Coffee from Dried Figs.

Kaipara and Waitemata Echo, 10 July 1914, Page 8

Coffee from Dried Figs.

• Ever since coffee has been a popular beverage, apparently, efforts have been made to find substitutes for it, either as mere adulterants, like chicory, or for the sake of greater wholesoinencss or cheapness. live and other grains, lupine, acorns, beets and carrots have" all been thus used, but the fig coffee, or Feigen-Kaffee, which has lately come into use in Austria and elsewhere, is a decided novelty. "Les Annales" quotes M. Trabut, of Algiers, as saying that an excellent coffee can be marie from dried and roasted figs, which need not be of the first quality. They are dried in the sun or in evaporating pans, according to climate, and then roasted in ovens till brown or almost black and quite brittle. They are then ground up and the resultant powder is pressed into tablets. These must be kept dry. When made use of they are merely dissolved in hot water. One hundred kilos of the dry figs gi\e 7"> kilos of the dry powder. The figs cost, 15 francs and the powder sells for 00 francs wholesale and 100 or more retail, so that trade ought to be profitable if a jlemand can be created. Ths beverage is said to be agreeable in colour and flavour with a somewhat sweeter taste than that made from chicory.

Mr. Daniel Crawford, the famous explorer and missionary in Africa, speaking at Tim 1 n-i ■: o.' Wells, aver- '■''■! thai one day ihe African peoples would nil.' ilic world. Their lii-ain power was enormous, he said, and they had <>r<.-at endurance.

by the King. Occasionally, the .First Lord lias indulged in some peculiar fancies when choosing names for war vessels, and called a number of small craft after his pack of hounds, and the names of Bouncer, Pincher, Boxer, Tickler, and the like have come down to us in consequence. .Yearly all names in the present Navy List have a long record of liast services. There have been eight Dreadnoughts, for instance, since 1578. This was one of the compound Elizabethan ship names ; but the Dreadnought is not the oldest name. The oldest ship "name in the Xavy List is the Queen, and there have been five Queens since 1212. This ancient name was revived in 1000 in honour of Qmeen Victoria, but the battleship destined to bear the name was not actually laid down until two months after the venerable, monarch had passed away. Regarding the most popular names for warships, it. is mentioned that there have been ten Cygnets, and a similar number of Drakes. But the name which has been most frequently used is the Swift, for there have been sixteen Swifts since 1552. There have also been eleven Eagles, eleven 'Falcons, twelve Foxes, and the thirteen Hawks.