The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-02-22

| Nnom All inquiries should De acdresSec,.
All rights reserved by Banning Co.,
| Chicago.
SOME FACTS ABOUT THE POTA-
TOES.
The commonest and in many respects
the most important of our vegetable
fods is the white potato. Like many
| other useful foods as little understood,
and as badly treated in the hands of the
| philistine, il has been greatly traduced-
| All attempt to ostracize the potato has
met with failure; and for three hundred
| years this tuber has continued to increase
| in popularity nutil now il Is regarded
| one of the most important Of our staple
articles of diet.
The value of the potato as foodstuf
| lies in its starch, and herein also lies its
| vulnerable point of attack from those
| who see no good in it, but regard it as
| one of the constant sources of evil that
| endanger health. To understand this
constituent part of the potato and know
| how to put it to available food use is no
| how to put it to available food use is so
| simple that all who run may read it in
| one short lesson If they will and yet the
most Jealous defender of the potato is
| generally its worst foe. for by careless
| and wretched modes of cooking they are
made what their enemies claim, unfit
| for human food
| Putting individual experiences and re-
| suits from its use as food aside, LET US
| learn it's true value to mankind in gen.
| eral under the favorable condition of good
! cooking. which is. of course, synonymous
| with proper methods.
| From the best authorities we have the
statement, first, that owing to the high
percentage of starch potatoes stand in
the front rank of food plants that produce
| the greatest amount of food to the acre.
This circumstance, coupled with the fact
| that they are a garden as well as a field
plant, add may be successfully grown in
| the poor mans patch, makes them well
worth considering as universal food,
supplying starch in convenient and very
palatabel form.
The Composition of the Potato.
Generally speaking, we divide the po-
tato into two parts, the solid substance
and the juice.
Every housewife can obtain very SIM
pie, clear object lesson in her own home,
if she will but follow this explicit demon
stration. Select well-developed but not
overgrown potato; one that is firm and
hard and rather heavy for its size. With
sharp knife cut this across and closely
examine the cut surface. She will notice
three distinct layers; the first, the outer
skin, which contains a poisonous sub
stance (solaine,) which is destroyed in
cooking in aforementioned potato. But
it is the presence of this poison in the
water in which potatoes have been boiled
that renders it unwholesome and useless
for any culinary purposes. Young pota-
toes and potatoes that have been exposed
to light and rain until they become green
and bitter, are great offenders in this re-
spect, and. while much of the mischief
may be removed from the young potatoes
by keeping them in cold water for some
time, the long exposed potato is not so
easily reclaimed and is most unwhole-
some. The second layer directly inside
the skin is quite broad. This is the
'fbro-vascular layer In this band or
zone is found the small amount OF pig |
ment which turns green when exposed
to light and rain, and gives the potato the |
color and bitter taste we have already |
described. This layer constitutes S12 per
cent of the entire tube. The skin or outer |
rind forms 2l9 per cent of the whole, |
while the third part or core flesh makes |
up the rest of the bulk, which is 50 per |
cent. While space will not permit too |
much detail, ii must be clearly understood !
that in the second. or fibro-vascuiar layer |
we have considerably more prOteid and |
mineral matter than ~ the flesh or core, |
and when the potatoes are pared ever |
so carefully and intelligently we lose a |
large percentage of these valuable SUBJ |
stances. And this also makes plain, even
ticed in nine kitchens out of every ten. |
The scavenger who picks out the potato |
parings from the average waste pail is !
the gamer thereby. but better feed the |
lowiy by a more elevating method. In 7
fact. best give him the whole potatoes.
mitted TO sufficient pressure to separate
the solid part and juice you have prac-
tically starch and water. as the flesh IS
chiefly composed Of starch, having only
Is per cent of the heterogeneous matter.
The juice is composed of water holGing
in solution heterogeneous matter and salts
and containing s. per cent of the total
amount of heterogeneous matter contained
in the potato.
AS a Tissue Builder.
While the potato is rated as a tissue
builder. its value for this purpose must
not be over-estimated for the reason that
all the heterogeneous matter present is not