POTATOES AND OTHER STARCHY ROOTS AS FOOD. 15 



In choosing potatoes, weight and size should be taken into account. 

 As a rule, the smaller the individual potatoes the greater the weight 

 of a bushel. The legal weight of potatoes in most States is 60 

 pounds 1 to the bushel, or 15 pounds to the peck, and three or four 

 potatoes of average size weigh a pound. Hence, one may reckon 45 

 to 60 medium-sized potatoes to the peck. The time required for 

 cooking, of course, depends upon the size of the potatoes, smaller 

 ones needing less heat than larger ones. For this reason those of 

 uniform size are usually to be preferred to large and small ones 

 ■mixed. If a lot is not uniform, it is often worth while to sort them 

 and use the large ones with roast meats, or at other times when the 

 oven need not be especially heated, and save the small ones for occa- 

 sions when quick cooking is more convenient. When the potatoes are 

 very large, or time is pressing, it is often desirable to increase the 

 surface exposed to the heat by cutting them in pieces before cooking, 

 in spite of the fact that this slightly increases the amount of nutrients 

 lost. If they are pared and cut into small cubes or thin slices, they 

 will cook very quickly and may then be creamed, mashed, or served 

 in other ways. 



FOOD VALUE OF POTATOES. 



Potatoes are an important food in so many countries that much 

 experimenting has been done to test their nutritive value by scientific 

 methods, and the work fully bears out practical experience in prov- 

 ing that they are wholesome and well digested. Many experiments 

 show that almost all of the carbohydrates and about four-fifths of 

 the protein which potatoes supply are actually utilized by the normal 

 body. 



There is practically no reliable evidence as to the favorable effect 

 of cooking on the digestibility of potatoes, but what little there is 

 suggests that the different methods have less influence than is some- 

 times supposed. It seems probable that well-cooked, mealy potatoes 

 in which the starch grains are thoroughly broken open offer less re- 

 sistance to the action of the digestive juices than ill-cooked, soggy 

 ones in which the flesh is only partially broken down and which 

 enter the alimentary tract in lumps. It is doubtful, however, if the 

 differences are great enough to be of importance in the ordinary diet. 



When potatoes are selling at a dollar a bushel 10 cents spent for 

 them will buy about 6 pounds of tubers. The same sum spent for 

 wheat bread at 5 cents a pound loaf will purchase only 2 pounds of 

 material. At first glance it might seem that potatoes are much 

 cheaper than bread, but they contain so much more refuse and water 



1 In two States, namely, North Carolina and Virginia, the legal weight of a bushel of 

 potatoes is 56 pounds. 



