Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 149, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1916 — FOR GROWING CHILD [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FOR GROWING CHILD

DIRECTIONS A 8 TO DIET, PREPARED BY EXPERTS.

Vegetables and Fruits of the Highest Importance—Many Ways in Which They May Be Used—Valuable Kinds of Food.

(Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture.) Vegetables and fruits should have an important place in the diet of every growing child, for although they commonly do not contain a high percentage of nutriment, they contribute certain other important elements which the child either does not get at all, or does not get in sufficient quantity from milk, cereals, meats, and e'ggs. These two valuable kinds of food supply iron, lime, and other mineral matter to the growing body, and also mild acids (not always in such amounts that one can taste them, such as those which are found in oranges, apples, and tomatoes). Vegetables,, unfortunately, often are neglected in arranging a child’s meals, according to Farmers’ Bulletin No. 717, “Food for Young Children,” written by the home economics specialists of the United States department of agriculture. Vegetables should be served at least once a day, as they help to keep the bowels in good condition. They may be used as flavoring for soups and stews, may be added to milk or meat stews, or served with meat gravy. If gravy is used, it should not be too fat nor made with scorched fat. Young children can have the young and tender parts of celery and lettuce, a satisfactory way of serving being in the form of sandwiches. For this purpose the vegetables should be slightly salted and the celery chopped or cut into small pieces. All vegetables, whether served raw or cooked, should be washed with great care. Large vegetables, like potatoes and carrots, should be scrubbed with a brush. Greens should be

At Work In the Home Economics Laboratory of the Department of Agriculture. washed leaf by leaf under running water, or in a large amount of water. To prevent the sand from getting on the vegetables again lift them from the water instead of pouring the water off.

Most vegetables when served as a separate dish should be steamed, boiled, baked, or stewed. If the supply of fresh vegetables is not generous, the juice in which they are cooked should be used with them as far as possible, or put into soups or stews. Experience has shown that vegetables, and particularly green vegetables, are at their best when cooked until tender, but not until completely wilted. Spinach requires cooking from 20 to 30 minutes.

Vegetables should be served to young children either quite simply or with a little milk, cream, or butter, to improve or vary the flavor. Salad oil may be served on greens instead of butter. These simple methods are better than complicated ones like frying or scalloping. For the smallest children such vegetables as greens should be finely chopped, and if the tougher portions of other vegetables, the skins of green peas, for example, are found to disagree with a child, these portions should be removed by putting the cooked vegetable through a sieve. No such vegetables as raw radishes or cucumbers, which might easily be swallowed in large pieces, should be given to small children. Fruits, which with vegetables make up one Of the five important food groups for children, are also very important in the child’s diet They supply mild acids, and are important for their flavor, for their laxative effects, and no doubt for other reasons also. This laxative effect is well recognised in the very general use of orange juice, primes, and apples. Then, too, the fruits, like the vegetables, have mineral elements which the body requires.

Fruits should be served in some form at least once a day. In general, the same rule should be followed as for vegetables in deciding In what form they should be served. Fruit juices and the pulp of cooked fruit, baked apples and pears, and stewed prunes, for example, are safest. Whether the skins should be given depends partly on the age and health of the child and partly on the way the fruit is prepared. If the skins are very tender, they are not Likely to cause trouble, except with very young children." When apples and pears are baked the skins can be made tender by frequent basting.