May, 1909.] 



-137 



Edible Products. 



large amouut of information as to the 

 composition, value, and digestibility of 

 these fruits. 



As is pointed out in the article referred 

 to, the term ' nut' is not a definite one— 

 botanically speaking— but is applied 

 indiscriminately to a varietyof certain 

 fruits, or parts of fruits, and implies 

 a more or less hard, woody covering, 

 surrounding a meat or kernel. The 

 faeb that nuts form a concentrated 

 class of food-stuffs, owing to their 

 general richness in fats and proteins— 

 the two most valuable of nutritive 

 constituents— is very evident from a con- 

 sideration of the tabulated results 

 of analaysis of a large number of differ- 

 ent kinds of nuts, given in the article. 

 Oil or fat is very commonly a prominent 

 constituent of nuts. The hickory nut 

 (Carya sp.) contains 67 "4 per cent, of 

 oil, the Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) 

 65 per cent., the candle-nut (Aleurites 

 tribola), 61*7 per cent., the butter-nut 

 (Caryocar nuciferum), 61*2 per cent., the 

 walnut (Juglans regia), 60'7 per cent., 

 the coconut 56*2, the almond 54-4, and 

 the ground-nut {Arachis hypogcea) 43 5 

 per cent. 



Several of the above, as well as 

 others, are also rich in protein or albu- 

 minous matter— that constituent of 

 foods which goes to form muscles or red 

 meat in the animal body. In the ground- 

 nut the proportion of protein reaches 

 29*8 per cent., while in the case of the 

 butter-nut the protein comprises 27"9 

 per cent. Other nuts rich in albuminoid 

 matter are the pistachio, 22 6 per cent.: 

 the Paradise nut of South America 

 (which resembles the Brazil nut in 

 appearance and flavour), about 22'2 

 per cent., the almond and the candle- 

 nut, each 21 "4 per cent.; the Aval nut, 

 18"2 per cent., and the Brazil nut, 

 17*4 per cent. The proportion of 

 albuminod matter in the coconut com- 

 prises only 6-6 per cent. 



Only a few of the commonly used 

 nuts contain a large proportion of 

 carbohydrate matter. Among these 

 the dry chestnut, with 73 - per cent., 

 ranks highest. 



When it is considered that the propor- 

 tion of protein in an average beef steak 

 comprises 19 8 per cent., and of fat 13 6 

 per cent., that in Cheddar cheese the 

 protein percentage may be taken as 27"7 

 and the fat percentage as 36 8, and that 

 boiled eggs contain 12*4 per cent, of 

 albuminoid matter, and 10*7 per cent, of 

 fat, it will be seen that the food value of 

 nuts, as deduced from their percentage 

 composition of nutritive matter is, 

 generally speaking, a high one. This 

 food value is somewhat depreciated on 



account of the fact that the nutritive 

 constituents, more especially the protein 

 matter, are not so easily digested as the 

 corresponding constituents of meat, but 

 the opinion is expressed by the writer of 

 the article that this inferior digestibility 

 is, to a large extent, due to imperfect 

 mastication of the nuts. 



The flavour of nuts is to a large extent 

 due to the oils present, though in some 

 kinds there are also certain specific 

 flavouring bodies. The nut oils readily 

 become rancid, and the disagreeable 

 flavour of spoiled nuts is due to this 

 property. 



The almond possesses a hydrocyanic 

 acid flavour, which is characteristic of 

 the kernels of peach stones, plum 

 stones, etc., and this might be expected 

 Avhen it is remembered that the almond 

 is the dried kernel of an inedilble fruit, 

 which somewhat resembles the peach 

 in appearance, and is closely related 

 to it botanically. Most almonds are 

 mild-flavoured, though in the so-called 

 bitter almonds the glucoside which 

 yields the cyanic acid is more abundant. 

 —Agricultural News, Vol. VII., No. 168, 

 October, 1908. 



CITRUS INDUSTRY FOR INDIA. 



In the middle of last year the Italian 

 Government imposed an export tax on 

 citrate of lime and concentrated lemon 

 juice. This tax, which does not seem to 

 have proved a popular one, is variable 

 and may reach a maximum of 25 per- 

 cent. Its immediate effect has been to 

 increase the price of the products 

 named, thus opening the door for out- 

 side competition. The exports of con- 

 centrated lemon juice from Italy to the 

 United Kingdom are substantial and 

 were valued at £28,926 in 1906 and 

 £23,225 in 1907. The trade in citrate is 

 more important, and it is estimated that 

 one-third of the total crop of lemons is 

 now used in the manufacture of that 

 product. In 1907, 23,000 pipes of citrate 

 were produced, each pipe containing 

 672 lbs., and as 100,000 lemons are neces- 

 sary to manufacture a pipe, it follows 

 that about 6,900,000,000 lemons were 

 grown in Sicily during the year under 

 notice. That will give some idea of the 

 extent of the trade, which, moreover, 

 seems to be a profitable one, as we see it 

 stated on good authority that while a 

 hectare (2'47 acres) of land yields an 

 annual return of Rs. 23-6, the same area 

 in a first-class lemon grove in a good 

 season may produce fruit to the value of 

 Rs. 1,500. But what with the export tax 

 and the destruction caused by the earth- 

 quake, this trade will probably be 



