Food Remedies | Page 8

are often recommended to consumptive
patients.
According to Dr. Fernie half a pound of dates and half a pint of new
milk will make a satisfying repast for a person engaged in sedentary
work.
Elderberry.
The elderberry has fallen into neglect of late years, owing to the lazy
and disastrous modern habit of substituting the mineral drugs of the
chemist for the home-made vegetable remedies of our grandmothers.
Nevertheless, the elderberry is one of the most ancient and tried of
medicines, held in such great esteem in Germany that, according to the
German folk-lore, men should take off their hats in the presence of an
elder-tree. In Denmark there is a legend to the effect that the trees are
under the protection of a being known as the Elder-Mother, who has
been immortalised in one of the fairy tales of Hans Andersen.
The berries of the elder-tree are not palatable enough to be used as a
common article of food, but in the days when nearly every garden
boasted its elder-tree few housewives omitted to make elderberry wine
in due season.

It is not permitted to "food-reformers" to make "wine," but those
readers who are fortunate enough to possess an elder-tree might well
preserve the juice of the berries against winter coughs and colds.
Preserved Fruit Juice.
The following is E. and B. May's recipe for preserving fruit juice. Put
the fruit into a preserving-pan, crush it and allow it to simmer slowly
until the juice is well drawn out. This will take about an hour. Press out
the juice and strain through a jelly-bag until quite clear. Put the juice
back into the pan, and to every quart add a quarter of a pound of best
cane sugar. Stir until dissolved. Put the juice into clean, dry bottles.
Stand the bottles in a pan of hot water, and when the latter has come to
the boil allow the bottles to remain in the boiling water for fifteen
minutes. The idea is to bring the juice inside the bottles to boiling point
just before sealing up, but not to boil it. See that the bottles are full.
Cork immediately on taking out of the pan, and then seal up. To seal
mix a little plaster of Paris with water and spread it well over the cork.
Let it come a little below the cork so as to exclude all air.
The juice of the elderberry is famous for promoting perspiration, hence
its efficacy in the cure of colds. Two tablespoonfuls should be taken at
bed-time in a tumbler of hot water.
The juice of the elderberry is excellent in fevers, and is also said to
promote longevity.
Elderberry Poultice.
"The leaves of the elder, boiled until they are soft, with a little linseed
oil added thereto," laid upon a scarlet cloth and applied, as hot as it can
be borne, to piles, has been said to be an infallible remedy. Each time
this poultice gets cold it must be renewed for "the space of an hour." At
the end of this time the final dressing is to be "bound on," and the
patient "put warm to bed." If necessary the whole operation is to be
repeated; but the writer assures us that "this hath not yet failed at the
first dressing to cure the disease." If any reader desires to try the
experiment I would suggest that the leaves be steamed rather than

boiled, and pure olive oil used in the place of linseed oil. It must also
be remembered that no outward application can be expected to effect a
permanent cure, since the presence of piles indicates an effort of Nature
to clear out some poison from the system. But if this expulsion is
assisted by appropriate means the pain may well be alleviated by
external applications. (Pepper should be avoided by sufferers from
piles.)
Fig.
A "lump of figs" laid on the boil of King Hezekiah, as recorded in 2
Kings xx. 7, brought about that monarch's recovery. The figs used were
doubtless ripe figs, not the dried figs of our grocers.
"This fruit," says Dr. Fernie, "is soft, easily digested, and corrective of
strumous disease." The large blue fig may be grown in England, in the
milder parts and under a warm wall. The fresh figs were rarely seen at
one time outside of the large "high-class" fruit shops, but for the last
year or two I have seen them peddled in the streets of London like
apples and oranges in due season.
Green figs (not unripe) were commonly eaten by Roman gladiators,
which is surely a sufficient tribute to the fruit's strength-giving
qualities.
The best way of preparing dried figs for eating is to wash them very
quickly in warm water, and steam for twenty minutes or until