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 INTRODUCTION

     Science has placed beyond doubt the fact that our physical and mental fitness depends to a great extent upon the presence in our daily diet of infinitesimal quantities of various mineral salts and a whole alphabet of vitamins. We also know now for certain that fresh vegetables are the richest - and incidentally the cheapest - source of supply of most such precious minerals and vitamins. We all know that vegetables are good for us. It does not mean that we all love vegetables, any more than the average school boy loves soap because it is good for him.

     It is true that vegetables, like many other good things and good people, are often dull; but it is our fault, nearly always. There is neither sense nor excuse for being content, as so many people are content, with the same half-a-dozen 'usual' vegetables, mostly boiled to death in plenty of fast boiling water.

     There are ever so many different vegetables for us to enjoy at different times of the year, and there are countless ways of preparing them for the table, cooked and uncooked, as this book will show. Its publication has been undertaken, in order to make the less 'usual' vegetables better known than they are at present, and to offer a large variety of recipes for all the more usual vegetables.  [Readers with Internet access can read  a Postscript by Sir daniel hall, 1864 - 1942, who was  an agricultural educationist and researcher.  There are eighty five pages of vegetable description.  The first of those pages now follows and there are a few more via the Internet.]

Definitions and recipes

ACCOUB

     A Thistle of which the roots, shoots and flower-buds are not merely edible but deserving of all gastronomes' attention. Its own home is Syria and it grows freely in the lands and islands of the Mediterranean. The roots may be eaten in any way suitable for Salsify … ;  they are very much the same as those of the Golden Thistle in size and appearance. The shoots, when six inches long, can be cooked like Asparagus .and the buds are best parboiled in salted boiling water for a few minutes, then tossed in butter, seasoned and served like New Potatoes. Their taste is both pleasant and intriguing; it reminds one of both the Globe Artichoke and the Asparagus.

ADZUKI

     A bushy Eastern bean closely related to the Rice Bean; both are extensively grown for food in China and Japan; it is eaten as French Beans … when freshly picked, but the dried seeds or beans are crushed and made into a kind of flour used for cakes and pastry.

AGAR-AGAR

     A name given to a number of red Oriental seaweeds from which various gelatinous substances are obtained, known as Ceylon Moss, Chinese Isinglass, Japanese Agar, Mousse de Japan, etc. In Europe it is chiefly used in biological laboratories, but in the Far East II: is used extensively for food; sold in thin strips of white and almost transparent leaves, It is rich in carbohydrate and makes good soup and also jellies. The Salanganes, or Chinese swallows, use Agar-agar in the building of their nests, and it is from such nests that Birds’ nests Soup is made. [Edible bird's nest in packaging]

AGARICS [The reader is referred to Mushrooms.]

AGRIMONY

      A common perenial weed growing, mostly in waste places, in many parts of the British Isles. It bears a spike of dainty little yellow flowers. Stems, leaves and flowers are picked together to make Agrimony Tea, one of the oldest of the homely spring beverages believed to cool and cleanse the blood.

ALGA MAR

     An edible seaweed highly prized in Chile for food; it is exported from Chile to the U.S.A.

ALLELUIA   [The reader is referred to Wood Sorrel .]

AMAZOMBE

     It is a weed highly prized as a green vegetable of the Spinach (q.v.) type, by the natives of Bechuanaland, Natal, the Transvaal and Zululand. Its leaves are also dried for winter use.

AMERICAN CRESS. LAND CRESS. BELLE-ISLE CRESS

     A common weed which is quite easy to grow and worth cultivating as a winter salad. It is also known in the U.S.A. as Bank Cress, Upland Cress and Hedge mustard. It is pre5pared for the table like Watercress … 

[The first page of definitions ends with two lines on artichokes as an introduction to nearly two pages.  We now conclude with snatches from the last page on vegetables.]

WOOD SORREL. ALLELUIA

     A common European weed the young leaves of which are excellent in green salads, being tender and tasty, slightly bitter but very pleasantly so. There is an American variety of Wood-Sorrel, a native of Mexico, with fleshy white roots which are insipid but edible, cooked like Parsnips.. Its leaves are prepared in any way suitable for the garden or common Sorrel .

WORMWOOD

     A strongly aromatic European annual herb used to flavour liqueurs, spirits and sweets.

' ... I did give them two quarts of worm5wood wine.'—Pepys. Nov. 24th, 1660.

YAMS [Numerous yams described and this one is of most interest.]

     There is a considerable number of yams, the most universally grown being known by the name of Sain. Among other sorts, the Winged-stalked Yam, a native of India and the South Sea Islands, produces the largest tubers of all, up to 8 ft. in length and 80 Ib. in weight..

ZAPALLITO

     A South American Gourd, which can be grown in England in the open. Its round, glossy, mahogany-coloured fruits are cooked like marrows, their flesh being firm and of golden hue. They are best when no larger than a cricket ball.

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Conclusion of published article.  More following.

A POSTCRIPT By the late Sir a.daniel hall, k.c.b., ll.d., d.sc., f.r.s., v.m.h. [1864 - 1942 was  agricultural educationist and researcher.]  more

Many unjustified reproaches are made against English food and cookery, but they are unhappily true when addressed to our treatment of vegetables. The general level of vegetable culture, whether in private or commercial gardens, is higher here than in other countries, and we have better varieties at our disposal. It is unfortunate that we do not always choose varieties for their real purpose - to eat rather than to look at. The private gardener is obsessed by the photographs of the prize-winning sorts in the catalogues; the market grower selects for weight of crop and capacity to stand up to the journey to market. So we get Brussels Sprouts that are but small cabbages and leeks that aim at being gate posts. The same desire for size causes nearly all vegetables to be kept back until they have passed the stage at which they should be eaten. The owner of the garden must exercise constant bullying if he is to get value out of his garden, that quality which belongs to youth and cannot be bought. For the market gardener is compelled to go for size and weight per acre, and if the private gardener persists in following his lead it is arguable whether it is not cheaper to buy these standardized articles than to grow them.

But all the arts of the gardener will be wasted if the cook does not also respond to the opportunity. Once, when addressing a party of gardeners on vegetables, I advised them also to cultivate the cooks, and to explain to them how the stuff they sent in to the house, especially the more uncommon kinds, should be treated. That advice was not appreciated - 'I'd be out of the kitchen with a flea in my ear if I set out to teach my old lady how to cook anything'.  So here the mistress of the house must intervene, not with bullying perhaps but with persuasion and with this book as her text, perhaps as her armour.  Mr André Simon has gathered the methods of dealing with vegetables from

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all sources, from France, where the art is at its highest, and all the continental countries, from the East, and from the Americas. He grows and is acquainted with the plants themselves, his outlook on cookery is based upon principle, and he can pick recipes accordingly. Nor is it merely a matter of gourmandize!  Health and economy are also concerned. For years the diet of all classes has been shifting towards more vegetables and less meat; medical science has caught up and justified the wisdom of this popular instinct. But unless cooked with knowledge, though not necessarily with any extra expense, vegetables can be fushionless [lacking in flavour] , unattractive fare, especially to the young to whom they are most necessary. So again I would urge every housewife and every owner of a garden to give thought to vegetable growing and cooking, and they can take no better guide than Mr André Simon.

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ANGELICA

Lat. Angelica Arcangelica; Fr. Angelique. An Alpine plant which grows freely from Lap5land to Spain. It is cultivated in France for making liqueurs and for flavouring as well as decorating sweets and confectionery. In England, it used to be bleached and eaten as a salad, but it is rarely seen now except in its candied form. In Norway and Lapland, they use the root as a substitute for bread.

ARRACACHA. ARRACACIA

Lat. Arracacia Xanthorri^a. A South Ameri5can perennial Umbellifera. Known in Spanish-America by the name of Apia. It is cultivated in Central and South America as well as in some of the West Indies for the sake of its farinaceous roots (not tubers); these are fried, boiled, baked and otherwise prepared in any of the many ways suitable for Potatoes (q.v.). The name is also given to the tuber of the Oca (q.v.).

ARROWHEAD

Lat. Sagittaria Sagittifolia; Fr. Herbe a la fleche. The name of some Chinese plants with leaves shaped like an arrow-head, and starchy roots. In the U.S.A. this plant is grown for, and used by, the Chinese.

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WHITE or BARBADOS YAM

A species of Yam (q.v.) widely cultivated in AiiMniliisiii and Polynesia for its rootstocks wliich arc eaten boiled and baked in different ways.

WILD RICE

Lat. Zi^ania aquatica. A tall, aquatic, North American, perennial grass bearing an abun5dance of hard seeds which are cooked like Rice.

WINTER CRESS

Lat. Barbarea vulgaris. A species of Watercress (q.v.) which grows freely in moist waste lands; it has smooth, shining, dark-green leaves, and an erect angular stem bearing yellow flowers. It is known in the U.S.A. as Rocket Salad.

WINTER PURSLANE

Lat. Claytonia perfoliata, A highly-prized vegetable in Central America and the West Indies. Its green leaves are eaten uncooked as a salad and cooked like spinach.

WOODRUFF

Lat. Asperulaodorata. An old-fashioned Eng5lish herb from the dried leaves of which a kind of medicinal 'tea' used to be made.

WOOD SORREL. ALLELUIA

Lat. Oxalis acetosella (U.K.) and Oxalis mon-tana (U.S.A.). A common European weed the young leaves of which are excellent in green salads, being tender and tasty, slightly bitter but very pleasantly so. There is an American variety of Wood-Sorrel, a native of Mexico, with fleshy white roots which are insipid but edible, cooked like Parsnips (q.v.). Its leaves are prepared in any way suitable for the garden or common Sorrel (q.v.).

WORMWOOD

A strongly aromatic European annual herb used to flavour liqueurs, spirits and sweets.

' ... I did give them two quarts of worm5wood wine.'—Pepys. Nov. 24th, 1660.

' ... to a little house behind the Lords' house to drink some wormwood ale.'— Pepys. March 21st, 1662.

YACON

Lat. Polymnia edulis. A Peruvian plant grown for the sake of its fleshy, edible tubers which are rich in inulin but are mawkish and taste5less.

YAMS

Barbados Yam; also Greater, Indian or Malay Yam or Winged-stalked Yam, Dios-cnri'ti alata; Common Yam, Dioscorea sativa, '(lush-Cush' Yam of Trinidad or 'Yampi' of Jamaica, Dioscorea trifida; Indian Potato or

Dark Purple Yam, Dioscorea atropurpurea; Otaheite Potato, Potato Yam or Climbing Air Potato, Dioscorea bulbifera; Upeh Chinese Yam, Dioscorea Fargesii; White 'Eight Months' Yam or Negro Yam, Dioscorea rotundata; Wild Yam, Dioscorea villosa; Yellow or 'Twelve Months' Guinea Yam, Dioscorea cayenensis; Guinea Yam or 'Kaawi', Dioscorea aculeata; Japanese Yam, Dioscorea japonica.

There are a considerable number of yams, the most universally grown being known by the name of Sain. Among other sorts, the Winged-stalked Yam, a native of India and the South Sea Islands, produces the largest tubers of all, up to 8 ft. in length and 80 Ib. in weight; the Dark Purple Yam, also known as Malacca Yam, which is considered the third best yam in India, has dark purple stems and tubers.

A widely cultivated variety of yam both in West Africa and the West Indies is the Yellow Yam, also known as Prickly-stemmed Yam and Guinea Yam or Afou; it is distinctly inferior in quality to the Chinese and Indian yams.

YAM BEANS

Ajipa Bean, Pachyrhi^us Ahipa; Goa Bean, Starch Bean or Yam Bean, Pachyrbi^us tuberosus; Nigerian 'Giri-Gir', Sphenostylis stenocarpa; Short-podded Yam Bean, Pachy-rhi^us erosus.

Tropical climbing plants with turnip-like roots which are eaten finely-sliced, un5cooked, in salads, or boiled and mashed.The pods are also edible, boiled as a vegetable.

YARROW. MILFOIL

Lat. Achillea decolorans. A European herb with strongly-scented leaves, which is widely naturalized in the U.S.A. Its leaves, finely chopped, are a welcome addition to salads in place of Chervil.

YAUTA

See Calalu.

ZAPALLITO

A South American Gourd, which can be grown in England in the open. Its round, glossy, mahogany-coloured fruits are cooked like marrows, their flesh being firm and of golden hue. They are best when no larger than a cricket ball.

ZEGAKELIE

A small shrub the leaves of which possess a strong scent, somewhat similar to that of Thyme. It grows freely in Abyssinia, where it is used in the making of an aromatic sauce known as Aoudze; this sauce is always served with the Abyssinian national dish called Brondo.

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