The Yale expositor., 1908-12-04
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other dishes, and indeed several vol
umes devoted exclusively to nut cook
cry have been published.
Many special nut foods, such as
matted nuts, meat substitutes. etc,
have been devised and extensively ad-
vertised by the manufacturers for gen
eral use in the diet and for the special
needs of vegetarians and fruitarians.
II is said that some of these American
nut products contain soy beans, but
apparently the peanut plays very
important part in their composition. In
either case, since the peanut, like the
soy bean, is legume, these prepare
tons might more properly be com
pared with the bean cheese and other
soy-bean products, so much used in
China, Japan and other eastern coun-
tries, than with such nuts as the wal
nut, almond or cocoanut.
The edible portion of nuts, with few
exceptions, is very concentrated food,
containing little water and much fat.
IL general, nuts are also rich in pro-
TEN. Those ranking highest in this
nutrient, the pignolia. a variety of
pine nut imported from Spain. with
1873 per cent, the peanut with 29.S per
cent, and the butternut with 27.9 per
cent. protein, surpass most ordinary
animal or vegetable foods in this re-
spect. The almond, beechnut, and pis-
iachio, with 21.4 per cent, 21.S per
cent, and 22.6 per cent. respectively,
compare favorably with dried legumes.
The Brazil nut contains ia per cent.
| protein, the filbert 16.5 per cent, the
walnut 1872 per cent, the hickory nut
| 1914 per cent, the pinenut 14.6 per
| cent, the pecan 121 per cent. and the
dry chestnut but 1917 per cent. The
dry acorn, fresh chestnut and cocoa
nut. with Ga. Ga and &c per cent, re-
spectively. are not as rich in protein
as bread.
Of the nuts here included the rich.
est i'm fat is the pecan, with an average
of 70.7 per cent, but seven other va
rieties-the Brazil nut, butternut, can
dlenut, filbert, hickory nut. pinenut
and walnut-contain upward of 60 per
F., cent. The almond, cocoanut and
| pistachio yield between so and 60 per
cent. of this nutrient. The beechnut.
peanut, and pignolia contain about so
| per cent. In other words, in 13 of the
varieties of nuts appearing in the fore
going table. half or more of the edible
portion is fat or oil.
Only few of the commonly used
nuts yield any notable amounts of
total carbohydrate matter, the dry
chestnut, with 70 per cent, rating
highest. Beechnuts, pinenuts and pea
nuts have about IS per cent. The
quantity of starch found is, with some
exceptions. quite small. ranging from
three per cent. in the beechnut to 81
per cent. in the chestnut.
The flavor of nuts is very largely de-
pendent upon the oils which they con-
tain, though in some there are also
| specific flavoring bodies. The nut oils
readily become rancid, the very dis
agreeable flavor of spoiled nuts being
due TO this property. Some nuts (for
instance, the chestnut) have a starchy
flavor as well as "nutty" taste. The
small native nut Is much more highly
favored than the large Italian or the
Japanese chestnut. The almond pos
sesses the cyanic-acid flavor, which is
characteristic of peach pits, plum pits,
etc. and this might be expected when
IL is remembered that the almond is
the dried pit of an inedible fruit some.
what resembling the peach in appear.
ance and closely related to 1t botanical.
ly. Most almonds are mild favored
The so-called bitter almonds are, how.
ever. very strong. the cyanic acid
yielding glucosid being present in con.
siderable quantity. In raw peanuts
there is a decided flavor resembling
that of the closely related beans and
peas. and to some persons this rs not
unpalatable. In the roasted peanut
which most of us prefer to the raw
the flavor is largely dependent upon
the Drowned oils and starches or other
carbohydrates.