Method of preparing the Chinese Soy. 26i 



that M. Ekeberg never saw, nor was acquainted with, the 

 true process for preparing this substance. There is reason 

 to believe that he gave his description from the accounts 

 of the Chinese, who are not always ready to speak, the truth, 

 as I observed during the five years I resided in China, when 

 I wished to obtain complete information in regard to the 

 method of managing a certain kind of silkworm whkh 

 spins five of six times every year; the method of dyeing 

 silk and cotton, and -various other particulars in regard to 

 the Chinese ceconomy. 



Having since obtained, for a very high price, certain 

 information in regard to these points, I have seen how 

 much their accounts differed from the truth. The case was- 

 the same when I wished to be made acquainted with the 

 preparation, of soy ; but as I have now procured a very cor- 

 rect account of it, I think it my duty to communicate it to" 

 the Academy. 



Soy is prepared from a kind of beans which are whiter 

 and smaller than those of Turkey, the farina of wheat, salt, 

 and water. The proportions are, 50 pounds of beans, 50 

 pounds of salt, 60 pounds of the farina of wheat, and 250 

 pounds of water. 



After the beans have been well washed they are boiled 

 with well water in an open pot for some hours, or until 

 they become soft enough to be kneaded with the fingers. 

 During the boiling they must be always covered with water 

 that they may not be burnt. Care must be taken not to 

 boil them too much: if they are diluted, too much of the 

 substance remains in the juice. When the beans are boiled 

 they are put into large flat wooden tubs, or, as the Chinese 

 do, into vessels made of thin broad splinters ofbam-bou, 

 two inches and a half in depth and five feet in diameter. 

 In the latter they are spread out to the depth of two inches. 

 When they are sufficiently cooled to be touched with the 

 hand, the farina of wheat is added, and well mixed with 

 them ; and this is continued till the whole farina is ex- 

 hausted. When the mass becomes too dry for the farina 

 to adhere to the beans, a little warm juice is added. 



When the whole is well mixed the mass is spread out in 

 the tubs above mentioned, taking care that the strata are not 

 more than an inch or an inch and a half in thickness. The 

 mass is then covered by placing' over it a lid which exactly 

 closes it. When it is observed that the mass becomes 

 mouldy, and that heat is disengaged "from it, which takes 

 place in the course of two or three days, the cover must be 

 raised up by placing two rods below it in prder that the air* 



Vol. 19. No. 75. August 1804. T may 



