3. Preparation Of Foods Without Cooking
3.1.1 Fresh Fruits
Most fresh fruits should be served whole after scrubbing under running water. What can rival the appeal to the eye and to the taste than a bowl or tray of
3. Preparation Of Foods Without Cooking
3.1.1 Fresh Fruits
Most fresh fruits should be served whole after scrubbing under running water. What can rival the appeal to the eye and to the taste than a bowl or tray of beautiful, colorful, fragrant whole fruit?
Apples, pears, peaches, nectarines, apricots and plums should be served whole, with sharp knives for peeling and cutting if necessary or desired. The fruit should be eaten unpeeled whenever possible, but if fruit is not organically grown, it is a difficult choice.
Grapes and cherries, of course, require no preparation other than washing.
Some citrus fruit is easy to peel (tangerines, murcotts, mandarins, tangelos, temples). Other citrus may be cut at the table. No sugar on grapefruit! (Nor other sweetening.)
Berries should be served whole. Serve strawberries with caps and stems attached. No sugar! (Nor any other sweetening.) Fruit that is not sweet enough to eat without added sweeteners is not ripe enough to eat.
Serve persimmons whole—fully ripe, soft and luscious. I like to cut this fruit in half and spoon away from the skin. My husband, Lou, just bites into the fruit, discarding the skin as he eats.
Nature provided bananas with a wonderful coat, protective and easy to remove—no problems there. Serve them golden, brown-freckled and whole.
Cut ripe, buttery avocados in half at the table and eat with a spoon out of the half (or quarter) shell. If you want to peel the avocados, quarter them and remove the skins from each quarter. Serve the sectibus on a platter, or arrange them on lettuce leaves or other salad vegetables. Serve fresh, soft, ripe figs whole.
Serve delightful, emerald kiwi fruit whole. Cut it in half at the table and spoon out of the half shell.
Fresh litchi fruit is easy to peel at the table. Loquats require no peeling.
Florida papayas are sometimes very large. Cut in wedges and remove seeds immediately before serving. I have seen some people eating the seeds of the papaya, and heard them stoutly maintain that the seeds are “loaded” with nutrients and should not be discarded. I believe the taste of papaya seeds is ample evidence that they are not intended to be eaten. The plethora of nutrients which they undoubtedly contain are intended for the fruit which the seeds are programmed to produce.
Just-right ripe mangos are a treat any way you serve them. They can be cut in half, slicing over the large flat seed on both sides and eaten with a spoon. They can be peeled and sliced, but don’t waste whatever clings to the peel and seed, though you may have to hang over the sink to eat it.
Joy Gross demonstrated (at the American Natural Hygiene Society national conventions) an attractive way to serve mangos. With a sharp paring knife; score the flesh of the halved mangos in cubes, without cutting through the skin. Invert the two halves (turn them inside out). Beautiful! And delicious!
Melons, of course, will have to be cut immediately before serving. Small melons may be served whole.
Prepare pineapple immediately before serving in the following manner: Cut a thin slice from the bottom. Cut in quarters lengthwise, either leaving the top on as a decoration, or removing it. Prepare each quarter as a separate serving by separating the flesh from the skin with a sharp knife and slicing the remaining wedge into segments. Serve on the rind (pineapple boats). Serve with forks for removal of the segments and serrated grapefruit spoons for scraping out any flesh remaining on the rind. Don’t put the rind to your mouth—use a spoon. The eyes of the rind are razor sharp and can cut your lips, mouth and tongue.
Pomegranates may be served whole, and may either be cut and eaten in sections, cutting into segments as you eat, or the juice may be sucked out through a carefully punched hole (look out, it’ll spurt all over you) after carefully kneading it until it is entirely soft. Don’t be too rough, you may inadvertently break it open.
3.1.2 Dried Fruits
Dried fruit may require some advance preparation.
Dates and raisins may be presumed to be clean enough to eat as they come from a sealed package. For those who doubt this, a quick rinse just before eating may allay their misgivings.
Dried figs are usually soft enough to eat without preparation. Rinse, if desired. If figs are hard, they may be soaked in distilled water for several hours, or over night.
Dried apricots and peaches are greatly improved by overnight soaking. In fact, unsulphured apricots and peaches are almost inedible unless they are soaked.
Dried apples are very tasty—not too sweet. Soaking makes them too mushy.
Dried prunes, cherries and pears may be used either way—as they are, or soaked.
Dried bananas are excellent as they come from the package—soaking is not necessary or desirable.
Dried litchi fruit needs no preparation—just crack open 