VALUE OF APPLES

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 52, Issue 3756, 15 May 1936, Page 10

VALUE OF APPLES

ONE OF, NATURE’S REMEDIES.

The old-time name for the apple was “Nature’s blue pill.” To-day it is considered to be Nature’s toothbrush, particularly for small children. It is a well-known antacid and digestive. Scandinavian lore represented the apple as the food of the gods. When they felt themselves growing feeble and infirm they fled to the recuperative powers of the apple. A great Victorian physician was once asked by a patient what to do for rheumatism. His reply was: “ Apples ! Apples ! Apples ! ” He meant uncooked apples. Strawberries contain iron, and are therefore good tonics. But in some people they produce a rash, a signal that they are antipathetic. It has been suggested that uncooked oatflakes added to them will counteract this tendency.

Gooseberries contain sulphur which removes impurities through the skin.

Cherries are a rheumatic remedy, and black currants, if treated with boiling water, sugar to taste, and the refrigerator, will provide a cooling astringent drink. As a conserve they are, an old-fashioned remedy for sore throats and in alleviating a cough. Bilberries or whortleberries, though indigenous, are not found so far in the fruit garden. They are considered a panacea for many ills, because their searching qualities are a great aid to elimination. They have tonic properties.—Dr Estelle Cole in Family (England).