substances "rich," not in food elements,
but in fats, sweets, and spices, and served after enough has already
been eaten, it offers a great temptation to overeat; while the elements
of which it is largely composed, serve to hamper the digestive organs,
to clog the liver, and to work mischief generally. At the same time it
may be remarked that the preparation of even wholesome desserts requires
an outlay of time and strength better by far expended in some other
manner. Desserts are quite unnecessary to a good, healthful, nutritious
dietary. The simplest of all desserts are the various nuts and delicious
fruits with which nature has so abundantly supplied us, at no greater
cost than their harmful substitutes, and which require no expenditure of
time or strength in their preparation. If, however, other forms of
dessert are desired, a large variety may be prepared in a simple manner,
so as to be both pleasing and appetizing.

GENERAL SUGGESTIONS.

In the preparation of desserts, as in that of all other foods it is
essential that all material used shall be thoroughly good of its kind.
If bread is to be used, the crumbs should be dry and rather stale, but
on no account use that which is sour or moldy. Some housekeepers imagine
that if their bread happens to spoil and become sour, although it is
hardly palatable enough for the table, it may be advantageously used to
make puddings. It is indeed quite possible to combine sour bread with
other ingredients so as to make a pudding agreeable to the palate; but
disguising sour bread makes sweets and flavors by no means changes it
into a wholesome food. It is better economy to throw sour bread away at
once than to impose it upon the digestive organs at the risk of health
and strength.

Bread which has begun to show appearance of mold should never be used;
for mold is a poison, and very serious illness has resulted from the
eating of puddings made from moldy bread.

Eggs, to be used for desserts, should always be fresh and good. Cooks
often imagine that an egg too stale to be eaten in any other way will do
very well for use in cakes and puddings, because it can be disguised so
as not to be apparent to the taste; but stale eggs are unfit for food,
either alone or in combination with other ingredients. Their use is
often the occasion of serious disturbances of the digestive organs. Most
desserts in which eggs are used will be much lighter if the yolks and
whites are beaten separat