

RESULTS OF FOOD INVESTIGATIONS. 179 
or 4 pounds of muskmelon costing 15 or 20 cents. Just about 
the same amount of nutriment as would be supplied by either 
of these fruits would be furnished in 2 ounces of breakfast 
cereals costing about I cent, or in 2 ounces of corn meal or 
wheat flour costing from 4 to % of a cent. 
The question naturally arises, Will the nutrients in the beans 
be really worth as much as the same amount of nutrients in 
the meat, and will not the fruit have some value that does not 
belong to the breakfast foods or the flour? 
The meats are very little more digestible than the beans, but 
the difference is very small. ‘The meats also have very small 
amounts of materials, so-called extractives, which are highly 
prized for their flavor, and which are not contained in the 
beans. ‘These extractives are the substances dissolved in the 
water in the preparation of beef tea and meat extracts. For 
invalids, and sometimes for people in good health, they are 
useful, but their use is medicinal, they have no value as nutri- 
ment. Ordinarily they are not at all essential. 
The case is similar with fruits, as compared with the break- 
fast foods, or flour. We prize the fruits for their flavor, which 
is agreeable to the taste. Sometimes the vegetable acids they 
contain may have a medicinal value, and they may at times 
serve as an aid to digestion, and hence be useful to people with 
impaired digestive organs. But, for most people, and at most 
times, they would be no more useful, outside of their agree- 
ableness to the palate, than the flour or meal, or the prepared 
breakfast foods. 7 
In cooking it is understood that flour, sugar, butter, milk, etc., 
are measured rather than weighed. Itisa very difficult matter 
to reduce ‘‘ teaspoonfuls’’ and ‘‘ tablespoonfuls’’ of materials 
to definite weights, and a ‘‘ cupful’’ is likewise a very indefinite 
measure. In general the following averages have been taken 
for the weight of different measures of different foods: 
| = One-half pound of rice, corn starch, sugar, milk, 
syrup, butter. 
= Six ounces of hominy, corn meal, buckwheat. 
= One-fourth pound of flour, wheat breakfast 
foods, cerealine, oatmeal. 
One cupful = one-half pint, | 
Flour, cereals, etc., = about one-half ounce. 
One tablespoonful 4 Corn meal = about three-fourth ounce. 
Butter, starch, rice, sugar, etc., = about one ounce. 
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