Edible Products. 



[October, 1908. 



Though these soy bean products are 

 prepared chiefly in Japan and other 

 eastern countries, their manufacture has 

 been attempted to some extent in 

 Switzerland and elsewhere. 



The statement is frequently made that 

 the Japanese live almost exclusively 

 upon rice, eating little or no meat. It 

 is not, however, generally known that 

 the deficiency of protein in the rice is 

 made up by the consumption of large 

 quantities of shoyu, miso, or other soy 

 bean products. It is stated on good 

 authority that these products actually 

 take the place of meat and other nitro- 

 genous animal foods in the Japanese 

 dietary. They are eaten in some form 

 or other by rich and poor at almost 

 every meal. 



A large number of dietary and diges- 

 tion experiments have been made in 

 Japan in which soy bean preparations 

 formed a considerable part of the 

 food consumed, although no experi- 

 ments have been made, so far as can be 

 learned, in which such preparations 

 were eaten alone. Generally speaking, 

 the nitrogen was well assimilated. For 

 instance, when 12 grams of nitrogen was 

 consumed daily, the dietary consisting 

 of bean cheese and rice, only O'l. gram 

 of nitrogen was excreted in the feces. 

 When 13'9 grams of nitrogen was con- 

 sumed daily, in a dietary of bean cheese 

 and barley, only 1-14 grams was excreted 

 in the feces. According to the author, 

 in a dietary containing a large amount 

 of been cheese, 90 per cent, of the protein, 

 89'9 per cent, of the fat, and 14"5 per cent, 

 of tlie crude fibre are digestible. The 

 general opinion of Japanese investiga- 

 tors and others familiar with oriental 

 dietetics is, that the protein in articles 

 of food prepared from soy beans is in a 

 very available form, and that these pre- 

 parations are most valuable foods. 



Bean sausages in considerable variety 

 are prepared in Germany, and formed 

 part of the ration of the German soldier 

 in the Franco-Prussian war. So far as 

 can be learned, these are always made 

 from ordinary varieties of beans and 

 not from soy beans. 



Since soy beans contain no starch, 

 they have been recommended as food 

 for persons suffering from diabetes. A 

 soy bean bread is manufactured for this 

 purpose in Paris. 



Under the name of coffee beans, soy 

 beans are eaten to some extent in 

 Switzerland as a vegetable, and dried 

 and roasted are also used as a coffee 

 substitute. Their use for this latter 

 purpose is not unknown in America. 

 The attempt has recently been made by 



certain dealers to place the soy bean on 

 the market as a new substitute for 

 coffee and to sell it under other names at 

 an exorbitant price. 



Bulletin No. 98 of the North Carolina 

 Experiment Station recommends soy 

 beans as a palatable vegetable when pre- 

 pared as follows : Soak the beans until 

 the skins come off and stir in water 

 until the skins rise to the surface and 

 then remove them. Boil the beans with 

 bacon until soft, season with pepper, 

 salt, and butter, and serve hot. If the 

 beans are green the preliminary soak- 

 ing may be omitted. No other references 

 to the use of soy beans for human food 

 in the United States have been found. 

 — U. S. Department of Agriculture, Far- 

 mers ' Bxdletin, No. 58. 



COCONUT OIL IN THE STATES. 



According to the Oil, Paint, and 

 Drug Reporter, the continued quiet in 

 the New York Market for coconut oil 

 has had a depressing effect, yet both 

 Ceylon and Cochin, all things taken 

 into consideration, have held their own 

 fairly well, the wonder being that, with 

 so many natural conditions against it, 

 the market has not gone much lower. 

 Starting in January, Ceylon oil was 

 barely steady at 1\ cents, and there 

 was little support from buyers who 

 have been particularly shy this year in 

 the matter of contracts. It has been 

 a hand-to-mouth business, and what 

 little stock there is is in the hands of the 

 importers. Gradually the market weak- 

 ened under the pressure of compettion, 

 and the lack of interest shown, until 

 Ceylon oil was freely offered at Of cents- 



The depression is not wholly due to 

 quiet times, but to excessive production 

 of raw material at primary points. 

 Seldom indeed has so much copra been 

 produced as is shown by present stocks. 

 It is estimated that there has been an 

 out-turn of 370,000 tons all told, of which 

 200,000 tons are credited to Java and the 

 Dutch East Indies, 60,000 tons to the 

 Straits Settlements, 70,000 tons to the 

 Philippines, and 40,000 tons to Ceylon. 

 In comparison with other years the 

 excess has been remarkably heavy. In 

 1905 there were produced, all told, 

 286,000 tons, and during that year prices 

 held fairly steady, fluctuating only 

 between a low price of 6£ cents and a 

 high of 6| cents. In 1906 the out-turn 

 was 290.000 tons, but it was a prosperous 

 year for the oil trade, and the market 

 showed unusual strength towards the 

 end. Starting in January at 6£ cents, 

 there was a steady advance until at the 



