temperature, and where neither warmth, moisture, nor light
is present to induce decay or germination. They should be well sorted,
the bruised or decayed, rejected, and the rest put into clean bins or
boxes; and should be dry and clean when stored. Vegetables soon absorb
bad flavors if left near anything odorous or decomposing, and are thus
rendered unwholesome. They should be looked over often, and decayed ones
removed. Vegetables, to be kept fit for food, should on no account be
stored in a cellar with barrels of fermenting pickle brine, soft soap,
heaps of decomposing rubbish, and other similar things frequently found
in the dark, damp vegetable cellars of modern houses.

PREPARATION AND COOKING.--Most vegetables need thorough washing
before cooking. Roots and tubers should be well cleaned before paring. A
vegetable brush or a small whisk broom is especially serviceable for
this purpose. If necessary to wash shelled beans and peas, it can best
be accomplished by putting them in a colander and dipping in and out of
large pans of water until clean. Spinach, lettuce, and other leaves may
be cleaned the same way.

Vegetables admit of much variety in preparation for the table, and are
commonly held to require the least culinary skill of any article of
diet. This is a mistake. Though the usual processes employed to make
vegetables palatable are simple, yet many cooks, from carelessness or
lack of knowledge of their nature and composition, convert some of the
most nutritious vegetables into dishes almost worthless as food or
almost impossible of digestion. It requires no little care and skill to
cook vegetables so that they will neither be underdone nor overdone, and
so that they will retain their natural flavors.

A general rule, applicable to all vegetables to be boiled or stewed, is
to cook them in as little water as may be without burning. The salts and
nutrient juices are largely lost in the water; and if this needs to be
drained off, much of the nutriment is apt to be wasted. Many cooks throw
away the true richness, while they serve the "husks" only. Condiments
and seasonings may cover insipid taste, but they cannot restore lost
elements. Vegetables contain so much water in their composition that it
is not necessary to add large quantities for cooking, as in the case of
the grains and legumes, which have lost nearly all their moisture in the
ripening process. Some vegetables are much better cooked without the
additio