BOUILLON CUBES : THEIR CONTENTS AND FOOD VALUE. 7 
The relative cost of the commercial and homemade preparations of 
meat is shown in the following table : 
Table LI I. — Relative cost of commercial arid homemade meat preparations. 
Sam- 
ple 
No. 
Substance. 
Best grade bouillon cubes 
Poorest grade bouillon cubes 
Best grade semisolid meat extract 
Poorest grade semisolid meat extract . 
Best grade fluid meat extract 
Poorest grade fluid meat extract 
Commercial meat juice 
do 
Homemade beef broth i 
Homemade meat and vegetable soup 
Amount. 
Cost. 
Ounce. 
Cents. 
1 
20 
1 
10 
1 
23 
1 
13 
1 
18 
1 
11.5 
1 
25 
1 
35 
n 
4.5 
H 
1 
Amount 
of meat 
extract ob- 
tained for 
10 cents. 
Ounce. 
1 These two preparations are diluted and ready to serve. The others are all to be diluted with water 
before serving 
2 Cups. 
SUMMARY. 
One-half to three- fourths of bouillon cubes is table salt. The cubes 
are not concentrated beef or meat essence, as many people believe. 
They are valuable stimulants or flavoring agents, but have little or 
no real food value. Bouillon cubes, therefore, are relatively ex- 
pensive. 
Semisolid meat extracts sold in jars are not concentrated beef. 
They are stimulants and flavoring adjuncts and have only a slight 
food value, owing to a small amount of protein (muscle-building 
food) which they contain. They are more expensive than homemade 
soups. 
Fluid meat extracts are dilute solutions of semisolid meat extracts. 
They are sold in bottles and are flavored. They are more expensive 
than the semisolid meat extracts because they contain more water. 
Commercial meat juices are largely deprived of their most valuable 
food constituent — the coagulable protein, or muscle-building food. 
They are similar to fluid meat extracts, and some makes cost more. 
Homemade meat broth is more nutritious and provides more meat 
extractives, protein, and fat at less expense than the commercial 
preparations. 
Homemade meat and vegetable soup contains much more food and 
is therefore much cheaper than the bouillons or soups prepared from 
commercial cubes, extracts, or juices. 
ADDITIONAL COPIES of this publication 
-£a- may be procured from the Superintend- 
ent of Documents, Government Printing 
Office, Washington, D. C , at 5 cents per copy 
WASHINGTON : GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFH'E : 1913 
