CUCUMBER DELUSIONS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XL, Issue 1896, 29 October 1918, Page 4

CUCUMBER DELUSIONS.

Some delusions die particularly hard —and one of these is the “indigestibility” of the encumber. This prejudice is perhaps the more ditlicuit to com bat since it is supported by no less a one than Pliny. “They lie indigested in men’s stomachs until the next day,” quoth he; yet trying them cooked, he recanted so far as to admit their blamelessness “when served with an admixture of olive oil.” Row, I take it that Pliny’s cook (like ninety out of a hundred English cooks) sliced her cucumber some time before serving, let the water “drain,” and threw this most essential aid to digestion away! Yet in lands where this fruit is most, highly prized the chemical value of that very water when it has once entered the stomach is well known; it is therefore above all things desirable that not a drop of this natural juice be wasted. Take away the water, and the digestive organs are called upon to do increased work in battling with the toughening (Hires. Abroad, housewives resort to an infallible method in order to .have fresh cucumbers —-without a hothouse —until Christmas, and even later. It is the simplest thing in (he world, too. Choose your fruit perfect as to shape and condition, being careful to select such as still have a good end of stalk adhering. Wash and drv them thoroughly, and carelully paint them over with white of egg to exclude the air, then suspend each singly, by a string attached to the stalk, from the ceiling of some dry, yet airy apartment. All you then have to do before use is to peel the cucumber in I lie ordinary way, and its condition amid winter snows will still be that of the cool and fresh cucumber of sweltering summer! — A. 8., in the Daily Mail.