Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1870-04-30
NATURES ECONOMIC LUXURY.

From a rich soil it is easy TO
obtain the staff of life and the
various luXuries of h vegetable
kingdom. Plow and seed such a soil
and il laughs a harvest. But who expects
to extract nourishment from quartz, or
sandstone or granite? They can either
be plowed nor sown. Bread is o looked
for from tones Yet something akin to
it, something more nourishing and p
BILE of being made quite as p~alatable as
any preparation from the sOundest and
sweetest cerRaf actually exists on the
rocky coasts OF Ireland, Iceland, Green
land and Norway, where nothing else
will grow; exists, too, in quantities suffi-
cient to supply the whole civilized world.
Ignorance travels from Dan to Beersheba,
eXclaimiug, GAN is barrent" but observ-
ant science, taking the same track as
this blind sloven, discovers, amid
the seeming sterility, much that can be
utilized and made beneficial to mankind.
The rich prairie-land of the West
yields nothing more nutritious than the
marine lichen which clings to the rocks
on certain parts of the Irish coast, and
is Familiarity known as Carrageen or
Irish Moss. For several years past many
tons of it have been annually collected
by the inhabitants of the northern dis
tricts of Ireland for home consumption
and expectation. 1t is used by the farm
4 AOdI A4O EAAOAO " AaNAGAAAhE LIZ bnN-
tie, and by the peasants Latter being
washed and dried, as an article of food;
and il is an ascertained fact that its flesh
generating properties are not surpassed,
if equalled by those of any cultivated
product of the earth. 1t has also medi
cinal qualities which render it an adj
mirable article OF diet in consumption,
dyspepsia and febrile diseases.
The only reason why his free gift of
nature has not heretofore been in univer-
sal use az an economic source of susie
nance, has been the difficulty of cleansing
it and depriving it of the pungent and
unpleasant flavor which belongs to it as a
marine production. This difficulty, we
are glad to learn, has within the last
twelve months, been entirely overcome
Mr.. Rand, the Well-known chemist, hav-
ing discovered a process by which it is
freed from every Objectionable property,
and rendered as palatable as it is whole
some and iRvigOrating. For this process
its inventor obtained a patent about a
year ago, and under that patent Cara
geen or Irish moss is now being converted
into a most valuable, cheap and agreeable
element of food. The new preparation
has been named Sea Moss Farine, n is
being manufactured in New York in inn
mense quantities, by an enterprising as
ISOLATION of capitalists known as the Sea
Moss Farine Co.
We congratulate the people on this i'm
portant addition to their bill of fare; more
especially those who have epicurean
tastes and short purses. and have hitherto
foundi it impossible to combine luxury
with economy. Daintier fare than is sup
piled by this nutrient from the rocks, no
gastrOnome, hOweverfastidious, could de-
sire, Cheaper f~are-indeed, fare as cheap
is not procurable in the American market.
We do not write at random on these
Hafafa. Arnr aFnHawnnn~n hafnr fOur nAnA on
an impartial investigas en of the facts as
regards comparative Z lespness, and on
the evidence of our paaate as regards the
dishes prepared from the Farine.
We AVE now before us a circular pub
lished by the Company above referred to,
which we advise every one who takes an
interest in the food question to read. It
describes, concisely, the origin and uses
of the new edible, and presents an array
of scientific and other testimony in its IA
Vor which can hardly fail to convince the
most skeptical of its paramount claims as
an economic, wholesome, digestible, emil
nently nutritious, and very pleasant adj
ditiOn to the National Carte. This at
least is the conclusion at which many of
the most eminent hotel keepers, artistic
cooks, physicians, chemists, merchants,
etc, of New York, lave arrived; and they
state their opinions Of the subject over
their signatures, in the pamphlet to
which we allude.
Among various proofs of the large
amour of nutritious geleatine contained
in the Sea Moss Farine it is mentioned that
a package of it, costing only twenty-five
cents, will produce sixteen quarts Of ecceL-
lent blanc mango, or a proportionate guam
tity of custard, light pudding, tarine
cream, farine sauce, Cruel, Charlotte
russo, &c. This seems slmOst incredible, |
but is vOuched for by ladies of the high
est responsibility who append their names
to their statements. Toe Company state
that at least fifty delicious dishes can be
made from the Sea Moss Farine, and give
in t3eir circular the recipes for many of
them. We consider Mr.. Rand's discOv-
cry a highly important one for the mil
lion, and indeed for all classes OF society,
in these stringent times.