Summary

water as all know well who have enjoyed a juicy Bart-lett pear on a hot summer day. They also are a means of introducing salts and organic acids into the diet which improve the quality of the blood and react favorably upon the secretions. Certain fruits are used to prevent scurvy, such as apples, lemons, oranges, and limes, while others have a definite medicinal effect, as diuretics and laxatives. They are particularly valuable as stimulants to the appetite, to improve the digestion, and to give variety to the diet. Unripe or overripe fruit has a poisoning effect upon the digestive tract since it irritates the intestines. Cooking tends to soften the woody fiber, cooks whatever starch may be present, and changes the pectin or jelly-forming substance into its gelatinous form. Much the same effect is produced in the ripening process; the fruit becomes less acid, the starch present turns to sugar and the pectin becomes pectose, a form of carbohydrate. For this reason fruit for jelly-making should be taken before it is fully ripe. Fruit juices which do not contain much jellying property in themselves may be used for making jelly by the addition of pure pectin prepared from orange skin in the following way. Take the white part of orange skin and grind it in a meat-chopper. To one cup of this pulp add the juice of one lemon. Let it stand for one hour. Add two cups of water, boil five minutes. Let it stand overnight. In the morning add four cups of water, boil ten minutes, strain, and bottle. If it is to be kept for some time, it should be sterilized before bottling. It is possible to make two and even three extractions from the original pulp although each succeeding one will be less strong. When using this pectin, an equal amount of fruit juice and the pectin extract should be taken and half as much sugar again as the total quantity of juice and pectin.

Pectin

In order to find out if the fruit juice contains pectin, one teaspoonful of the juice may be mixed with one teaspoonful of alcohol. If a heavy mass is formed there is sufficient pectin present in the juice to form a jelly when used with an equal quantity of sugar. If it forms only a thin mass, only two thirds or three quarters as much sugar as juice can be used. And if it forms no mass at all, the pectin extract will have to be used.