All fresh fruits contain a mixture of vegetable acids, with more or less sugar and mucilage. They are mostly cooling, refreshing, and wholesome, but to this stone fruits are in many cases an exception. Peaches, nectarines, and apricots are tolerably wholesome. Cherries and plums are indigestible, and plums are apt to give diarrhoea.

"Fruits," says Dr. Cameron, "are used as a staple food in many warm countries; but in most parts of Europe they are regarded chiefly in the light of luxuries. Deprived of their stones or seeds, they contain often not more than five per cent, of solid matter, They are very poor in albuminoids; but they are usually rich in sugar, and many of them contain much acid. There is the greatest variation in the relative amounts of pectose, sugar, and acid in edible fruits. Berries contain, as a rule, more acid than stone fruit. The grape contains from thirteen to twenty per cent, of sugar; the cherry only one and a half per cent. In the peach there is about nine per cent, of soluble pectin and gum, whilst the gooseberry includes only two per cent, of these bodies. In the common fruits the percentage of free acids varies from a mere trace to about three per cent. The pear is almost wholly free from acids, whilst the currant often contains three times as much free acid as sugar. The grape is probably the best fruit adapted for the sick. As heat-and-force producing foods, five pounds and a half of grapes, six pounds and two-thirds of apples or cherries, ten pounds and three-quarters of currants, and twelve pounds and one-third of strawberries are equal to one pound of starch.

The dietetic value of the fruits is chiefly due to their fine flavour and their abundance of saline matter.

Quinces

In season: October to November.

Quinces improve the flavour of apple tarts, and make excellent marmalade, resembling Guava jelly in flavour.

Medlars

In season: November to December.

Medlars are never eaten till they are in a state of decay; they are not much in demand.

Currants

In season: July and August.

Currants belong to the same genus of plants as the gooseberry. They are red, white, and black. The white and red serve for dessert fruits; the black is used exclusively for pies, puddings, and jams. Crystallized currants in moss are an elegant dessert dish. Take some of the finest bunches of red and white currants. Well beat the whites of three or four eggs, and mix with the stiff froth a quarter of a pint of spring water. Dip each bunch of currants separately into the egg water. Drain them for a minute, holding them by the stems; roll them in finely-powdered loaf sugar; repeat this till you get enotigh sugar on them. Lay them on white paper to dry before the fire. The sugar will then crystallize. Make a mound of moss, and stick them in it by the stems. (See plate).

Raspberries

In season: July and August.

Raspberries are called travelling plants, because if left alone they run along in suckers to a considerable distance, thus propagating themselves. The best are the red and yellow Antwerp. The raspberry belongs to the same genus as the bramble or blackberry. Raspberries are eaten in tarts with red currants, or alone, preserved, or made into raspberry vinegar - an excellent remedy for sore throat.

Raspberries and strawberries will remove tarter from the teeth.