spices, and is very agreeable and wholesome. There are two kinds of ginger — the white and the black. The former is considered the best, and is prepared by washing and scalding the tubers, and then scraping them and drying them in the sun ; in the black ginger the scraping process is omitted, it being merely scalded before being dried. Ginger is much used in culinary operations, especially by confectioners, and it also finds its way into sauces, beer, spiced wines, and other beverages. Grated green ginger is deemed by epicures to be an important item in a dish of curry.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Vinegar.— Vinegar is derived from a variety of sources. The best vinegar is the French vinaigre d’Orleans. It is made from white wine ; but common vinegar is mostly prepared from malt in this country. The uses to which vinegar is applied in cookery are very numerous ; it forms the foundation of many sauces, and if taken -with food in small quantity it is said to assist digestion ; if taken, however, in excess, it is highly injurious. Owing to its antiseptic and agreeable flavour it is largely used for preserving vegetable substances known under the names of ‘ pickles.’ It also has the faculty of softening the fibres of meat and making them tender. Sugar is largely used for fruits of all kinds, and farinaceous foods ; besides seasoning tasteless things, sugar also affords considerable nutriment. The value of sugar as a condiment is not always sufficiently realised. It renders watery and insipid vegetables more digestible, and in unsuspected quantities it softens and heightens the flavour of sauces and ragouts. If mingled with otherwise insipid food articles, it stimulates the stomach to a slight degree and hastens the action of the digestive organs. Sugar is also found useful in rendering watery vegetables, such as peas, cucumbers, pumpkins, spinach, cooked endive, &c., more digestible, and assists digestion in the same manner to starchy matters which are used for soups, sauces, gruel, &c. Lemons. — Lemons play an important part in cookery. The rind, juice, and essential oil all contain valuable properties. The rind or peel is used for flavouring a variety of dishes. As a rule the rind is grated, but the best way to obtain the largest amount of the essence from the lemon is to pare the rind with a very sharp knife as thinly as possible, without encroaching on the white part of the rind, thus cutting right through the many cells containing the essence. Some cooks obtain the zest by rubbing the lemon with lumps of sugar. It is from the rind that the essential oil of lemon is obtained, which is a more reliable substitute than fresh lemon-peel. The peel preserved by sugar forms the well-known candied peel. Vanilla. — Vanilla was first discovered by the Spaniards. It is the fruit of a parasitical plant — an orchid — and the best is found in Mexico. It has a delicious fragrance, and is now largely used for flavouring puddings, cakes, custards, liqueurs, and chocolate, &c. For flavouring purposes it is better to use the vanilla pods or vanilla sugar than the essence of vanilla, the odour of which quickly escapes. Ginger. — Ginger is the tuber of a perennial plant called Zingiber officinale, growing chiefly in the West Indies. It is tbe most generally used of all spices, and is very agreeable and wholesome. There are two kinds of ginger — the white and the black. The former is considered the best, and is prepared by washing and scalding the tubers, and then scraping them and drying them in the sun ; in the black ginger the scraping process is omitted, it being merely scalded before being dried. Ginger is much used in culinary operations, especially by confectioners, and it also finds its way into sauces, beer, spiced wines, and other beverages. Grated green ginger is deemed by epicures to be an important item in a dish of curry.

The new century cookery book