154 Kansas Academy of Science. 



We do not expect to find starch in ripe fruits, i Even the 

 banana, which when picked green contains about 14 percent 

 of starch, when ripened by modern methods of storage contains 

 only .71 of 1 percent of starch. The green banana is used as a 

 starch-producing food, and the banana flour made from it is 

 utilized by cooking in cakes, gruel and similar products. One 

 reason, although perhaps not the only one, why bananas are by 

 some considered unwholesome is because they are eaten raw, 

 when they are not sufficiently ripened — when they still contain 

 starch. We do not consider raw starch a wholesome food ; ex- 

 cept in small quantities, it is not as readily digested as when 

 cooked. The yellow banana, when ripe, is usually mottled with 

 black and yellow spots. The odor of the unripe banana is also 

 radically diff'erent from that of the ripe fruit. 



It might be urged that nuts contain considerable starch, 

 and that we eat them without cooking. It should be noted, how- 

 ever, that those nuts that contain the most starch happen to be 

 the ones most frequently cooked before serving. Acorns are 

 not generally eaten by civilized people ; chestnuts, when ac- 

 tually used as food, as in Italy, are usually cooked ; and peanuts 

 are roasted before they are edible. 



In studying the composition and source of some of the com- 

 mercial fruit jellies on the market, we observed that some spe- 

 cial samples contained what seemed too much starch, so much 

 in fact as to suggest that starch might have been added as a 

 thickener. On further investigation, however, it was learned 

 that while some jellies are made directly from apple juice as a 

 base, later in the season, when apple juice was not available, 

 apple trimmings were used. These apple trimmings are a by- 

 product from the fruit evaporators, and consist of dried skins 

 and cores. These, when examined separately, contain from 

 four to five percent of starch. 



There are but few references in literature to starch in fruits. 

 One author states that starch was found in preserves made 

 from bruised apples.^ The chemical composition of American 

 Food Products,- although giving the composition of various 

 food products, makes no mention of the occurrence of starch in 

 any fruits, probably because the ripe fruits only were con- 

 sidered. 



1. Worcallier, Cause of Abnormal Quantities of Starch in Braised Apples, Jour. Soc. 

 Chem. Ind., vol. 24, p. 981. 



2. U. S. Dept. .of Agric. Bui. 38. 



