Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-04-21


cheapest possible food for soldiers. This
requirement is met by the "goober," which
is more nutritious than the best beefsteak
and highly digestible when properly pre-
pared.
Such, at all events, are the conclusions
arrived at by DR.. Nordlinger and other
German savants who have been investi-
eating the subject. They have found that
peanut "cake"-the residue after oil has
been expressed from the nuts-is highly
concentrated food suitable for human be-
hags. 1t is calculated to be Of great value
to the peasant and Industrial classes of
Europe, which have suffered from long
and nearly exclusive diet of bread and
potatoes. Hitherto 1t has only been en-
Iloyed as forage for cattle, sheep and
horses. The problem confronting the ex-
perimenting scientists was to convert this
crude material into palatable, nutritious
and wholesome human food, cheap and
easily cooked This they have perfectly &C
complished. producing several preparations
suitable for different purposes. which have
already been placed on the market. One
Of these is peanut grits-the coarse stuff
dried, purified, bolted and packed in one
pound boxes. In this form it is used for
soups and cakes, or as a vegetable.
Peanut flour Is similar to the grits. ex-
cept that the material is ground and bolted
like ordinary -four. Another preparation is
in the shape of dry, light and palatable
biscuits or crackers" The new food is
especially recommended for the use of per-
sons afflicted with diabetes. Also a fairly
acceptable substitute for coffee is made
from peanuts.
Roasted.
One interesting fact ascertained by the
German savants is that peanuts raw or
roasted are not nutritious at all. for the
reason that the digestive functions refuse
to assimilate them. The chewed particles
pass through and out Of the body almost
unaltered. 1t is the same way with almonds
and with nuts in general. The 'goober"
has to be thoroughly cooked in order to be
profitable as an article of diet. Boiled pea
nut grits, for example, are perfectly digesti-
BILE, even by sick people.
For the sake of test, peanut soup was
fed to one hundred and twenty patients in
public hospital. More than half Of them
found the new food enjoyable, and ate it
gladly whenever 1t was offered. Others con-
sumed 1t without complaint, while about a
dozen disliked it extremely, being affected
with stomach-ache or vomiting after taking
1t. They complained that it had rancid
taste. But all throve well on it. Such be-
ing the case with invalids, some of whom
were suffering with dyspepsia and other d.
tious diet ought to be most valuable for
persons in robust health-particularly for
soldiers, sailors, workingmen and inmates
of prisons and asylums.
Experiments With Meal and Grits,
The German military authorities promptly
accepting the suggestion offered by the
savants, have been making experiments
with peanut meal and grits, served to the
garrisons at Frankfort and elsewhere. They
IN faa
war at Berlin, and. if further trials are
equally satisfactory, the new food will be
adopted as an element of the rations ana
field sausage of the army 1t Is likely
also to find acceptance in the navy. One
important quality is its sustaining power
enabling the consumer to endure much fa
tigue. In this particular it surpasses even
the hitherto unequaled sofa bean" of China
and Japan.
Nutritive Value.
But the most conclusive evidence in favor
OF the peanut is furnished by analyses
made by German chemists of high au-
thority. They have compared it in respect
to nutritive value with other food, yegeta
BILE and animal. Pease are more nutritious
than beefsteak, white beans are more nu-
trltious than pease, sofa beans are more
nutritious than white beaas, peanuts are
more nutritious than sofa beans In a
pound OF peanut grits there is nearly twice
as much nutriment as in pound of pease
one pound of peanut meal is nearly equal
In nourishing power to three pounds of
beef Peanut meal only costs 4 cents a
pound in bulk.
Manufactured Products
At present the most important use of
peanuts is in the manufacture of oil The
American COOLERS are larger, sweeter
and better Favored than any grown in the
world, but they are not so rich in OIL as
the African, the finest of which comes from
Senegambia and the east coast In East
Africa and India great quantities of pea
nuts are thrashed out by machinery only
the seeds being exported, so as to save
bulk. At the oil mills the kernels are
ground and then pressed. The best of the
product is used for salad oil, the poorer
quality is employed in making soap and as !
an ingredient of oleomargarine The resi- |
due, or cake" fetches $50 a ton The
shells Of the peanuts constitute about ~
per cent of their weight and are utilized
in Germany material for paper. Only a
portion of the so-called "oliVe OH sold in
this country is really what it pretends to
be. The balance is made from peanuts
mostly. The best peanut oil costs only 81
a gallon, furnishing a cheap and passabl
substitute or adulterant. Comparatively
few people know the difference any way.
Cargoes Of peanuts are actually sent across