CONCENTRATED FOODS 279 



When the oils are extracted from seeds by means of 

 solvents, the residual meals are sometimes pressed into the 

 form of cakes. Such cakes always contain a smaller per- 

 centage of oil than the genuine oil cakes described above, 

 but they are, of course, richer in other ingredients. The 

 meals are, however, generally sold in the loose condition. 

 Their composition is similar to that of the cakes made from 

 them. 



Compound Cakes and Meals. The distinction between 

 oil cakes and compound cakes is an important one. The 

 former consists essentially of the pressed residues obtained 

 from oily seeds and nuts. English law requires that 

 they must be made from the seed or substance by the 

 name of which they are marketed, and from nothing else. 

 The latter compound cakes usually consist of a mixture 

 of seeds of various kinds, starchy meals, pollards, hay, straw, 

 husks, and other similar substances, pressed into the form 

 of a cake. They can, therefore, be sold at much lower prices 

 than oil cakes. Their popularity probably depends on this 

 in conjunction with a lingering notion that there is virtue in 

 the fact that they are cakes, i.e. that they necessarily possess 

 some of the qualities of oil cakes. There is no such 

 necessity. As cakes they may be more convenient for 

 storing and handling, but in point of composition they are 

 to be regarded merely as pressed mixed meals. The latter, 

 in the unpressed condition, possess the advantage that they 

 do not need to be broken for use. 



Compound cakes and meals are usually called by some 

 name, eg. " dairy cake, ", " fattening meal," etc., intended to 

 imply that they are peculiarly suitable for certain purposes. 

 Analyses showing the percentages of crude nutrients are 

 frequently quoted in support of such contentions ; and it 

 may be said that the guarantees given by firms of repute are 

 generally trustworthy. 



It is, perhaps, scarcely necessary to repeat what has been 

 said so often before, viz. that the amounts of crude nutrients 

 in a feeding stuff afford little or no information as to its 

 nutritive value unless the nature and proportions of the 



