SHOULD POTATOES BE BOILED IN THEIR JACKETS.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1272, 2 December 1884, Page 3

SHOULD POTATOES BE BOILED IN THEIR JACKETS.

Mr W. Matlieu Williams, in PopnlaScience Monthly says mos 1 . decidedly they should, and thus states his reasons: From 53 to 56 per cent, of the Baline constitueu is of the potato is potash, and potash is an important constituent of the blood—so important that in Norway, scurvy once prevailed very seriously, it has been banished since the introduction of the potato, and according to Lang and other authorities, it is owing to the use of this vegetable by a people who formerly were insufficiently supplied with saline vegetable feed. Potash salts are freely soluble iu water, and I find that the water in which potatoes have been boiled contains potash, as may be pro%ed by boiling it down to concentrate, then filtering and adding the usual potash test, platinum chloride. It is evident that the skin of the potato must resist (he passage of the potash into the water, though it may' not fully prevent it. The bursting of the skin only occurs at quite a latter stage of the cookery. The greatest practical authorities on the potato, Irishmen, appear to be unanimous. Ido not remember to have seen a prepeeled potato in Ireland, J find that I can at once detect by the difference of flavour whether a potato has been boiled with or without its jicket, and this difference is evidently saline.