90 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 



The chestnut differs materially from the six nuts we have just 

 considered. While the protein content of the unshelled nut is 

 not very unlike the ordinary table nut, it contains only one-fourth 

 as much fat and six or seven times as much carbohydrates. 

 Indeed its high starch content explains why chestnuts are so 

 little eaten raw. Boiling or roasting causes the starch granules 

 to swell and burst, rendering the nut of easier mastication and 

 giving the digestive juices better opportunity to act upon the 

 ingested nuts. A pound of unshelled chestnuts contains .057 

 pounds of protein and has a fuel value of 1,115 calories or 195 

 calories for each .01 pound of protein. This is a somewhat 

 more nearly balanced food than the other nuts. As it yields itself 

 readily to cookery, the chestnut should have a more prom- 

 inent place in American dietaries. 



Although the peanut is not a nut strictly speaking, it deserves 

 special attention because of its composition. A pound of roasted 

 peanuts in the shell has .206 pounds of protein, and a fuel value 

 of 1,985 calories, and a pound of roasted and shelled peanuts 

 carries .305 pounds of protein with a fuel value of 2,955 calories. 

 Peanut butter is apparently ground peanuts and has practically 

 the same composition as roasted and shelled peanuts. Peanuts 

 have a fuel value of only 96 calories for each .01 pound of pro- 

 tein and hence have a relative exceso of protein. This is so 

 unlike other vegetable foods, with the exception of the near rela- 

 tives of the peanut, as peas and beans, that it is of great impor- 

 tance. A bushel of raw peanuts weighs about 22 pounds and 

 costs from 75 cents to $1.25. The roasted peanuts retail at 

 from 5 to 10 cents a quart. A quart of peanuts contains as 

 much protein as one pound of rump steak although, at usual 

 prices, the later costs three times as much. 



In this country nuts will never to any great extent replace the 

 cereal foods, as is the case in some sections of the Old World. 

 Not only would the original cost prevent, but the labor involved 

 in shelling and preparing nuts for the table would prove a serious 

 obstacle to their extended use. It will, however, be interesting 

 to compare the relative cost of the different nutrients as fur- 

 nished by different nuts and by wheat flour at the prices which 

 fairly represent the cost in Maine cities. 



