360 EXPERIMENT STATION RECORD. [Vol.40 



An investigation of the methods employed for cooking vegetables, with 

 special reference to the losses incurred. — I, Dried legumes, Hkt.en Masters 

 (Biochem. Jour., 12 (1918), No. S, pp. 2S1-2J,7. fig. 1).— Data are reported on 

 the losses incurred and the time required for cooking dried vegetables under 

 various conditions, and methods based upon the results of the investigation are 

 suggested for cooking dried legumes on a large scale. The method considered 

 preferable is to soak the legumes for not less than four hours in water con- 

 taining 1 per cent sodium bicarbonate, and then to cook them either In a 

 steamer or by simple boiling for about one hour in water containing 0.25 per 

 cent salt. 



The wild foods of Great Britain, where to find them and how to cook them, 

 L. C. R. Camhuon {London: George Routledge d Sons. Ltd.. 1917, pp. XV+i 

 pis. 2, figs. 25). — The author's list includes 260 different kinds of wild foods. 

 Including game, flsh, pot herbs, Balad plant-, edible fungi, it.'. 



The digestibility of bread made from two parts of wheat and one part of 

 oats, barley, maize, or rice, E. I. SpRiei - and A. B. Wkir i [London], 



1917, II, No. 19, pp. 72.' f -72(>). — The question was studied by using these breads 

 as part of an ordinary mixed diet 



The results show certain differences in the percentage absorption of nitrogen, 

 which varied from 81 per cent in the of barley bread to about '•><> per cent 



in the case or white bread, rice bread, and a war bread. The variations in the 

 absorption of carbohydrate and tat were smaller, but they appear to neutral 

 the effect of the nitrogen variations, for when the proportions of the total food 

 values assimilated in eacb experiment are compared they are almost identical, 

 the lowest being 96 per cent for Parley bread, and the highest er cent for 



rice bread. From these data the authors draw the following conclusions: 



"If properly prepared and baked, palatable breads can be made from a mix- 

 ture of one-third Of oatmeal, barley Hour, maize Hour, it rice Hour, and two- 

 thirds of wheat Hour. Experiments shewed that each of these breads, when 

 taken with a mixed diet, was, for the time of the observation and for this sub- 

 ject, as nourishing as the bread made from white wheaten flour." 



A study of yeast bread with substitute flours, BuzABXTB SPKAOUI {■four. 

 Home Boon., 10 [1918), No. f,. pp. 272-279, figs. 6).— These experiments were de- 

 signed to check the results previously obtained In a preliminary study, which 

 seemed to indicate that while 1. reads containing ,'i'lj per cent of substitutes 



were possible with some Hours, only 26 per cent was advisable in general if 

 the quality of the bread, as regards texture and lightness, was to he kept at 



all like normal bread. The results reported in this paper show the proportions 

 which have been used to produce breads of good normal quality, faults which 

 may occur, and some tentative explanations as t" their e:iuse. 



"Ropy" bread, J. M. Beattik ami F. ('. Lewis {Lancet \1 <n<hm}. 1917. If 

 No. 6, pp. 211. 212). — The condition of "ropiness" in bread i< caused by a 

 specific organism of the group liucillus mesenferirus. which the authors, follow- 

 ing the proposal of Vogel cad />'. viacostu-panis. The source of Infection is be- 

 lieved to be the flour, but actual development takes place in the bread only 

 when the organism is present in considerable numbers. 



Since the causal organism has been found in the husk of tin- grain as well 

 as in the flour, infection is said to be more likely to occur where the flour 

 contains a large proportion of husk. The development of the organism Ifl 

 greatly favored by moisture and warmth. The ifse of acids in the process of 

 baking is not advocated, the procedure recommended being the elimination of 

 the organism from the flour by Improved milling methods. 



