NOTES ON FOODS.
PEACHES, of which there are many varieties, have always held a high place on the list of choice and attractive fruits. There are white peaches and yellow ones. The white varieties in general are flavorsome than the yellow. Another contrast in hits remarkable fruit is in the relation of the stone to the flesh resulting in cling-stone, semi-cling and free-stone peaches. The worms prefer the free-stone as living conditions for them are better than in the cling varieties.
It is difficult to thoroughly wash the fur-like skin of the peach and as it has comparatively little value anyway peeling the fruit is advised.
The writer had the privilege, many years ago, of selling peaches from odor to door in northern Pennsylvania and as the doors were few and far between and the vehicle horse driven there was plenty of time to eat peaches every day during the selling season. We can vouch for the fact that it is possible to get and fed up on certain foods for when it comes to peaches, even after more than a quarter of a century, we soon note the symptom “easy satiety”.
Sliced peaches and cream always go over in a big way for dessert. They are perfectly good without sugar or other sweetening. Probably there is no need to mention fresh peach ice cream. Just three ingredients are required to make the perfect product, fresh peaches, cream and sweetening. (It just happens that practically no one will eat much unsweetened ice cream.).
In addition to the relatively high calcium and potassium content this fruit his considerable of what it takes in the way of vitamins, especially several factors of the B complex and also the antiscorbutic vitamin C.
This latter is of course destroyed in the cooking and canning processes.
As a mild laxative and diuretic the peach has a well proven reputation but dont expect too much from one or two. Eat them ad lib. and prescribe them in season with a free hand.
PEARS are available in the large markets the greater part of the year, so why buy the canned product when the fresh fruit is so superior in value? There are many varieties of pears and one of the most delicious is the seckel pear (not sickle). This small, sweet, brown colored pear was first introduced by a Mr.Seckel of the state of Pennsylvania. Served with cream it is absolutely second to nothing on the bill of fare.
There are some few people who are allergic to pears and in two instances the same individual was also allergic to bee stings and even to very small amounts of honey. In both cases there was a strong family history of tuberculosis. This again calls to our attention the extreme sensitization induced by the tuberculous diathesis.
The sweetest pears may be eaten freely by diabetic patients without raising either the blood or urinary sugar. We have frequently seen most beneficial effects in diabetics from a one hundred percent raw fruit diet for in the dim and far distant millenniums of time man was principally, if not solely, a fruit eater. That was before anybody ever heard of diabetes and probably before there was any such disease to plague mankind. Degenerative diseases are largely the result of too much meat and gravy, bread and butter, ham and eggs as well as plenty of other unnatural things-too much of the wrong foods and drinks and too little of the right ones.
Both the apple and the pear have lost much in value through many centuries of one sided cultivation for size, taste and appearance. However, these fruits are nevertheless exceedingly important from a health standpoint and should be eaten early, late and often. Fresh pear cider is a real treat, by the way. Wish more inventive and would concentrate on producing a simple, powerful, efficient, easily operated, easily cleaned, moderately priced juice extractor.
There seems to be something wrong with about every type on the market. Every household should own at least some kind of such device and use it.
PLUMS often a wide variety of color and flavor. There is everything from “brut” and “extra sec” to almost honey sweetness and many varieties have plenty of “bouquet”. Plums are beneficial for the liver and are corrective in many acidosis conditions. They have a reputation in the back woods country for relieving gouty, rheumatic and kidney troubles. Certain it is that they are moderately laxative and a million times better for one than a dose of salts or other devilish dope sold to the constipated public. However, if one or two plums fail to produce results twenty or thirty may prove quite effective and not in the least detrimental to ones well being. Plums should be washed thoroughly. It is them unnecessary to attempt to peal them. The skins are somewhat laxative.
PRUNES: All prunes were once plums but, thank goodness, not all plums will become prunes (dried plums).
The larger prunes are sweeter and contain less oxalic acid than the small ones. The finest prunes are said to be those which come from the Santa Clara Valley in California. After all there are many worse foods than prunes and they have a real value when properly processed. They are mildly laxative and help in providing a light meal.
Only unsulphured prunes should be purchased. Every one should add his weight to the consumer demand for unsulphured dried fruits.
Eugene passed away at his country home on Spring Hill, Tuscarora Township, Bradford County, PA. He had been in ill health for several months. His wife, the former Caroline Davis, whom he had married in Philadelphia in 1910, had passed away in 1961. They spent most of their marriage lives in Swarthmore, PA.
Dr. Underhill was a member of the United Lodge of Theosophy, a member of the Philadelphia County Medical Society, and the Pennsylvania Medical Society. He was also the editor of the Homœopathic Recorder.