578 MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



burst its granules and is then kept hot, but without additional mois- 

 ture, a change will continue to take place, though the starch will re- 

 main dry and glistening. The flavor grows sweeter and more nutty 

 the longer the starchy food cooks in dry heat. It is only vegetables 

 that are composed largely of starch that can be kept hot in this man- 

 ner without acquiring a strong taste and poor color. Potatoes, if kept 

 in a closely covered vessel or with the unbroken skins on, will become 

 soggy and dark and have a rank flavor. This is owing to the reten- 

 tion of moisture, which changes some of the starch to a sticky gummy 

 mass, and very probably to the noxious volatile bodies which are gen- 

 erated by heat and should be allowed to pass away. If the skins are 

 broken and the vessel ventilated, potatoes may be kept warm a long 

 time without spoiling. 



During the cooking of all kinds of foods gases are developed 

 which, if retained in the food, give it a strong flavor and odor, and 

 which, there is reason to believe, are injurious. What all these gases 

 are and just how they act is not yet known, because very little re- 

 search has been made along these lines. 



Carbonic-acid gas is liberated from practically all foods and sul- 

 phureted hydrogen or other volatile sulphur compound from prac- 

 tically all except the starchy vegetables. If the food be thoroughly 

 ventilated while cooking, the gases will pass off in the steam. Foods 

 which are well ventilated during cooking are better flavored than 

 those which are closely covered and are more wholesome. Hence the 

 urgent necessity for thorough ventilation while cooking vegetables 

 or any other foods. 



Overcooking changes and toughens the texture of vegetable 

 foods and destroys the chlorophyll and other coloring matters and 

 volatilizes or injures the bodies which contribute to the flavor. Over- 

 cooked vegetables are inferior in appearance and flavor and often 

 indigestible (that is, promotive of digestive disturbance) as well as 

 unpalatable. 



Cowpeas. These are a common leguminous vegetable in the 

 southern United States and are also called black-eye peas, whip-poor- 

 will peas, lady peas, cornfield peas, etc. They are most excellent 

 cooked like shelled beans when green. The young pods are also 

 served like string beans. The ripe, dry beans, which are also very 

 palatable and nutritious, may be cooked like dried beans or lentils. 



Scarlet Runner Beans. In Great Britain the scarlet runner 

 beans, which are raised in the United States almost exclusively as an 

 ornamental plant, are highly prized for the table. The tender green 

 pods are whittled into small sections (after stringing) and cooked 

 in water until just tender. These beans are at their best seasoned 

 only with butter and salt. 



Swiss Chards. This vegetable is a variety of beet in which the 

 leaf stalk and midrib have been developed instead of the root. It 

 is cultivated like spinach, and the green, tender leaves are prepared 

 exactly like this vegetable. The midribs of the full-grown leaves 

 may be cooked like celery. 



