Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1877-04-13
The Potato as Food.

The potato is by far the most important
Of plants cultivated for their roots, since it il
easily grown and kept easily cooked aud di-
gested. Potatoes have become an article Of
general consumption, and the loss Of no crop
would create greater distress aud discomfort
than potato famine. Less nourishing than
bread, yet important as an accompaniment TO
meat and fish, they are deficient in fat and
contain but twenty-five per cent solid matter.
They differ materially in value, owing to va
riations in quality, soil and manure, but the
average tuber contains seventy five per cent
of water, three per cent of flesh formers, two
tenths of one per cent Of fat, about eighteen
per cent Of starch, and over three per cent
sugar. Ii requires two and one.half pounds
Of potatoes to equal one pound of bread ia
carbon, and more than three and one.hali
pounds to one pound in nitrogen, yet pota.
toes at sixty cents bushel form cheaper
diet than -four at eight dollars BARREL. In
Ireland potatoes aud buttermilk are the prin'
cipal diet, the average laborer consuming Of
the former ten pounds daily. In Holland
boiled in fat with other vegetables, they form
the ordinary repast Of the working classes,
who seldom eat meat more than one day in
the week. Science teaches that the best
proportions Of food for the common wants Of
the system are about nine per cent Of fat,
twenty-five per cent of Aesh-formers and
sixty-nine per cent Of starch and sugar
hence, with the addition of little milk oi
butter, potatoes are capable of sustaining life
and activity.
The relative value of potatoes is determin-
ed in general way by their scientific gravity
the amount Of starch being indicated by
greater weight in proportion to the bulk
The weight of the root aud amount of starch
increases with their growth and diminishe'
rapidly during their storage; variety that
would yield eighteen per cent Of starch in the
month Of October would not yield over four.
teen per cent in April; as vegetation be
comes active in the spring the sprouts grow
at the expense Of the starch, hence they be
come less mealy and not SO palatable
Young potatoes contain more water thai
those fully grown, and the end from whicl
the tops spring contains more water and les
starch than the heel end or that part by
which it is attached to the rootlets. New
and waxy tubcrs are less digestible than old
and mealy ones baked or roasted they will
digest in two thirds the time required il
boiled, the FIRST consuming in digestion about
two and one.half hours, aud the latter nearly
three hours aud half; cooked in theiI
skins they waste only three per cent, Will
if peeled the loss is fourteen per cent. Whel
in good condition they should be so cooked
as to swell out to the fullest extent, tn,
starch granules thus causing the bursting 0
the potato. They need to bc well cooked
with considerable degree of heat; if boiled
they should be placed at once in boiling wa
ter; it roasted, the oven, should be moder
ately hot at the start; peeled and soaked il
cold water the nutritive, starchy matter
extracted and lost with slow oven tn
skin will be hardened and thickened. Il
secure the fullest benefits from this valuabl
vegetable much depends upon prope
knowledge of the best methods of cooking
American Cultirator.