The starch granules in cereals and vegetables are in cells, the covering of which is composed largely of nitrogenous matter. The protein is not acted on by the saliva, and the nitrogenous matter is largely digested in the stomach. It is more easily dissolved if it is broken or softened by cooking, so that the carbohydrates can come in contact with the saliva, but if encased in fat, the gastric juices cannot digest the protein covering and the saliva cannot reach the starch until the fat is emulsified in the intestines. This means that whenever starch globules are surrounded with fat, the digestive ferments reach these globules with difficulty and foods improperly fried must be digested mostly in the intestines. For this reason, eggs, poached or boiled, are more easily digested than when fried. Vegetables and fruits of most sorts may be baked and are usually rendered more digestible by the process. Tubers of all sorts, if to be cooked by boiling, should be put on the fire in cold water. The gradual heating of the water allows the tuber to become warmed through before boiling begins and the interior and exterior thus are completely cooked about the same time. If placed in boiling water, the exterior, being cooked before the interior, particularly when vegetables are peeled before cooking, either separates, as in potatoes, making them “mushy,” or the vegetables are served with the interior not thoroughly cooked. Vegetables will cook as quickly and more evenly in water kept just at the boiling point as in water that is boiling hard. All pods, seeds, or leaves, as in green vegetables, should be put in boiling water that none of the nutritive material may be lost and that the cooking action may be quickly begun. * * * * * [Sidenote: Cooking of Fruit] Opinions differ markedly regarding the relative wholesomeness of raw and cooked fruit. Europeans use comparatively little raw fruit, it being considered less wholesome than cooked fruit. In the United States, raw fruit is considered extremely wholesome, and is used in very large quantities; it is relished quite as much as cooked fruit, if indeed it is not preferred to it. It has been suggested that the European prejudice against raw fruit may be an unconscious protest against unsanitary methods of marketing or handling and the recognition of cooking as a practical method of preventing the spread of disease by fruit soiled with fertilizers or with street dust. If the cooking is thorough, it insures sterilization. As with all vegetable foods, the heat of cooking dissolves the fiber in the cell walls. The moisture causes the cell contents to expand and rupture the walls. The change in texture occasioned by cooking renders it softer, more palatable, and more readily acted on by the digestive juices. This is obviously of more importance with the fruits like the quince, which is so hard that it is unpalatable raw, than it is with soft fruits like strawberries.