135 ON THE FECULA OF POTATOES, &C. 



colour. The whole fecula and pulp are then to be well 

 mixed together, formed into small calces, and dried in the 

 air, or by a gentle heat. This is a preparation, which will 

 keep for many years— which no family ought to be without, 

 and which is in the power of the poorest family to possess. 



Jelly from it, Half an ounce of this preparation will gelatinize so large 



prepaiations.^"^ ^ quantity of boiling water, as to afford a sufficient meal for 

 any labouring person in health. It may be sweetened either 

 with molasses or sugar: or being boiled with an onion and 

 pot herbs, and seasoned with pepper and salt, it will make a 

 very palatable, wholesome, and nutritious soup. But should 

 the raw flavour of the potato predominate, as will sometimes 

 happen, when the preparation is newly made, it may be cor- 

 rected, and the soup improved, by the addition of a little 

 mushroom catsup, allspice, anchovy, or red herring. 



If this preparation of the potato be boiled with milk, 

 Sweetened with sugar, and flavoured with a little wine or 



Useful for the gp^^g \^ forms the most nourishing and restorative food, that 



sick, convales- ., , , , • • i • i 



tear, can possibly be administered to the sick and convalescent. 



enfeebled, or It is so easily digested, that it soon becomes animalized, 

 children. ^^^^ ^^ ^^^ impaired functions of a debilitated constitution. 



Thus it is peculiarly fitted to the digestive organs of the de- 

 bauchee, and to the languid powers of infancy. And I have 

 known infants wholly nourished for months by this prepara- 

 tion, boiled in milk and water, sweetened with a little sugar. 

 With a larger proportion of the preparation a stiffjelly may 

 Excellent re- ^^ formed, which acidulated >vltb lemon juice, or any other 

 medy for sore vegetable acid, becomes the best domestic remedy that can 



be employed, in every species of sore throat. 

 More elegant Those who can affoid it may have a much moi-e elegant, 

 preparation, though rather a more expensive article, in the pure fecula 

 itself, deprived of all the pulp and fibrous part of the po- 

 tato. This preparation is so easily made, that I hope to see 

 it introduced into general use. And I do not hesitate to 

 say, it will be found superior in every respect to salep, sago, 

 arrow root, or any of the vegetable preparations of that kind, 

 which have been so pompously advertised, and recommend- 

 ed to the public, by those who are interested in the sale of 

 them. 

 Potato starch. Indeed it is already generally known to laundresses under 



the 



