1156 
paired and when they came back, after some weeks' 
time, they had strips of glue-like material upon them 
and were absolutely waterproof; later on other parts 
of the boots became again cracked, but these repaired 
places remained as elastic as ever. When asking what 
wonderful material this was, his servant told him it 
was Tung yu. This missionary added that if he were a 
commercial man, this discovery might have made him a 
wealthy fellow in a short time. So here you have 
something to make a fortune with!" 
"You ask me whether there is a simple flavoring 
to take away the beany taste of beancurd. No, there 
is not! The Chinese are of course used to this pe- 
culiar paint or putty-like flavor, but even then they 
often season their beancurd dishes highly with salt 
and chili peppers. I have noticed though that the curd 
in some towns tastes much better than in others and I 
found that greenish yellow soybeans have a coarser 
taste and flavor than the light yellow ones-. I have 
some idea that the quality of oil has something to do 
with this characteristic. If I were you I would try 
to cook with superheated steam for a considerable time 
and see if that does not remedy the matter consider- 
ably. Remember that the Boston baked beans need a 
whole night and morning of slow heat before they real- 
ly are 1 tasty 1 . 
"You also might try to de-fatten the beans, be- 
fore making them into curd. Before doing so, first 
see whether bean cake can be used for making curd; if 
so, we are on the road to kill 2 birds with 1 stone. 
"Whether there are more vegetable seeds that can 
be sprouted and used as vegetables? Well, here are 
some that I came into contact with: 
"Phaseolus angularis, Adzuki bean, the speckled gray- 
ish black variety supplies the finest quality of bean- 
sprouts, of very sweet and juicy flavor. The red va- 
rieties are boiled, pounded with sugar and used as a 
filling in cakes and as sweetmeats. 
n Phaseolus aureus, Mung bean, the ordinary sea-green 
variety supplies good beansprouts , vermicelli and gel- 
atine, also much eaten boiled with rice as a broth or 
gruel. 
"Soja max, the small green and yellowish green 
varieties are sprouted, but the sprouts have a rank 
flavor; the large green varieties are allowed to ger- 
minate only or often not even that and are fried in 
oil and some salt sprinkled over them; they are very 
