The Art of Living in Australia: Together with Three Hundred Australian Cookery Recipes and Accessory Kitchen Information by Mrs. H. WickenMuskett, Philip E.
Science
The Art of Living in Australia: Together with Three Hundred Australian Cookery Recipes and Accessory Kitchen Information by Mrs. H. Wicken
Muskett, Philip E.
Australia -- Social life and customs; Cooking, Australian; Health; Hygiene
so as to take away every particle of bitterness.
Corn Salad.--This hardy annual salad plant is believed to derive its
name from the fact that it grows spontaneously in the grain-fields. It
is also known as lamb's lettuce, and in America as fetticus. Here is an
example of a once well-known plant dropping out of use, for one of the
earliest-known salads was this same corn salad, on which was laid a red
herring. But now-a-days it is called MACHE in Covent Garden Market,
where it has been sent over from France. This lamb's lettuce is greatly
appreciated on the Continent, and makes one of the best of salads,
especially when mixed with celery. As it can be easily grown in all the
coastal districts and in the cooler parts of Australia, it is certainly
a matter for regret that we are not favoured with it.
In addition to the preceding, namely, the cos lettuce, the two
varieties of endive, the chicory, and the corn salad, or lamb's
lettuce, there are one or two other salad plants which require a brief
notice. Now, as far as celery and radishes are concerned, we may be
said to be fairly well off; but the same is not the case with mustard,
with garden cress, or even with watercress. The latter is to be
obtained from John Chinaman, it is true; but it is curious that in
Australia we see none of the watercress vendors so familiar in the
streets of the old country.. Yet there is really a good living to be
made out of it, and its use would prove of benefit to hundreds of
families, as with a little salt it makes an exquisite sandwich between
two thin pieces of bread-and-butter. A wise physician, Dr. T.K.
Chambers, uttered a great truth when he remarked that the pale faces
and bad teeth which characterised many of the inhabitants of cities
were due to their inability to obtain a proper supply of fresh green
vegetables, and that thus the watercress-seller was one of the saviours
of her country. So great is the demand for watercress in New York when
it first comes in that the prices range from 2s. to 4s. for a basket
holding only three quarts. At this rate an acre of watercress under
cultivation would represent almost a fortune. Of course all watercress
should be thoroughly washed and then dried in a towel, like the lettuce
for the salad, before it is eaten. Lastly, it must never be used from a
source where any sewage contamination is suspected.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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