The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1875-05-20

variable quantities ofdextrine, sugar and
inorganic salts, such as carbonates and
phosphates of lime and soda The azo-
TIED elements are most abundant in ami
NAL food, and, since these azotiZed ele-
ments are most nutritious, it follows
that animal food is more nutritious. This
is deductive reasoning. and, though not
conclusive, ii will bear examination.
1t is interesting to more some of the
constituent principles in the various ar
tons of water: Mushrooms have 50 per
cent; melons, IS; cabbage. 92: milk, 81;
pears, 81 peaches, 50; flesh, average as;
potatoes, aS; sweet potatoes, SO; beans,
Is: rice, 12; wheat -four, 20; Indian corn,
6. The human system is composed large
ly-sbout IS per cent.-of water. The
whole history of animal life demonstrates
that man requires a greater variety OF
| food than other animals. The articles
enumerated above are but mere tether
of the almost infinite number which are
used for food. No animals are found
that require or can be induced to receive
anything like so many varieties. Hence
it is impossible to select any few articles
and to say that such are all that are nee
essary for man TO eat. /, is only possible
to select such as can be made digestible,
nutritious and palatable, and to so pre-
pare them as to answer the purposes de-
sired
1t is further interesting to note the
various proportions of nutritious ele-
ments in certain articles, to-wit: Wheat
flour, 10 to 35; flesh, within about the
same limits; dried peaA29; dried beans,
20; green peas, "a; rice, Z; sweet po-
tat0es, ? to 5; potatoes, 2 Fruit falls
even lower than puNtoes, and yet fruits
are absolutely essential in the human
economy. Again, it is necessary to pos
sess certain proportions OF starch, and
we find in rice flour S. per cent; in wheat
-four about 50 per cent; in potatoes
nearly 90 per cent. Besides all these
there is necessary phosphates and car
Donates OF lime and soda. and considera-
BILE proportions OF chloride of sodium, or
common salt. All the elements are con-
tanned in food in variable proportions.
Nature has abundantly furnished them,
but in our systems of cooking We have
! cOntrived to destroy many of the i'm
portant constituents which nature has
taken great pains to provide.
1t is a deplOrable fact that, as a class,
cooks are as utterly ignorant of the
chemical changes which are produced in
cooking as the horse is of Horticulture.
Even chemists who are eminently prac-
teal in the laboratory forget the first
| principles of the science when applied
TO domestic economy. Certain of the moro
common articles in use are so changed
in cooking that, from being nutritiye
and wholesome wien fresh, they be-
come noxious and hurtful when they 90
| through the kitchens. On the other
| hand there are those which raw are unfit
to eat, which become healthful by cook
| ing. Fruits and berries are, for the most
part, best in their fresh, native condition.
Among the most delicious of these the
tropical pineapple, banana, orange, lem
on, and the common strawberry black
| berry, raspberry, etc, are nearly ruined
for the table by cooking. Peaches, pears,
many varieties of apples, grapes, etc,
/ should never know the cook.
| OF course all cereals are not proper
| articles of diet until ground and cooked.
! Vegetables are never taken in their nat.
ural state as a rule, but the system of
cooking in most households, and in many
/ public eating houses, is execrable. And
when we consider the ordinary modes OF
| preparing animal food for the table the
results are simply abominable. Meats
/ that should be cooked for hours are
brought to the table hardly parboiled,
while such as are only good when rare
are done to absolute destruction. 1t is
safe to say that in the preparation OF
! fresh flesh, as a rule, they are nause-
ating and indigestible, when, if done as
| they should be, they form some of the
most delectably palatable and nutritious
of dishes.
1t is well known that young and we'll
fattened beef is the most healthful of
animal food, but it is idle to deprecate
other articles. The TRADE against pork
| by would-be refOrmers has no good argu-
ment to support 1t, The objections to
its uses are in the preparation and not in
the nature.
In ssor., until the kitchen becomes as
thoroughly scientific in its system as the
laboratory and as practical in its detail
and operation as is the counting, room or
the machine-shop, mankind will continue
to be poisoned and its life rendered mis-
cradle by the denominations in domestic
economy Washington Republican,.