[Illustration: FIG. 16]

99. The food value of pineapples is slightly lower than that of oranges
and apples. However, pineapples have a great deal of flavor, and for
this reason they are very valuable in the making of desserts, preserves,
marmalades, and beverages of various kinds. It is said that the
combination of pineapple and lemon will flavor a greater amount of food
than any other fruit combined. Another characteristic of pineapples is
that they contain a ferment that acts upon protein material and
therefore is sometimes thought to aid considerably in the digestion of
food. The probabilities are that this ferment really produces very
little action in the stomach, but its effect upon protein material can
readily be observed by attempting to use raw pineapple in the making of
a gelatine dessert. If the pineapple is put in raw, the gelatine will
not solidify; but if the pineapple is heated sufficiently to kill this
ferment, it has no effect whatsoever upon the gelatine.

[Illustration: FIG. 17]

100. SELECTING PINEAPPLES.--When pineapples are to be selected, care
should be exercised to see that they are ripe. The most certain way of
determining this fact is to pull out the center leaves of each pineapple
that is chosen. As shown in Fig. 16, grasp the pineapple with one hand
and then with the other pull out, one at a time, several of the center
leaves of the tuft at the top. If the fruit is ripe a sharp jerk will
usually remove each leaf readily, but the harder the leaves pull, the
greener the pineapple is.

[Illustration: FIG. 18]