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Page 33
_Rye_ and _Indian Corn_ form the next best-known varieties of flour in
bread-making; but barley and oats are also used, and beans, pease, rice,
chestnuts, in short, any farinaceous seed, or legume rich in starch, can
fill the office.
_Oatmeal_ may take rank as one of the best and most digestible forms of
farinaceous food. Some twenty-eight per cent of the grain is husk,
seventy-two being kernel; and this kernel forms a meal containing twelve
parts of nitrogenous matter, sixty-three of carbo-hydrates, five and a
half of fatty matter, three of saline, and fifteen of water. So little
gluten is found, that the flour of oats can not be made into loaves of
bread; although, mixed and baked as thin cakes, it forms a large part of
the Scotchman's food. It requires thorough cooking, and is then slightly
laxative and very easily digested.
_Buckwheat_ is very rich in nitrogenous substances, and as we eat it, in
the form of cakes with butter and sirup, so heating a food, as to be only
suitable for hard workers in cold weather.
Indian corn has also a very small proportion of gluten, and thus makes a
bread which crumbles too readily. But it is the favorite form of bread,
not only for South and West in our own country, but in Spanish America,
Southern Europe, Germany, and Ireland. It contains a larger amount of
fatty matter than any other grain, this making it a necessity in fattening
animals. In a hundred parts are eleven of nitrogen, sixty-five of
carbo-hydrates, eight of fatty matter, one and a half of saline, and
fourteen of water. The large amount of fatty matter makes it difficult to
keep much meal on hand, as it grows rancid and breeds worms; and it is
best that it should be ground in small quantities as required.
_Rice_ abounds in starch. In a hundred parts are found seven and a half of
nitrogen, eighty-eight of starch, one of dextrine, eight-tenths of fatty
matter, one of cellulose, and nine-tenths of mineral matter. Taken alone
it can not be called a nutritive food; but eaten with butter or milk and
eggs, or as by the East Indians in curry, it holds an important place.
We come now to OLEAGINOUS SEEDS; nuts, the cocoanut, almonds, &c, coming
under this head. While they are rich in oil, this very fact makes them
indigestible, and they should be eaten sparingly.
_Olive-oil_ must find mention here. No fat of either the animal or
vegetable kingdom surpasses this in delicacy and purity. Palm-oil fills
its place with the Asiatics in part; but the olive has no peer in this
respect, and we lose greatly in our general distaste for this form of
food. The liking for it should be encouraged as decidedly as the liking
for butter. It is less heating, more soothing to the tissues, and from
childhood to old age its liberal use prevents many forms of disease, as
well as equalizes digestion in general.
LEGUMINOUS SEEDS are of more importance, embracing as they do the whole
tribe of beans, pease, and lentils. Twice as much nitrogen is found in
beans as in wheat; and they rank so near to animal food, that by the
addition of a little fat they practically can take its place. Bacon and
beans have thus been associated for centuries, and New England owes to
Assyria the model for the present Boston bean-pot. In the best table-bean,
either Lima or the butter-bean, will be found in a hundred parts, thirty
of nitrogen, fifty-six of starch, one and a half of cellulose, two of
fatty matter, three and a half of saline, and eight and a half of water.
The proportion of nitrogen is less in pease, but about the same in
lentils. The chestnut also comes under this head, and is largely eaten in
Spain and Italy, either boiled, or dried and ground into flour.
TUBERS and ROOTS follow, and of these the _Potato_ leads the van. Low as
you may have noticed their standing on the food-table to be, they are the
most economical and valuable of foods, combining as well with others, and
as little cloying to the palate, as bread itself. Each pound of potatoes
contains seven hundred and seventy grains of carbon, and twenty-four
grains of nitrogen; each pound of wheat-flour, two thousand grains of
carbon, and one hundred and twenty of nitrogen. But the average cost of
the pound of potatoes is but one cent; that of the pound of wheat, four.
It is obtainable at all seasons, and thus invaluable as a permanent store,
though best in the winter. Spring, the germinating season, diminishes its
nutritive value. New potatoes are less nutritious than older ones, and in
cooking, if slightly underdone, are said to satisfy the appetite better;
this being the reason why the laboring classes prefer them, as they say,
"with a bone in them."
In a hundred parts are found but two of nitrogen, eighteen of starch,
three of sugar, two-tenths of fat, seven-tenths of saline matter, and
seventy-five parts of water. The _Sweet-potato_, _Yam_, and _Artichoke_
are all of the same character. Other _Tubers_, the _Turnip_, _Beet_,
_Carrot_, and _Parsnip_, are in ordinary use. The turnip is nine-tenths
water, but possesses some valuable qualities. The beet, though also
largely water, has also a good deal of sugar, and is excellent food.
Carrots and parsnips are much alike in composition. Carrots are generally
rejected as food, but properly cooked are very appetizing, their greatest
use, however, being in soups and stews.
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