Tidbits on Fruit

These tidbits are from 1831. I found them interesting and some will make it into one of my next historical novels.

Apples
are a wholesome vegetable aliment, and in many cases medicinal, particularly in diseases of the breast and complaints arising from phlegm. But, in general, they agree best wiih the stomach when eaten either roasted or boiled. The more aromatic kinds of applea are the fittest for eating raw.

Pears
resemble much in their effects the sweet kind of apples, but have more of a laxative quality, and a greater tendency to flatulence.

Cherries
are in general a wholesome fruit, when they agree with the stomach, and they are beneficial in many diseases, especially those of the putrid kind.

Plums
are nourishing, and have besides an attenuating, as well as a laxative, quality, but are apt to produce flatulence. If eaten fresh, and before they are ripe, especially in large quantities, they occasion colics, and other complaints of the bowels.

Peaches
are not of a very nourishing quality, but they abound in juice, and are serviceable in bilious complaints.

Apricots
are more pulpy than peaches, but are apt to ferment, and produce acidities in weak stomachs. Where they do not disagree they are cooling, and lend likewise to correct a disposition to putrescency.

Gooseberries
and currant; when ripe, arc similar in their qualities to cherries, and when used in a green state, they are agreeably cooling.

Strawberries
are an agreeable, cooling aliment, aud are accounted good in cases of gravel.
Source: Mackenzie's Five Thousand Receipts ©1831