SCALDING, PRECOOKING, AND CHILLING 7 
tilled water was used. This was doubtless due partly to the osmotic 
action of salt upon the tissues, and partly to the high boiling point 
of the salt solution. 
From 6 to 10 per cent more shrinkage was obtained when 0.1 per 
cent sodium-bicarbonate (common baking soda) solution was used 
than was obtained with distilled water. This was due. apparently, 
not so much to the effect of the chemical upon the boiling point of the 
solution as to the solvent action which it had upon the vegetable 
tissues. With a 2-minute treatment, considerable disintegration of 
tissues took place, and this was particularly marked in the 4-ininute 
treatment. 
No distinguishable differences were observed when 1 per cent citric 
acid and distilled water were used. 
Spinach which was removed from the scalding bath, and placed 
at once in cold water for 30 seconds, took up water in amount to 
make the shrinkage about 10 per cent less than that of the spinach 
which was not chilled. 
LOSSES IN SCALDING SPINACH. 
When spinach is placed in boiling water the soluble constituents 
diffuse out into the water, and if this is thrown away, as is usually 
the case, there is considerable loss of valuable nutrients. The amount 
of this loss varies with the age of the spinach, the proportion of 
stem and petioles removed, the extent of stirring, the temperature 
of the water, and the duration of the treatment. 
In these experiments, 1.700 grams of spinach scalded for 2 minutes 
in 16,000 cubic centimeters of boiling distilled water lost from 16 
to 30 per cent of its total dry matter. Analysis showed this loss to 
be from the most valuable part of the spinach. In a 2-minute 
scalding, one-half to two-thirds of the sugar was lost, 5 to 10 per 
cent of the protein, and 25 to 30 per cent of the mineral con- 
stitutents. Scalding for 4 minutes in distilled water resulted in a 
loss of 60 to To per cent of the sugar, 8 to 15 per cent of the protein, 5 
and 35 to 45 per cent of the mineral constituents. 
The spinach dipped for 30 seconds into cold water, following 
scalding, lost an additional 1 to 2 per cent of the dry matter. 
Experiments to determine the effect of repeated use of the water 
for scalding purposes upon the losses sustained showed that when the 
water was used for a second and a third time the losses in total solids 
into the water decreased, the quantity lost in the third scalding 
amounting to only 75 to 80 per cent of that lost during the first. 
When 2 per cent brine was used, instead of distilled water, the 
losses were somewhat less, but determination of the exact amount 
was rendered difficult by the fact that during the treatment some 
of the salt was taken up by the spinach. 
Considerably more was lost when the spinach was scalded in a 0.1 
per cent solution of sodium bicarbonate than when distilled water 
was used. Sodium-bicarbonate solution causes a disintegration of 
tissues, due to its solvent action upon the protein and particularly 
upon the pectic substances forming the middle lamella? of the cells. 
During a 2-minute scalding process, the loss was more than 25 per 
B Other series of samples did not show such losses in protein. 
