Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 October 1880 — The Use of Condiments. [ARTICLE]

The Use of Condiments.

The general definition of this word is, •* a pungent and appetizing substance, as pepper or mustard; seasoning. Something used to give relish to food and to gratify the taste.” To the question, why do ; iron use pepper on your food ? you reply, because you relish the taste of the pepper. A little thought will, perhaps, convince you that you mistake its use. Is it not more probable that the addition of condiments brings out thd flavor of the article of food on which it is placed. As a general thing pepper and mustard are not used on fruits. Carrying out this view, if condiments are used simply to bring out fully the latent flavor of the dish, they could with equal propriety be used on fruit. This is, in fact, the case. To convince yourself of this._use pepper on strawberries, and you will find in thorn a flavor more delicious than you have ever experienced before. You will further discover that in this case you have not used the pepper for its taste. • The use of salt is as improperly understood. It is a natural preservative when Applied to animal substances, the acid in the salt being the preservative element. When used with vegeta ble food, but not in such quantities as to cause a salty taste, it is a great improvement. In boiling corn or oatmeal without adding a little salt at first will cause it to have a bitter, if not unpleasant, taste. The addition of salt removes this rank taste and gives the appearance of smoothness. This is caused by the chemical action of the acid in the salt on the farina or starch. We use pepper and mustard on food for the purpose of bringing out the flavor of the article on which it is placed. So with salt. A good test of this is boiled rice, which is perfectly insipid without the addition of salt. Many people prefer it flavored with sugar. It will be found that when sugar is used it will be far more pleasant and agreeable to the taste if it had been previously seasoned with salt, although not strong enough to detect the taste.