As explained above, this division of the vegetables includes those that are perishable and for that reason marketed in season, though the season may be greatly prolonged in the great metropolitan markets. The green vegetables comprise cabbage, cauliflower, celery, spinach, asparagus, lettuce, water cress, tomatoes, cucumbers, egg plant, rhubarb, squash, green peas and beans, and green corn. From the following table, which shows the chemical analysis of these foods, it will be seen that they possess a negligible quantity of nutrients, a large part of their substance being made up of water and pulp, the pulp mostly cellulose and extractives, the combined organic foods ranging from five per cent to three per cent or less. If the question is raised, Why do we eat such things? we must seek the answer in the fact that nearly all of these garden products possess either strong individual flavors which we have learned are distinctly appetite-producing, or they are distinctly acid; as in the case of tomatoes and rhubarb particularly. Cabbage, celery, lettuce, cress, tomatoes, cucumbers may be and frequently are eaten raw, with the addition of some such condiments as salt, pepper, vinegar. When these vegetables can be served crisp and fresh there is no reason why they should not be thus served; the only caution to be observed is that they should be very thoroughly masticated. The chewing should be continued until they are reduced to a creamy pulp. When thus chewed these raw, green vegetables are easily disposed of by the digestive system and seldom cause any discomfort.

Table II. - Green Vegetables

The following vegetables are always served cooked: Cauliflower, spinach, asparagus, squash, green peas and beans and green corn. The regular method of cooking these is to boil them. The boiling should be carried to a point where the vegetable is made tender and easy of mastication. Cabbage, when cooked, should be prepared in a similar way. These vegetables should be served as side dishes. The cabbage, cauliflower, asparagus and squash, peas and beans, may be creamed or served with butter. Cooked tomatoes may be seasoned with pepper and salt; their acidity suggests sugar to some tastes. Celery, lettuce, and cress are used almost exclusively either uncooked as relishes or uncooked in salads. In the cooking of cabbage, it should always be put into boiling water and cooked not more than thirty minutes in an open porcelain-lined kettle. When thus cooked it retains its delicate colors and develops its finest flavor. If boiled in a closed kettle for a long period, all of this delicacy of flavor is lost and the wilted leaves turn brown.

Egg plant is usually sliced crosswise, breaded and fried.

Rhubarb is usually stewed. It is sometimes baked in a pie or tart. This vegetable is from a practical dietetic standpoint rather to be classed among the fruits than here among the vegetables because it is generally used as a fruit and in place of a fruit. The rhubarb pie takes the place of apple or cranberry pie, as rhubarb sauce or stewed rhubarb takes the place of apple sauce or cranberry sauce. Rhubarb possesses a high degree of acidity due to the large quantity of malic acid. The acidity is so great as to require almost as much sugar as rhubarb to make it palatable. However, this extreme tartness is very appetizing in the early spring when the rhubarb appears in the market. Furthermore, the juice of the rhubarb contains considerable quantities of organic salts (malates of sodium, potassium, lithium, etc.). These vegetable salts are very important in the nutrition as they increase the alkalinity of the blood, and increase the activity of the kidneys and skin. All of these effects in the functions are important ones to produce, and particularly in the spring of the year, when some of the functions of the nutritive system are likely to be somewhat sluggish. Besides these important results above mentioned, rhubarb influences the bowels, acting as a mild laxative. Altogether, then, rhubarb is a most important green vegetable and should be used freely for a number of weeks during the year.

Besides the influence common to all of these green vegetables as whetters of the appetite, we must not forget the fact that several of them produce very clearly marked therapeutic results. The laxative and diuretic effects of rhubarb have been mentioned above. Green corn also possesses a marked laxative effect. Asparagus possesses a diuretic effect by stimulating particularly the action of the glandular portions of the kidneys, while the vegetable salts of rhubarb influence particularly the secretion of water and salts by those glands. On the other hand, lettuce and celery both act as sedatives on the nervous system.

Spinach and other greens, as beet tops, dandelions, or chard, besides making a much-relished side dish, contain large quantities of a plant pigment, chlorophyll, which, as stated above, is rich in iron, and may be looked upon as an important source of iron.