lor August, 1920 



283 



going to a drug store and purchasing supplies of mineral salts to 

 take internally has worked much harm to the human race gen- 

 erally and has built large fortunes for the manufacturers of 

 patent medicines. The various minerals that are contained in 

 the blood and organs of the human sj-stem are present in com- 

 plicated forms that cannot be easily duplicated by the laboratory 

 practices of man, but which are duplicated by. and are contained 

 in. plants, or as we call them when upon our tables, vegetables. 

 The sooner we realize to the fullest extent that the only satis- 

 factory and sure way to get minerals which are needed in the 

 human body is by eating vegetable food containing these essen- 

 tial elements the better it will be for us and the worse for the 

 makers of patent medicines. 



In addition to those ingredients which are measured by calories 

 and to the others embraced under the term mineral salts, those 

 curious chemical bodies called Vitamines cannot with impunity be 

 absent from our diet. 



Vitamines were first discovered by Funk during his investi- 

 gations into the cause of Beri-beri, and they have called forth 

 a great amount of research during the past few years. 



Funk found that when fowls were fed upon polished rice they 

 developed Beri-beri in from one to six weeks, and died in a 

 few days after the onset of the disease. But if an extract of the 

 rice polishings was injected into the blood the birds recovered 

 magically in a few hours. Thus it was evident that a substance 

 was present in the pericarp of the rice grain which when re- 

 moved from the diet allowed the disease to occur, but which 

 was also capal)le of curing the disease, although the latter was 

 fully developed. He isolated this body and named it "Vitamine." 

 The quantity in any food is extremely minute, only six grains 

 being obtained from one hundred pounds of rice pericarps. 



The part of grain called the "pericarp" is that containing the 

 embryo of the seed and which the process of polishing rice 

 removes. 



Vitamines are found in all fresh vegetables and fruits which, 

 while they are not destroyed by boiling, are invariable lost if 

 the water in which the vegetables are cooked is thrown away. 



It has been experimentally observed that when animals are 

 fed on specially vitamine-containing food the gain in weight is 

 out of all proportion to the amount of food consumed, which 

 shows that another attribute vitamines possess is to cause an in- 

 crease in the assimilation of food eaten. As most people know, it 

 is not what we eat but what we digest and assimilate that does 

 us good. Therefore it follows that, providing vitamines are 

 present in the diet, a much less amount of nourishment is re- 

 quired to be taken, and less strain is thrown upon the organs of 

 digestion and assimilation. To briefly summarize then : 



Vitamines are substances present in many foods, especially in 

 fresh vegetables and fruits. 



As they are removed by the water in which vegetables are 

 boiled, a liberal use of salads and fruits in our daily diet is the 

 only way of being sure of getting a sufficient amount of them 

 into our system. 



They control growth and nutrition to such an extent that they 

 are indispensable. 



Their jjresence in the diet economizes food. 



Besides the essential constituents already mentioned vegetables 

 contain a considerable proportion of indigestible matter known 

 as fiber which is principally composed of cellulose. This is by 

 no means useless, being in fact valuable. It forms liulk or bal- 

 last, which by its merely mechanical eiTcct stimulates intestinal 

 action. Therefore the usefulness of vegetables to the human 

 system falls under three distinct headings, namely: 



Food value, that is its richness in proteid, carbohydrate, fat 

 and mineral matter. 



Vitamine value. 



Bulk value. 



The great importance of the point must be our excuse for 

 again alluding to the fact that the mineral, vitamine and bulk 

 values are not included in any system of caloric measurement. 



Xow in the usual plan of preparing vegetables for the table — 

 namely by boiling — there are always some of the calories left 

 behind in' the water, and in the majority of cases the mineral 

 and vitaiTiine contents are nearly all, and frequently quite all, 

 lost by the solvent action of the boiling water. Consequently, it 

 is evident that a method of cooking which dispenses with the 

 irrmersion of vegetables into boiling water will not only econo- 

 mize the food ingredients present but add tremendously to their 

 nourishing and hvgienic values. 



There :s probably none of our vegetable foods which is gen- 

 erally treated in a I'nore wasteful manner, both in the preparation 

 for cooking and in the process thereof, than the potato, and what 

 is left of it after cooking is, cspeciallv in hotels and dining 

 rooms merclv a lump of soggy matter difficult to digest. 



If a transverse section of a potato is examined, three distinct 

 lavers can be made out. The central one constitutes the largest 

 portion of the total bulk and is almost entirely composed of 

 carbohydrate: this is enclosed by what is called the fibro-vascular 



layer, somewhat darker in color, making about one-twelfth of the 

 entire tuber. This layer is rich in proteid and contains the bulk 

 of the mineral matter and vitamines. The outermost laver forms 

 the skin. If the potato is peeled before cooking, a large portion, 

 sometimes all, of the middle layer is cut away and thus the 

 valuable contents of this layer are entirely wasted. But the 

 waste does not end with the act of peeling, for in boiling a peeled 

 potato a considerable proportion of the nutriment left by the 

 knife is dissolved out in the boiling water; this, too. is generally 

 wasted, although it could form a basis for soups. Therefore 

 it follows that, in the case of the potato the onlv method of 

 obtaining its maximum value is to cook it without removing the 

 outer skin. It is true that many people do boil potatoes in 

 their skins, and in this form they sometimes figure upon the 

 hotel menu as "Potatos a la robe de chambre," but we fear that 

 peeling potatoes after they are cooked is a very exceptional 

 practice. The highest flavor, palatableness and digestibility of 

 the potato are only secured by baking them in their skins, but 

 unfortunately this way, especially with those of large size' en- 

 tails the drying up of the middle layer and as it is only the rnealy 

 interior which is generally eaten, the valuable constituents of 

 that middle layer are lost. Some people, however, realizing the 

 value of this middle layer, consume the whole of baked potatoes 

 provided they are sure that the skin was scrubbed clean before 

 cooking. 



\\ ithin our limits it is obviously impossible to deal specifically 

 with the varying characteristics of each of the diflferent vege- 

 tables, but there are one or two points connected with some 

 which cannot be passed over. 



As regards Icgitincs, in which familv are included peas and 

 beans, the most noteworthy feature is their richness in proteid 

 containing as they do some twenty-five per cent of this ingredient' 

 In these the proteid is in a form called by chemists "legumin,"' 

 which closely resembles the casein of milk, and is in fact ex- 

 tracted from the Soja bean and a cheese made from it. This 

 legumin combines with lime salts, if they are present in the 

 water, to form an insoluble compound, it is therefore necessary 

 when one is obliged to use hard water for boiling them to first 

 precipitate the lime with bicarbonate of soda. 



The onion, and its brother the leek, are the vegetables w-hich 

 are richest in Vitamines, and it is no doubt to this that the 

 stimulating, germicidal and generally beneficial effect of onion 

 gruel is due. Raw onions are equally beneficial and are known 

 to act as a nerve tonic. There will be no great loss in boiling 

 provided the water is made use of, although there is no doubt 

 that some of the essential oil of the onion is driven off by the 

 steam from the boiling water. 



In connection with the onion there is a story told of a medical 

 practitioner who went to a country district with the idea of pur- 

 chasing a practice there. Upon arrival he discovered that not 

 only did the gardens contain a good sized onion patch but that 

 there were many fields of them as well. Thereupon he went 

 away without considering the purchase, remarking, "These 

 people are too healthy with all these onions to require a doctor 

 ver^- often." 



Some people are wise enough to eat some raw onions every 

 day and for this purpose a good way is to use them in the 

 form of scallions which can be had in one's garden all the year 

 round. These scallions are best produced from what are called 

 "top-onions," that is, they form their bulbs during July on the 

 top of a stalk. These bulbs should be planted singly, "in the same 

 way as onion sets, as soon as ripe and they can be obtained in 

 -August and later from the seed stores. They are never killed 

 by frost, but as it is difiicuh to get them out of hard frozen 

 ground a sufficiency for Midwinter use should be planted in a 

 cold frame. 



In the case of all vegetables requiring to be cooked, the only 

 way by which we can obtain the full benefit of their natural 

 constituents is by steaming. This method can also be made to 

 result in considerable economy in fuel as food-steamers are 

 on the market with shelves enabling several vegetables, and 

 also meat, to be cooked at the same time on one gas, or other 

 burner. This method does not transfer the flavor of one thing 

 to another, but the flavor of each is retained to a greater ex- 

 tent than when immersed in boiling w'ater, and there is, of 

 course, absolutely no loss of any of their ingredients. 



When it is possible to use them in that state, the eating of 

 vegetables raw is the best way, and no one should allow a single 

 day to elapse without eating some vegetable that has not been 

 cooked. Most of us are. however, somewhat chary about or- 

 dering a salad at restaurants as we are rightly skeptical as to 

 whether the salad has been properly washed, but there is nothing 

 to prevent the serving of a salad composed of fresh materials 

 from one's own garden once a day for the greater part of, and 

 by the use of cold frames, all the year. 



The early and conti'iual use of raw ve.getables as part of our 

 (Continued on page 287) 



