142 proceedings: botanical society 



crushed for oil and meal in Asia, America, and European countries. 

 The oil is used quite extensively in the manufacture of food stuffs 

 such as butter and lard substitutes. 



The soy bean, with its products, oil and meal, present great possi- 

 bilities in supplementing our ordinary food products during the present 

 emergency, and once introduced on the market will give a highly nutri- 

 tious food at very low cost. Extensive areas in the United States are 

 suited to the production of soy beans. Although the acreage of the 

 crop the past season is about five times that of five years ago, it should, 

 and no doubt will, assume an important place among the faim crops of 

 the United States. 



Charles Thom : Fermented soy-bean products. Some preliminary ex- 

 periments have been made to determine the conditions of making and 

 ripening the Chinese soy cheeses. 



The presence of a protein allied to the casein of mammalian milk 

 makes possible the manufacture of these cheeses. The basis of these 

 is the so-called Tofu or Dofu; it has various names. This is a soft 

 curd made by the coagulation of the soy-bean milk with calcium sul- 

 phate, raw salt, or by acid milk or whey. As it appears in the market, 

 it contains about 83 to 88 per cent water, 7 to 11 per cent protein, 

 4 to 5 per cent fat, and perhaps 0.5 per cent ash. In the fresh form 

 it is comparable to low-grade Neufchatel or cottage cheese which runs 

 about 10 per cent higher in nutritive constituents. The cakes of curd 

 are usually about 2 inches square and 1 inch thick. These little cakes 

 are riponed in cool, very moist rooms, until covered with a deep felt of 

 mold; then packed in jars with excessive amounts of salt and allowed to 

 cure slowly. The concentration of brine is such as to reduce the ac- 

 tivity of microorganisms to a minimum. The final cheeses have high 

 flavor, rather strong odor, and too much salt to be consumed in bulk 

 as cheese. They are covered with red sauce and variously combined 

 with other food products before consumption. 



J. A. LeClerc: The composition of the soy bean and its use in bread- 

 making. The speaker presented the results of the analyses of several 

 hundred samples representing 45 varieties and grown in six different 

 localities. From these results it was shown that soy beans contain 

 on an average 18.6 per cent of fat and about 40 per cent of protein. 

 It was shown that when all these varieties were grown in the six dif- 

 ferent localities the influence of environment on the protein and fat 

 content was marked. The average protein content of some soy beans 

 grown in one locality was as low as 38 per cent, while those same varie- 

 ties grown in another locality would contain as much as 42 per cent, in- 

 dicating definite varietal characteristics. The same conclusions hold 

 for the fat content. In general, soy beans that are high in fat are 

 low in protein, and vice versa. It was also shown how soy ])eans 

 can be used as a flour substitute. Samples of bread made with 20 

 per cent soy bean and 80 per cent white flour were exhibited. 



H. N. ViNALL, Corresponding Secretary. 



