This section is from the book "Mrs. Rorer's Diet For The Sick", by Sarah Tyson Rorer. Also available from Amazon: Mrs. Rorer's Diet For The Sick.
Where fruit juices are to be used for the sick, make them fresh each day. Keep the fruit in a cold place, mash and squeeze it as wanted.
The following table gives the average composition of a few of our common fruits (after Bauer - Yeo):
Peach | Strawberry | Orange (pulp only) | |||||
Water............ | 83.58 | 83.03 | 80.03 | 78.18 | 87.66 | 84.77 | 89.01 |
Nitrogenous Mat. ters.......... | 0.39 | 0.36 | 0.651 | 0.59 | 1.07 | 0.51 | o.73 |
Free Acids......... | 0.84 | 0.20 | 0.92 | 0.79 | o.93 | 2.15 | 2.44 |
Sugar......... | 7.73 | 8.26 | 4.48 | 14.36 | 6.28 | 6.38 | 4.59 |
Other non.Nitrogenous Matters.. | 5.17 | 3.54 | 7.17 | 1.96 | 0.48 | 0.90 | 0.95 |
Cellulose and Ker. nel......... | 1.98 | 4.30 | 6.06 | 3.6o | 2.32 | 4.57 | 1.79 |
Ash .............. | 0.31 | 0.31 | 0.69 | o.53 | 0.81 | 0.72 | 0.49 |
The following gives the composition of certain dried fruits:
Apple | Cherry | |||
Water ........................ | 27.95 | 49.88 | 32.02 | 31.20 |
Nitrogenous Matters........... | 1.28 | 2.07 | 2.42 | 4.01 |
Fat ........................... | 0.82 | 0.30 | 0.49 | 1.44 |
Free Acid.............. | 3.60 | - | - | 1.21 |
Sugar................ | 42.83 | 31.22 | 54.26 | 49.79 |
Other non.Nitrogenous Matters. | 17.0 | 14.29 | 748 | 4.51 |
Cellulose and Seeds.............. | 4.95 | 0.61 | 1.72 | 4.98 |
Ash ........................... | 1.57 | 1.63 | 1.21 | 2.86 |
The above tables show that the nutritive value of fruits consists of a small amount of nitrogenous matter, and a goodly quantity of sugar. They are valuable, however, for the vegetable acids and salts they contain. Malic acid is found in apples, pears, peaches, apricots, currants, mangoes, gooseberries and plums; tartaric acid in grapes; and citric acid in all the citrus fruits; they possess valuable antiscorbutic properties. Some fruits contain agreeable aromatic oils, others contain a large amount of pectin or vegetable jelly; the most important among the latter, are the guava, quince, banana, crab apple and the ordinary apple.
 
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