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Frosted Fruits

Frost as for Grapes (see Grape Snow).

T CHAPTER I THE APPLE (Malus malus: Malacea) HE apple is of all fruits the most entirely taken for granted. It has become as much a matter of course as the universe itself and just as naturally stands at the head of the fruits as does the sun among the heavenly bodies (of familiar, "speaking" aquaintance). And, as its first letter gives it front rank in the alphabet and primers so has the name of apple appealed first-foremost-to the imaginations of men and the fruit to their palates from the time of the earliest relation (not to say actual occurrence!) of the story of Adam and Eve. Otherwise, why the apple instead of some one of the numerous delicious and more delicate southern fruits? It is substantial, firm, yet gracious and sunny; eminently practical; thus one may say, fitted in every way to stand the wear and tear of the ages. In poetry, folk-lore, and even history, no fruit has been more often referred to; its beauty and wholesomeness more constantly eulogised; standing out as the type of pomological excellence. Men it is who chiefly have written poetry and history, however divided their responsibility in the creation of beauty and facts, and men, like the apple, are eminently practical. Yet are men's hearts and minds not always won through the gastronomic channel or the appeal of the practical. The wild crab, supposed to be the earliest type of apple, lacked as a fruit some of the excellence of evolution, but there is yet, in these later ages, no flower, wild or cultivated, which can rival the wild crab-apple blossom in rare fragrance and delicacy of beauty; none which even approaches its magical perfume and charm save the sweet olive (Olea fragrans). It is sufficient in its marvellous witchery to captivate and inspire rhapsody in the most practical-in even unimaginative, primeval man. And so, to its possession of unusual virtues and beauty has been added (happily, save in the instance of Adam) the appreciation of men; therefore the preëminence of the apple.

This first of fruits is known in Arabia and other southern countries but is essentially a product of the colder, more bracing climes; one fitted by its combination of refreshing acids, substantial bulk and stimulating juice, its possibilities in natural or (whether cooked or dried) preserved state, as food or drink, to give in such latitudes just that degree of comfort to man's physical organism, material for the playful exercise of the intellect and innocent revel of the æsthetic senses which are required for complete human enjoyment. It is concentrated power which may be applied toward the establishment and preservation of health; a dynamo possessing and giving out in its flavour, texture, and its action upon the body that vigorous poise necessary to offset any possible ill effects from long continued seasons of cold, when the earth rests and humanity is prone to become careless and let the blood and liver grow sluggish.

The juice of the apple combines extremes; the sparkle of sunshine and the sparkle of frost-time, the sun's glow laughing out in the working warmth of winter cider, the frost-touch cooling the blood in the seasons of the sun. Joel Benton claimed that "the apple bears a very pertinent relation to the brain, stimulating life and activity, which it does by its immense endowment of phosphorus, in which element it is said to be richer than anything in the vegetable kingdom." Even though the value or proportion of phosphorus, whether in apples or fish, is now considered no greater than that of other food elements; this is an interesting statement as proving the earlier, generally accepted wholesomeness of apples and as a reminder that in former days men of marked mental achievement prized and placed first in their fruit affections and habits of eating, the apple, publicly proclaiming and protesting their admiration for it. And one who nowadays has even occasionally felt the stimulation and refreshment of this fruit can well believe that a comparatively steady diet of it might prove conducive to brain activity and general well being. To-day, through improved methods of cultivation and better shipping facilities, we have more kinds of foods fresh, canned, or concocted, so that the world indulges less freely in such simple pleasures of diet as cider and apples and has, by this gain, in a sense undoubtedly lost. Other fruits are also of value but to be less bound by the modern slavery of the "necessity" of luxuries, whether imported and expensive (because less easily obtainable) fruits, or rich foods of other kinds, in winter or summer, would tend to simpler and more powerful directness of thought and strength of brain.

Pomologically speaking, the apple is the Malus malus, broadly considered, of the great Rose Family, and twin relative of the pear, yet somewhat more positive in character. Its bulk makes it of as much proportionate value as a food as do its juices-preventing necessity of medicine. Malic acid, that great germ destroyer, is the most prominent of its acids, but its salts-its phosphates, are of equal balance in keepingliver, stomach, and intestines in healthful activity. An uncooked apple eaten at night before retiring (a glass of water to follow it) is one of the oldest of beauty and health prescriptions, preventing or relieving constipation, and giving clearness of complexion. The uncooked apple was of old considered Nature's complement for nuts, the eating of them together offsetting too great richness (by over-indulgence) of nut-fat and preventing indigestion. Salt was eaten with them at night to assist in digesting acid and fat: the three forming a notable trio. Cooked, the apple is also laxative, tonic and nourishing.

Fresh, sweet cider, bubbling with beauty, scintillating with sun-shafts, needs neither poetry nor spiking to recommend it, so evident is its simple wholesomeness to even the wayfaring man unless he be a fool. The crab-apple's juice ("ver-juice") is not pleasing until well fermented but in age (at even but three years) attains similarity to champagne. Medicinally ver-juice is valued. It should be mentioned here that the common crab-apple and the Siberian crabs are of different species, the latter being Pyrus baccata and Pyrus prunifolia.

Cider (with the possibility of gingerbread) and apples, salt, and nuts at the old time gatherings "by early candlelighting" were more apt to be followed by sleep and health than the complicated "refreshments" at later hours of modern evening parties. When it is realised that in any reasonable form, a diet of apples rivals the famous grapecures and is a diet conducive to beauty, this old-fashioned first of fruits must certainly come back into favour and be given its former prestige.

The following is the analysis of a pint of the cider given regularly to day-labourers in the agricultural districts of England (according to Voelker; Enc. Brit.):

Water Alcoho Grape Sug. grs. grs. grs.

Albuminous Extractive Matter Malic Acid Ash Compounds Gum and grs. grs. grs. grs.