SELECTION OF VEGETABLES

IN SEASON 

Buy vegetables in their season. Many vegetables are in the market the year round, and modern agriculture has greatly extended the season for many others, but some, when out of season, lack flavor and freshness.

IN GOOD CONDITION 

Vegetables should be fresh, firm and ripe. Do not buy vegetables that are old, withered, moldy or bruised, underripe or overripe; there is no saving in cost from purchasing such vegetables. Head vegetables should be solid, with few waste leaves. Cauliflower should be white and firm, with no blemishes. Leafy vegetabls should be crisp. Peas and beans should have crisp pods. Buy vegetables of medium size and regular shape.

QUANTITIES 

Buy only the amount of summer vegetables you can use immediately, because they deteriorate in quality very quickly and are best cooked soon after gathering. Winter vegetables may be bought in larger amounts if there is a suitable dry, cool place for storage.

CARE OF VEGETABLES

SUMMER VEGETABLES 

If these are not to be cooked at once, they should be put into the refrigerator immediately. Peas and corn, especially, should be cooked soon after they are gathered, because they lose their sweetness rapidly. Greens and crisp vegetables should be washed and placed in closely covered enamel or porcelain containers.

WINTER VEGETABLES 

These should be in good condition, firm and uninjured and stored in a dry, cool, well ventilated place. Most of them keep better if they are piled up so that the air is excluded. Squash, however, keep better if they are spread out so that they do not touch one another. Squash and sweet potatoes require a warmer place than other vegetables. Vegetables cannot be kept well in an unpartitioned cellar containing a furnace.

PREPARATION OF VEGETABLES FOR COOKING

Wash all vegetables before cooking, even though they look clean. A vegetable brush is almost a necessity. Dry winter vegetables may be improved by soaking them before cooking for several hours. Vegetables that are soaked after they are pared lose some soluble food materials. Scrape thin-skinned vegetables; pare thick-skinned vegetables or remove the skin after cooking. Make thin parings except in the case of turnips, from which a thick layer of corky material should be removed. Many vegetables, particularly of the bud, head and fruit groups, should be immersed in cold salt water for 1/2 hour. This freshens the fiber and drives out any insects that have taken refuge in crevices. Leaf vegetables should be washed in several waters or in running water. The leaves should be lifted out of the water rather than the water poured off.

COOKING TO RETAIN THE PROTECTIVE ELEMENTS

BAKING 

Is the best method to preserve Vitamins and minerals. Dry baking in their skins generally used for potatoes, sweet potatoes, squash, turnips, carrots, onions and parsnips is a simple method whereby they are baked in a hot oven until they are just tender when pierced with a sharp fork. Baking, however, also includes the roasting of whole vegetables with meat, gravy, or fat, especially when potatoes or sweet potatoes are scraped, preserving minerals under the skin.

AU GRATIN AND SCALLOPING 

Are other forms of baking, especially when fresh vegetables are used with cheese or crumbs. Leftover cooked vegetables may be prepared by these methods also, but the Vitamin and mineral value will be determined by the first cooking. Only baking in the jacket will insure the preservation of the Vitamins.

WATERLESS COOKING 

Of fresh vegetables is any process in which no water is added. The water in the vegetable itself does the cooking. A thick-walled kettle with a tight-fitting lid is the necessary equipment. VERY LOW heat is used, and the vegetable is tender in a very short time because neither heat nor steam escapes. No minerals are lost and the loss of Vitamins is almost as low as in baking.

STEAMING 

Is cooking in live steam and valuable for the vegetables that can stand a high temperature for a longer period; carrots, beets, parsnips, sweet potatoes, wax beans, or those that are cooked in the meat pot so that the extracted minerals and Vitamins are used in the gravy.

BOILING 

Does the most damage to vegetables, yet it is used most frequently by the largest number of homemakers. Although there are methods that reduce the losses to a minimum, the modern woman should remember that boiling is to be used least often, and always to be overbalanced by the better methods. Most of the mineral salts occurring in vegetables are easily dissolved in water and the loss of Vitamins during boiling takes place in several ways. They may be destroyed by overheating, by prolonged exposure to the air, and by dissolving out in the cooking water. When this is drained off and discarded, the principal food values gained by the intelligent buying of vegetables have been thrown away.

THE AMOUNT OF WATER

In every case only the smallest possible amount of water should be used and it should be boiling rapidly when the vegetables are dropped in. Then the heat reduced when vegetables are at boiling temperature. They should be cooked only until just tender.

TO BOIL VEGETABLES PROPERLY 

Methods must be selected according to the color:

1. The green vegetables are best cooked in an uncovered kettle in water that is slightly alkaline to retain the color. A bit of baking soda the size of a pinhead may be used to intensify the color but is not recommended for continual use (except for that part of the country where the drinking water is always slightly acid) because it reduces the Vitamin content and breaks down the texture. Cook only until tender. If overcooked, green vegetables turn brownish because of chemical changes in the coloring matter, the fine flavor is ruined, while food values are lost.

2. White fresh vegetables such as cabbage, cauliflower and onion are strong-flavored, due to their special oils. Hard water changes these oils so that the white color turns to yellow or brown. To prevent this, add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar. Drop the vegetable into enough rapidly boiling water to cover and cook with the kettle uncovered until just tender to the fork. Add the drained water, if any, to your soup.

3. The red color in vegetables is produced by acid and needs to be kept that way. Tomatoes usually have enough acid of their own to keep the color, but beets and red cabbage need a teaspoon of lemon juice or white vinegar. Cook in a small amount of water in a covered kettle.

4. Yellow vegetables are among the most valuable and stable. That rich yellow color is not only beauty but actually the foundation of Vitamin A. Not much damage can be done to it although the minerals and other Vitamins can still be destroyed if the vegetable is carelessly handled. Cook covered in a minimum amount of water. 

Vegetables may be prepared by other methods such as broiling, panning, or grilling or combinations of methods according to the family's desires. The amount of Vitamins and minerals retained depend on which method is most prominent.

IMPORTANCE OF VEGETABLES IN THE DIET

The appreciation of vegetables as food has greatly increased in recent years, with an extended understanding of their peculiar values. Vegetables provide not only starches and sugars for energy, as well as several forms of protein, but what is most important they provide impressive amounts of Vitamins A, B, C, E, and G, in addition to mineral salts. These mineral salts are especially Calcium, Phosphorus, Iron, Copper, Manganese, and Sulphur, as well as Iodine, in vegetables grown along the seashore. Besides all this, the generous use of many vegetables helps to keep up the body's normal alkaline balance, which contributes so largely to health and vitality.