and red raspberry juice may be used instead of cherry, if
preferred.

DRYING FRUIT.

This method of preserving fruit, except in large establishments where it
is dried by steam, is but little used, since canning is quicker and
superior in every way. Success in drying fruits is dependent upon the
quickness with which, they can be dried, without subjecting them to so
violent a heat as to burn them or injure their flavor.

Pulpy fruits, such as berries, cherries, plums, etc., should be spread
on some convenient flat surface without contact with each other, and
dried in the sun under glass, or in a moderate oven. They should be
turned daily. They will dry more quickly if first scalded in a hot oven.
Cherries should be first stoned and cooked until well heated through and
tender, then spread on plates, and the juice (boiled down to a syrup)
poured over them. When dried, they will be moist. Pack in jars. Large
fruit, such as apples, pears, and peaches, should be pared, divided, and
the seeds or stones removed. If one has but a small quantity, the best
plan is to dry by mean of artificial heat; setting it first in a hot
oven until heated through, which process starts the juice and forms a
film or crust over the cut surfaces, thus holding the remaining:
quantity of juice inside until it becomes absorbed in the tissues. The
drying process may be finished in a warming oven or some place about the
range where the fruit will get only moderate heat. If a larger quantity
of fruit is to be dried, after being heated in the oven, it may be
placed in the hot sun out of doors, under fine wire screens, to keep off
the flies; or may be suspended for the ceiling in some way, or placed
upon a frame made to stand directly over the stove. As the drying
proceeds, the fruit should be turned occasionally, and when dry enough,
it should be thoroughly heated before it is packed away, to prevent it
from getting wormy.

NUTS.

The nuts, or shell fruits, as they are sometimes termed, form a class of
food differing greatly from the succulent fruits. They are more properly
seeds, containing, in general, no starch, but are rich in fat and
nitrogenous elements in the form of vegetable albumen and casein. In
composition, the nuts rank high in nutritive value, but owing to the
oily matter which they contain, are difficult of digestion, unless
reduced to a very minutely divided state before or during mastication.
The fat of nuts is similar in charac