THE CHEMISTRY OF COOKERY. 103 



seed may be made to yield twenty-eight to thirty-two pounds of crude 

 oil, the available quantity is very great. At present only a small quan- 

 tity is made, the surplus seed being used as manure. Its fertilizing 

 value would not be diminished by removing the oil, which is only a 

 hydro-carbon, i, e., material supplied by air and water. All the fer- 

 tilizing constituents of the seed are left behind in the oil-cake from 

 which the oil has been pressed. 



Hitherto cotton-seed oil has fallen among thieves. It is used as an 

 adulterant of olive-oil ; sardines and pilchards are packed in it. The 

 sardine trade has declined lately, some say from deficient supplies of 

 the fish. I suspect that there has been a decline in the demand, due to 

 the substitution of this oil for that of the olive. Many people who 

 formerly enjoyed sardines no longer care for them, and they do not 

 know why. The substitution of cotton-seed oil explains this in most 

 cases. It is not rancid, has no decided flavor, but still is unpleasant 

 when eaten raw, as with salads or sardines. It has a flat, cold charac- 

 ter, and an after-taste that is faintly suggestive of castor-oil ; but faint 

 as it is, it interferes with the demand for a purely luxurious article of 

 food. This delicate defect is quite inappreciable in the results of its 

 use as a frying medium. The very best lard or ordinary kitchen but- 

 ter, eaten cold, has more of objectionable flavor than refined cotton- 

 seed oil. 



I have not tasted poppy-seed oil, but am told that it is similar to that 

 from the cotton-seed. As regards the quantities available, some idea 

 may be formed by plucking a ripe head from a garden poppy and 

 shaking out the little round seeds through the windows on the top. 

 Those who have not tried this will be astonished at the numbers pro- 

 duced by each flower. As poppies are largely cultivated for the pro- 

 duction of opium, and the yield of the drug itself by each plant is very 

 small, the supplies of oil may be considerable ; 571,542 cwt. of seeds 

 were exported from India last year, of which 346,031 cwt. went to 

 France. 



Palm-oil, though at present practically unknown in the kitchen, 

 may easily become an esteemed material for the frying-kettle (I say 

 " kettle," as the ordinary English frying-pan is only fit for the cook- 

 ing of such things as barley bannocks, pancakes, fladbrod, or oat- 

 cakes). At present, the familiar uses of palm-oil in candle-making 

 and for railway grease will cause my suggestion to shock the nerves 

 of many delicate people, but these should remember that before palm- 

 oil was imported at all, the material from which candles and soap were 

 made, and by which cart-wheels and heavy machinery were greased, 

 was tallow — L e., the fat of mutton and beef. The reason why our 

 grandmothers did not use candles when short of dripping or suet was 

 that the mutton-fat constituting the candle was impure ; so are the 

 yellow candles and yellow grease in the axle-boxes of the railway car- 

 riages. This vegetable fat is quite as inoffensive in itself, quite as 



