taste of salt and cayenne, 2 quarts of stock or gravy soup.
_Mode_.--Scrape and cut out all specks from the carrots, wash, and wipe
them dry, and then reduce them into quarter-inch slices. Put the butter
into a large stewpan, and when it is melted, add 2 lbs. of the sliced
carrots, and let them stew gently for an hour without browning. Add to
them the soup, and allow them to simmer till tender,--say for nearly an
hour. Press them through a strainer with the soup, and add salt and
cayenne if required. Boil the whole gently for 5 minutes, skim well, and
serve as hot as possible.
_Time_.--1-1/4 hour. _Average cost_ per quart, 1s. 1d.
[Illustration: TAZZA AND CARROT LEAVES.]
THE CARROT.--There is a wild carrot which grows in England; but
it is white and small, and not much esteemed. The garden carrot
in general use, was introduced in the reign of Queen Elizabeth,
and was, at first, so highly esteemed, that the ladies wore
leaves of it in their head-dresses. It is of great value in the
culinary art, especially for soups and stews. It can be used
also for beer instead of malt, and, in distillation, it yields a
large quantity of spirit. The carrot is proportionably valuable
as it has more of the red than the yellow part. There is a large
red variety much used by the farmers for colouring butter. As a
garden vegetable, it is what is called the orange-carrot that is
usually cultivated. As a fattening food for cattle, it is
excellent; but for man it is indigestible, on account of its
fibrous matter. Of 1,000 parts, 95 consist of sugar, and 3 of
starch.--The accompanying cut represents a pretty winter
ornament, obtained by placing a cut from the top of the
carrot-root in a shallow vessel of water, when the young leaves
spring forth with a charming freshness and fullness.
CELERY SOUP.