SCIENCE IN COOKING.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 12, 9 October 1907, Page 3

SCIENCE IN COOKING.

'«:' v : THE TJSE\OF.■'VEGETABLES.' J ■"■-''■',' ''■'■■'■■ !'■'''-•''' ~ •_'■ ~ ' ■•■'«' 1 , Written for -,Tns. Dominion.) . '. : •.'-' ,' By. Miss Gertrude ■■ .Ivey. i - . The'•'■ Vegetarian Society, .will not , ■■exist in,,vain if it. does nothing more 1 thanteach-a'goodly.number of house- i ,wives;how to cook Vegetables properly } and in more ways than one.. For yege-> ' tables ■■ are the .cheapest [source: of ( nourishment, "and, strangely,' the. one j most neglected;by the'cook. It is'safo' '. .to. say'that not more than; one family 1 'in 'twenty,' and perhaps not in fifty,; j ever cooks'.vegetables, in a' tempting .j .. way ,'or. with any Hhought' as .'to' their , nutritive : value.''' Thomas Huxley,' oho ( of; the greatest, brain workers of the 'j century, 1 gave, sound advice when no . ' gaidj. ,"Tako. .care of .your .digestion, ~ which means brains."; He did; not , mean- that . thought' was to' be conBtantly''oh what was being/eaten. A . person '-who is constantly .thinking" of ; what he'eats'is ,apt;to. leave off ..this " and that,under : tho, impression. that ~ they • disagree '_ with ;him, until' his' diet is-.seriously restricted; that! he meant, among other things,, that one should have knowledge i.of the "food-stuffs" ', and the'ir'value'in supplying'the'daily , needs ofVthe ''.body;.'.' How- true; it is . that a ."little^knowledge';■is-a" dan- . , gerous thing"-;,'.in, this • case it. gives rise'tb tho .following absurd''.ideas/ ' i.e. ) 'that..'by l 'eatiris''large'quantities:.'of ~ • • •brain-foods"'-we > can alter-'the struc- ' tiire and build of the • brain, that, an athlete can produce'brute strength if ho e'ats : .large;quantites,of lean meat, wtiilst in'fact rheumatismi and kindred ■ diseases are the 'result of such a diet, and health is 1 ruined. .There is some-: ■ '•• thing like this'in the thoughts of; the ;; two ••■■little girls, who,: after learning - , that fish contained; .prqsphorus;' sat down determined to eat enough, of it ,to : ; get" sufficient'brains'to 'pass, all;their "examinations! '. We'cahnot select food •that'will'build to excess any'one.part • ':of the body, but we: can learn enough about food ,to; know' : . what kind and ; .'.'" amount of -nourishment: may:' be ob- ■-. tamable from it.- ' . ~ , ' . ■ ' -WHAT'CAN "WE GET, FROM- ' :' ■-.;. \< VEGETABLES? /.' v A'iood to bo perfect;innst' contain. ' ; three'.'kinds'of nourishment—flesh-form- . . \iny, : ftoci', heat-giving,V and force-pro- '•• during .(i.e., starch, sugar, fat, oil); and..mineral; food (mineral salts and water)." It is 'hot only necessary for \ theso foods to be; present ''•in: : a ' diet', but/they; must'be-there in the 'right proportions if life ■ is! to bo healthily ;maintained. i As two out, of three parts of the body. are composed of ,water, a -great quantity of- it must ■be' '-.taken' in ; a diet either in ■ a liquid or a solid • iovmi v It is , '.refreshing. in the .summer to remember that green vegetables contain such large '; quantities of water, and that here we nave a pure'source of it in a pleasant form.. • Blood is mostly composed of _ water; but the quantity, of water in blood is not, permanently increased or diminished by ';. swallowing water in larger or smaller, . quantities. , The ■ real explanation; is that thero is an. interchange of fluid ; between the' blood"'and the tissues. If the.blood "becomes more'concentrated, ■ water passes into it out of the tissues to 'inake. good: the deficiency, so that ,'the latter becomo drier. Hence it is that if the tissues become waterlogged; as they do in, cardiac dropsy, ■ good results may be obtained by re- ■ Btricting the amount, of fluid in the diet, for the tissues will then drain themselves into tho blood vessels. Tho " opposite is the' caso with a too largo supply of- liquid. It is important to • bear in mind this influence of water . on the body weight, .for, much-of tho. , loss in weight: in acute fevers, for instance, is duo to loss of water; and many who have left off liquid in order ... to reduce their amount of fat'.would ..'.,-bo surprised to learn that they contained '■';as . much fat.'.as "ever, tho amount of loss in weight being due to. the loss' of water. It takes a great deal of knowledge to successfully form . , a daily diet. Supposing that ;a- cook : had all the kinds of food necessary to a perfect diet before her in small basins and' freed from everything that was not puts nourishment, .would she be able to weigh them off in quantities and mix them . together as a perfect food? If so, tho old prediction that food would in future'be taken in tabloids would soon/ bo fulfilled. It would be a simple way of {.''tting over. ■• .many domestic'troubles. Wo, cannot,-, however, take nourishment: in a too concentrated form.>. It must be varied, and must please both eye and palate. When even- the food makes ono's mouth water it is a sure proof that that particular food will excite a flow .of tbe digestive, juices ready to digest it even before it enters tho mouth. WHAT IS THE USE OF CEREAL ■ VEGETABLES?. To the mind of the averago housewife vegetables moan potatoes, cabbage, .and' onions. ■ It is not • of these only we are speaking when ..we say that all the nourishment that is necessary may be obtained from the vegetable kingdom. .. For these are practically wasto foods, and do not contain much ilesh-formihg food; and tho potato has-very little starch in proportion to its bulk. It is from nuts and cereals as well as from pulso vegetables Ifiß shown in our last article) that lafg'e stores of nourishment may bo obtained. Speaking of the corcals (that is, 6f wheitt; neb, maize, oats, etc.), we can say that they are among our host and cheapest sonrces of nourishment. Firstly, their nutri•mentis in a concentrated from—that is, wo need not cat 701b. per day, as we would in tho case of pears, in order to .got enough flesh-forming food.' Secondly, they are easily digested . and cheap. Thirdly,! the body absorbs .them nearly-all-as food, discarding -: very -little of them as wasto matter.

The'most important cereal is wheat; from it aro rnado bread,■ •''.semolina, macaroni, vermiccilli, granose, and otlior foods.. Liko all vegetables the wheat grain is kopt in shape by a framework of colluloso, but in this caso it has the' advantago -of being mostly on tho outside of tho grain. This oiiter coat of tho grain is that which forms bran. Just underneath tho bran aro cells containing a largo quantity of ■" flesh-forming food. Thoso colls, when ground,, giro a dark colour to thp' flour. Tho' whitest flours are therefore less nourishing . than tho darker'or household flours. It will be interesting here to say a few .words' about bread. It is one of tho'cheapest forms of nourishment, and rightly has a prominent place'in. our daily diet. Bread-niaking. in the earliest, days' was simply, mixing flour and water together and bhking'.it into si hard unpalatable cake. Later they discovered leaven. This may have been by accident, for when Hour and. water were loft. to stand for some time they began to ferment,, making, small bubbles of gas all through;the dough., Perhaps' a careless braid-maker, one /day. .left tho dough to stand, forgot it, and then cooked it.' The bread was nicer than it was before, though-with our'kriow.ledge of- perfected' bread-making we should probably find it very unpalatable. It is' wonderful to think that tho cause ' of tho : numbers -of little holes in a loaf;'Of bread is J the breath of yeast plants so small that 1000 of them would: easily.go on to a. shilling. So' full ; of "life are they that two-thirds of the bulk of a loaf of bread is composed of tho gas they give off. Wholemeal is N tho whole of the, wheat grairi ground and hot sifted.' This being tho case, when it was first used, in, this form many papers were written saying '.that, it was :a very nourishing food; containing as.it did tho whole nutriment'of the grain. Its further-uso,. however, has shown,-that some, of its nutriment becomes, hidden away from tho digestive juices by getting'.'entangled'in tbo greater bulk of cellulose... It'is,, however, vpfy useful in stimulating tho action of the,bowels. As cereals contain'such a large propor-, tiori of starch they must be'thoroughly masticated in. order.to give tho saliva time to do, its; 1 work. If this' is 7 neglected,' tffey are .passed' dowm into' the intestines, in art "unprepared state, and give .rise to indigestion and waste of nutriment. Macaroni! and vermicelli are! useful • foods made.of flour and •y/ater ishaped by passing them through a.maohino'full of ■■K"cs.., .'"'■-■