FoodNetArchive

Farm and home cook book and housekeeper's assistant

1907

Page 130

Presented as published in 1907. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
I save the juices from canned fruits when I make pies, to use to dissolve the gelatine, or when canned fruits are used for the salad, pour off the juice and use it in this way. Serve fruit salad with whipped cream. — [Mrs. C. W. K., 111. Beverages and Syrups OLD water would suffice as a beverage for man, were he minded to so limit himself, and providing the water was pure, the cause of good health would certainly be better served by abstinence from some of the con- coctions and brews that have followed in the wake of civilization. However, this is not saying that water is the only healthful drink. When properly made, and not indulged in to excess, the beverages prepared according to the following recipes will be found to be not only harm- less, but pleasant, nutritious and refreshing — making all due allowances for those who, on account of some organic trouble or physical disability, have been cautioned by their physicians to abstain from certain drinks. Drinking Water It is of the utmost importance that water used for drinking and cooking should be absolutely pure. To be careless about this matter is to invite malaria, typhoid and many other dan- gerous diseases. If any doubt exists as to the purity of the water, which supplies your family, have it examined. Often this question of drinking water is the hinge on which the whole subject of health turns. Filters require great care and close attention to secure absolute cleanliness, by frequent changes of the filtering material, or they will only make a bad matter worse. The safest way is to boil water, when its purity is doubtful, and cool it in clean, tightly corked bottles. Boiling destroys disease germs. The well or source of water supply should on no account be situated anywhere near to barn, stable, cesspools, manure heaps, earth closets, or any other possible means of contam- ination, since the fluid from these filters through the earth and is often carried considerable distances, finally joining veins or springs of water that flow to the well. Look into this water question most carefully, and spare neither trouble nor expense to make it right. Remember, there is no health- ful substitute for pure water — nature's provision for one of man's chief needs. 195 196 FARM AND HOME COOK BOOK Milk and Its Care Milk, though classed as a beverage, is in reality a food. However, milk alone, as a food, would not suffice for the average adult, who requires well-balanced food, in which the liquid does not exceed the other needful food elements, but when milk is taken with a meal, less other food is required. Raw milk should be sipped very slowly, and if a very little lime or barley water is added, it can be retained and digested by the most delicate stomach.