A Florida method ‘‘H. R.”’ (Farmer and Fruit Grower) is to gather the figs when fully ripe but before they crack open. The fruit should be placed “in a wire basket and dip it into a deep kettle of hot lye made from wood ashes. Let it remain in the lye a minute or two to remove the gum and milk and until the figs begin to shrivel slightly. Let all the lye drip off the figs, place them in a kettle or vat of boiling syrup, and let them remain in it three or four minutes. Then dip them out with a skimmer, let the syrup run off entirely and place the fruit at once in a dryer or evaporator. When sufficiently dry let them become perfectly cool and pack very close in drums or boxes, pressing the fruit down compactly with a small lever.” Figs form their own sugar in packing but spices may be placed between the layers, or the Southern sweet bay, if time and fancy so dictate. A simpler method is to pick when ripe and dry on trays in the sun, turning every day and pressing flat with the hand. Pack in layers and keep in a dry place. CHAPTER XXII THE DATE—THE COCOANUT Phenix Dactilifera Cocos—Nuctfera—Phenicacee : HE date, whether fruit or tree, instinctively brings to mind the islands of the desert: the cocoanut those of the tropical seas. Differing thus widely as to natural habitat and as to type of fruit there are neverthe- less necessarily striking points of resemblance and similar- ity of general products presented by these two stately, graceful members of the Palm Family, and by the increase and scattering of the human family they have become more closely associated as to places of growth. The general contour of the trees and bunching of the fruit in the bushy tops are the same; the fibre of the leaf-stems of both is used in the manufacture of cordage, the leaves themselves for mats, baskets, and innumerable other products; the wood for local building purposes or imported for making up into highly polished furniture or choice woodwork. Both these palms yield quantities of sap, known as “‘toddy,” and it is a common, yearly practice to tap them. The toddy, unfermented, is much liked as a drink and when in this condition and boiled down the syrup called ‘‘jaggery’’ is obtained, which in turn yields another product: sugar; about one pound resulting from four of the syrup, it is estimated. Fermented, the sap becomes palm wine or is distilled into arrack. The heart 271 272 FRUIT RECIPES or terminal bud of these palms, called the “cabbage,” is sweet, tender, and nutty, but it istoo luxurious an article of diet to be often indulged in, as its removal causes the death of the tree. The ends of the leaf-stalks, however, are almost identical in texture and flavour and are used as a vegetable. With these points of similarity the general resemblance in appearance and food values of the trees ceases for the fruits borne by them are totally unlike in form and kind of nutriment. The date’s distinctive and preponderating element is sugar; that of the cocoanut, oil. The small proportion of fat contained in the date is chiefly in its stones or pits which are sometimes roasted and ground for use as a substitute for coffee and sometimes ground un- roasted to secure the oil contained in them. The cake or paste remaining from the latter process is given to camels as food, as are also types of imperfect dates. The dates themselves,when compressed in preparing them into dried cakes for future use, give out a syrup whichisused in cookery like molasses, and the crushed fruit may be fermented for date wine. So concentrated has nature made the food value of the date, so powerful and readily carried a store- house of energy, that in some countries the killing of a date-palm is a criminal offence. It is true that dates contain a very small per cent.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

A Florida method ‘‘H. R.”’ (Farmer and Fruit Grower) is to gather the figs when fully ripe but before they crack open. The fruit should be placed “in a wire basket and dip it into a deep kettle of hot lye made from wood ashes. Let it remain in the lye a minute or two to remove the gum and milk and until the figs begin to shrivel slightly. Let all the lye drip off the figs, place them in a kettle or vat of boiling syrup, and let them remain in it three or four minutes. Then dip them out with a skimmer, let the syrup run off entirely and place the fruit at once in a dryer or evaporator. When sufficiently dry let them become perfectly cool and pack very close in drums or boxes, pressing the fruit down compactly with a small lever.” Figs form their own sugar in packing but spices may be placed between the layers, or the Southern sweet bay, if time and fancy so dictate. A simpler method is to pick when ripe and dry on trays in the sun, turning every day and pressing flat with the hand. Pack in layers and keep in a dry place. CHAPTER XXII THE DATE—THE COCOANUT Phenix Dactilifera Cocos—Nuctfera—Phenicacee : HE date, whether fruit or tree, instinctively brings to mind the islands of the desert: the cocoanut those of the tropical seas. Differing thus widely as to natural habitat and as to type of fruit there are nevertheless necessarily striking points of resemblance and similarity of general products presented by these two stately, graceful members of the Palm Family, and by the increase and scattering of the human family they have become more closely associated as to places of growth. The general contour of the trees and bunching of the fruit in the bushy tops are the same; the fibre of the leaf-stems of both is used in the manufacture of cordage, the leaves themselves for mats, baskets, and innumerable other products; the wood for local building purposes or imported for making up into highly polished furniture or choice woodwork. Both these palms yield quantities of sap, known as “‘toddy,” and it is a common, yearly practice to tap them. The toddy, unfermented, is much liked as a drink and when in this condition and boiled down the syrup called ‘‘jaggery’’ is obtained, which in turn yields another product: sugar; about one pound resulting from four of the syrup, it is estimated. Fermented, the sap becomes palm wine or is distilled into arrack. The heart or terminal bud of these palms, called the "cabbage," is sweet, tender, and nutty, but it is too luxurious an article of diet to be often indulged in, as its removal causes the death of the tree. The ends of the leaf-stalks, however, are almost identical in texture and flavour and are used as a vegetable. With these points of similarity the general resemblance in appearance and food values of the trees ceases for the fruits borne by them are totally unlike in form and kind of nutriment. The date’s distinctive and preponderating element is sugar; that of the cocoanut, oil. The small proportion of fat contained in the date is chiefly in its stones or pits which are sometimes roasted and ground for use as a substitute for coffee and sometimes ground unroasted to secure the oil contained in them. The cake or paste remaining from the latter process is given to camels as food, as are also types of imperfect dates. The dates themselves,when compressed in preparing them into dried cakes for future use, give out a syrup which is used in cookery like molasses, and the crushed fruit may be fermented for date wine. So concentrated has nature made the food value of the date, so powerful and readily carried a storehouse of energy, that in some countries the killing of a date-palm is a criminal offence. It is true that dates contain a very small per cent.

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