274—The Treatment of Dry Vegetables

It is wrong to soak dry vegetables. If they are of good quality, and the produce of the year, they need only be put into a saucepan with enough cold water to completely cover them, and with one oz. of salt per five quarts of water.

Set to boil gently, skim, add the aromatic garnish, quartered carrots, onions, with or without garlic cloves, and a faggot, and set to cook gently with lid on.

Remarks.—If the vegetables used are old or inferior in quality, they might be put to soak in soft water; but this only long enough to swell them slightly, i.e., about one and one-half hours.

A prolonged soaking of dry vegetables may give rise to incipient germination, and this, by impairing the principles of the vegetables, depreciates the value of the food, and may even cause some harm to the consumer.