Page:Foods and their adulteration; origin, manufacture, and composition of food products; description of common adulterations, food standards, and national food laws and regulations (IA foodstheiradulte02wile).pdf/379

 soft substance with an agreeable taste and of a semi-solid consistence. It has a nutty and peculiar flavor which is highly prized.

In the regions where the alligator pear is grown it is often used in the raw state or after having been treated with a little salt. It is highly prized when served in this manner. It is also often cut into small pieces and put into soup and is said to give a most agreeable odor and flavor thereto. The ripe fruit has different colors; it may be green, yellow, brown or dark purple or a combination of any of these colors. The alligator pear is particularly valued as a salad fruit.

Composition of the Avocado.—

Water,                                                 81.10 percent Protein,                                                1.00    " Fat,                                                    10.20    " Starch and sugar,                                       6.80    " Ash,                                                      .90    "

The above data show that the alligator pear is not a fruit which is very highly nutritious. Its principle nutrient is fat, the next most important being starch and sugar, but it is extremely deficient in protein, and therefore could not be regarded as a balanced ration. Its principle value, therefore, is mostly on account of its condimental properties rather than for its nutrients. Bulletins 61 and 77 of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Department of Agriculture, give important information regarding the avocado. The accompanying illustration is taken from Bulletin 77, above mentioned.

From the amount of fat in the alligator pear it might be regarded as a nut instead of a fruit, but its paucity of nitrogenous constituents excludes it from that category.

Bananas (Musa).—One of the most abundant and most important of the tropical fruits, for food purposes, is the banana. The banana is not grown to any extent for food purposes in the United States, though it is produced on a limited scale in southern Florida. Immense quantities of bananas come into this country from the Central American states, particularly from Guatemala and Nicaragua. This fruit can be landed at New Orleans at very small expense for transportation, and for this reason can be distributed all over the country at a price which looks to be ridiculously small when it is considered that the fruit comes from so great a distance. It is also sent in large quantities to other ports, notably New York, Boston, and Baltimore. For shipping purposes the banana is gathered while still green, and often the ripening has not reached the stage when the ordinary yellow color which characterizes the ripe fruit is seen when it reaches the markets in the center of the country. The banana is not only valued for its peculiar flavor, which is pleasant and sweet, sometimes almost too much so, but it also has a high nutritive value, being a substance rich in carbohydrates and growing in such