We are apt to think of desserts more as accessories than as foods, and it is because of this that the sweet, which is so often tacked on at the end of a meal, frequently upsets the digestion.

All desserts have a food value which may be definitely classified according to the predominating element of which the dessert is made. For instance, a baked custard which is composed largely of eggs and milk is a protein, or muscle-making, dessert, although it of course contains quick energy in the form of sugar, and fat from the egg yolks and the milk. Desserts which are largely made up of starch, like tapioca, corn starch puddings, etc., may be roughly classified as starches. Those containing a goodly percentage of fat, as suet pudding, may be known as fatty desserts, whereas gelatines may be classified as sweets and mineral desserts.

The dessert to be chosen to supplement the meal must be selected with this idea in mind. A careful study of the chapter on the Balanced Ration will assist in the classification of these desserts. It should be kept in mind that acid desserts, as a fruit gelatine, should supplement meals rich in fat, or those containing fish.

Cold desserts may be used when the balance of the meal has been hot, and hot desserts will give the temperature balance to a meal that has largely been cold. For this reason it is more satisfying to serve a simple hot pudding, as Baked Indian Pudding, rather than the proverbial sauce and cake at the end of a cold supper.

Jackson Junkets

1 quart rich milk

4 tablespoonfuls sugar

1 junket tablet, dissolved in

1 tablespoonful water A little salt Grated nutmeg

Warm the milk with the salt, nutmeg and sugar until tepid; add the junket tablet and pour the mixture immediately into a serving dish (preferably glass) to solidify. Just before serving dot with stiffly-whipped cream, sweetened and flavored with grated apple or raspberry jam, or serve without cream, using either fresh or canned fruit instead for a sauce.

Irish Moss Blanc Mange

1 scant half-cupful Irish moss 4 cupfuls milk 1/4 teaspoonful salt

1 1/2 teaspoonfuls vanilla or orange extract 4 tablespoonfuls sugar

Rinse the moss, then soak it for fifteen minutes in water to cover, look it over carefully, rinse again, add to the milk and cook in a double boiler for thirty minutes. Add the salt and sugar, straining through a fine sieve; flavor, and fill the mould, which should be rinsed in cold water. Chill, and serve with any fresh or canned fruit and cream.