Edible Products, 



210 



[March, 1012. 



Recently the European food experts 

 have realized the high nutritious value 

 of the soybean and a factory has been 

 established near Paris for the manufac- 

 ture of various food products from this 

 wonderful seed. It is said that a new 

 condensed ration tablet, which will be 

 of great use to travellers and soldiers, 

 has been put on the market ; it is com- 

 posed of soybean casein combined with 

 several other substances and is believed 

 to contain about the maximum of nutri- 

 ment with the minimum of bulk. 



The Unites States has recently begun 

 the exploitation of soybean culture and 

 several results have already been attain- 

 ed : first a variety, or rather a num- 

 ber of varieties constituting a " type," 

 have been introduced from Japan into 

 the rice region of the southern States, 

 and by growing these wet-land varieties 

 after the main crop on the rice fields, 

 the soil is considerably enriched by the 



Tofu, or bean cheese, is prepared as follows : — 

 The beans are soaked in water for about 

 twelve hours, and crushed between millstones 

 until of a uniform consistency. The ground 

 material is then boiled with three times its 

 bulk of water for about an hour, and filtered 

 through cloth. The filtrate is white and 

 opaque, having somewhat the appearance of 

 milk. It has, however, the taste and smell of 

 malt. This milky liquid, to some extent, resem- 

 bles cow's milk in composition. 



The protein in soy bean milk is precipitated 

 by adding the mother liquor obtained in the 

 manufacture of salt from sea water, which 

 contains considerable magnesium chloride. 

 The precipitate is filtered off and formed into 

 cakes with the hands. It is eaten in the fresh 

 itate or frozen. In the latter case it loses part 

 of its water. 



Miso is prepared from cooked beans, which 

 are rubbed to a thick paste and fermented with 

 rice-wine ferment. Miso is of two kinds, white 

 and red, and to some extent resembles tofu. 



A sort of film forms on the surface of soy 

 bean milk which in appearance suggests cream. 

 This material is sometimes prepared in quan- 

 tity by evaporating the milk, and when dried 

 it is used as an article of food under the name 

 of yuba. 



Shoyu is a sauce prepared from a mixture of 

 cooked and pulverized soy beans, roasted and 

 pulverized wheat, flour, salt, and water. The 

 mass is fermented with rice-wine ferment in 

 casks for from onG and a half to five years, being 

 very frequently stirred. The resulting product 

 is a moderately thick brown liquid. In odour 

 and taste it is not unlike a good quality of meat 

 extract, though perhaps a trifle more pungent. 

 Under the name of soy sauce it has been known 

 in India, and to some extent in Europe, for 

 many years. — (Extract from "Soy Beans as food 

 for Man," by C. G. Langworthy, Ph.D., 

 Farmers' Bulletin, No. 58, United States 

 Department of Agriculture.) 



nitrogen stored up in the soybean roots> 

 and by ploughing under the plants the 

 texture of the soil is vastly improved, 

 so that the yield of rice is remarkably 

 increased ; secondly, it is found that 

 several varieties of soybeans contain 

 from 15 to 25 per cent, of an oil which 

 has various economic uses and the resi- 

 due ''cake" is a high grade stock food, 

 this branch of the industry alone 

 amounts to many thousands of dollars 

 per annum ; thirdly, it is grown as a 

 silage crop, and although too coarse to 

 feed green, it is run through the silage 

 cutter and mixed with maize fodder, 

 the two materials thus forminc a much 

 better ensilage than either would be if 

 used separately. 



Though a comparatively new crop 

 outside, of the Par Bast, soybeans are 

 being carefully studied and within a 

 few years there will undoubtedly be, by 

 the process of artificial selection, a 

 goodly number of practically new 

 varieties ; moreover, the number of 

 secondary by-products to be derived 

 from the grain will increase and become 

 importaut items in commerce ; " Shoyu " 

 sauce made from the soybean is now 

 used, under various names, in both 

 Europe and America as a meat relish. 



The wet-land varieties of soybean can 

 be grown on the irrigated rice fields 

 throughout the Philippines, while the 

 ordinary varieties should do well on soils 

 which would produce maize and similar 

 crops. Being a legume, the soybean is 

 not dependent upon vegetable matter 

 for the supply of nitrogen in the soil so 

 much as most other crops ; when closely 

 planted the growth is usually so rapid 

 and dense that weeds and grass do not 

 interfere to any great extent. Now is 

 the time for the Philippine agriculturists 

 to take up soybean culture in earnest, 

 and to develop it in the same way even 

 if not to the same degree, as our neigh- 

 bours across the way have been doing 

 for centuries. The fact that there are 

 practically no seeds of this valuable crop 

 at the present in the Philippines is a sad 

 commentary on the progressiveness of 

 the Philippine farmers ; but it is never 

 too late to learn. 



Sorghum. 

 Three or four distinct varieties of 

 sorghum, commonly called " batad,"have 

 been cultivated for a considerable time 

 in the Archipelago ; however, because 

 of the inferiority of the varieties grown 

 here, as compared with the sorts grown 

 in America, India, China, and Africa, 

 this grain has not entered largely into 

 use here as a table grain. The seeds of 

 all varieties are excellent feed for 



