HOME ECONOMICS AND EDUCATION 619 



in reasonable combinations. Nut butters and similar foods give 

 a pleasant variety to the diet, and they are relished by many. 



OLIVE OIL. 



This is the oil expressed from ripe olives. It is prized for its 

 delicate flavor and high nutritive value. It is used principally as a 

 salad oil in the United States and might be employed more freely. 

 It is frequently adulterated with peanut oil, cottonseed oil, lard oil 

 and some other vegetable oils. 



COTTONSEED OIL. 



This is used to a large extent as a salad oil, but is frequently sold 

 as olive oil. It has a pleasant flavor and odor and does not become 

 rancid so easily as olive oil. 



PEANUT OIL. 



Peanut oil has a pleasant, nutty flavor and in Europe is used 

 extensively under its own name. It could well be used as a salad oil 

 to take the place of olive oil. 



SUNFLOWER OIL. 



Sunflower oil has a mild taste and pleasant odor and is used 

 in Europe for culinary purposes. (Bur. Chem. Bui. 77.) 



CARE OF FOOD. 



Introduction. The woman who presides over a household 

 should consider as one of her most important functions the purchase 

 of food and its storage preliminary to use in the kitchen. Should she 

 be living on a farm she will buy less in amount than the woman who 

 lives in the town or city, but, on the other hand, the storage of food 

 will demand more of her attention. Scientific investigation has also 

 thrown light on many of the processes concerned and the result of 

 such labors should be at the service of the householder. The health 

 and efficiency of the family is the chief object of her care, and it is 

 an end well worth the effort. In the buying, storing, and handling 

 of food it is most important that we realize the causes of what is called 

 the spoiling of food. 



Countless numbers of tiny living things called micro-organisms, 

 a word meaning simply small living things, are everywhere found 

 which will grow in the food man has prepared for his own use and 

 cause it to spoil. The bulk of these minute forms of life are harm- 

 less, some are useful, like those which ripen milk; and many are 

 harmful, since they cause waste or may be a direct cause of disease. 



They may be found in the cleanest room, but they exist in far 

 greater numbers in dirty quarters. Not only do the micro-organisms 

 appropriate our food, but they sometimes leave behind a disagreeable, 

 musty and moldy odor and flavor, the substances called ptomaines, 

 which are sometimes poisonous. The housekeeper's success in pre- 

 serving food from deterioration depends very largely on her ability 

 to reduce the number of these unbidden guests to the lowest possible 

 limit. Storing and handling of foods are essentially bacteriological 

 questions, so some knowledge of the nature of these microscopic plants 

 is here in order. 



Yeasts and Their Utilization. Not until millions of yeast cells 

 are massed together do they become visible to the eye as in the com- 



