Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-05-09
Culinary Waste OF Sugar.

While it has food value in itself, the
same as starch, sugar is sought for its
sweetness rather than for its nourish-
ment. Any process which diminishes
its sweetness lessons its value and is a
real loss even if its nourishing value re-
mains the same. 1t is misleading to tell
us that cane sugar is converted into
grape sugar in the process of digestion,
and that glucose is therefore as valua-
BILE for food as cane sugar. Sugar is
not primarily used for its food value
as a carbohydrate, for starch could COM
pletely take its place in this respect and
at much lower cost. A number of sug-
ars are known to the chemist, some of
which we consume in our food, but are
not sold in separate form at the grocery.
Thus the peculiar sugar Mannite is
found in celery, onions, asparagus, etc,
and sugar of milk is found only in the
milk OF animals. Cane sugar and grape
sugar or glucose are the only two sugars
found in commercial quantities which
are used in domestic life for sweetening
food and drink. Maple sugar is only a
variety of cane sugar and possesses the
same properties, but has in addition
peculiar volatile principle which i'm
parts peculiar and delicious taste to
new sugar, but which escapes on long
exposure to the air and can be retained
only by completely excluding the air
by canning. II maple syrup is imme-
diately soldered up in the cans the ''ma-
pie flavor may be retained for q long
time.
One marked difference between cane
and grape sugar is that grape sugar has
only forty per cent of the sweetening
power of cane sugar. Pound for pound
the glucose is worth only two-fifths as
much as cane sugar. Cane sugar is
readily changed into grape sugar, but
no one has succeeded in changing grape
sugar into cane sugar. Since this
change of cane into grape sugar in
wolves loss of sixty per cent of its
sweetness, it is very important to pre-
vent this change. There are two do
nestle agencies by which this change
is produced, the action of heat and of
acids BY prolonged boiling the cane
sugar in part Is changed into glucose,
and by the action OF heat and acids
this change is produced speedily. In
cooking acid fruits housekeepers un-
Willingly waste n good part of their
sugar ANXIOUS 10 get the IulleSL eHecIS
OF the sugar upon the sour fruits they
boil the two together, and thus convert
most of the cane sugar into grape
sugar.
Several years ago my assistant in
chemistry tested this matter by placing
one hundred parts of ripe gooseberries
in a stewpan with water to cover them,
added twenty-five parts of sugar and
cooked the fruit. A second portion of
the same berries was cooked without
sugar, and after the fruit was partially
cooked the twenty-five parts of sugar
added. and when.this sugar had dissolved
both samples Of cooked fruit were an
slJzed when one-half of tho sugar in
the first batch was converted into glu-
cose and only one-tenth of the cane sugar
IN the second batch was thus changed II
the gooseberries had been green the re-
suits would have been more striking
If very acid fruits like currants and
cranberries are rapidly cracked by boil
ing and then set 70 cool for q few min
utes and then the sugar added, fine