Charlevoix county herald. (East Jordan, Mich.) 189?-1953, 1908-12-19

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. Ia
either case, since the peanut, like the
soy bean, is legume, these prepaia--
tions might more properly be COM
pared with the bean cheese and other
soy-bean products, so much used i'm
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.
IE general, nuts are also rich in pro-
tein. Those ranking highest in this
nutrient, the pignolia, a variety "a
pine nut imported from Spain, wit
1919 per cent, the peanut with 29.8 pc,
cent, and the butternut with 279 pea
cent. protein, surpass most ordinary
animal or vegetable foods in this re-
spect The almond, beechnut, and pis-
iachio, with ola per cent, 21.S per
cent, and 1926 per cent, respectively,
compare favorably with dried legumes.
The Brazil nut contains ia per cent.
| protein, the filbert 165 per cent, the
walnut 1872 per cent, the hickory nut
1874 per cent, the pinenut Jag per
cent, the pecan 12.1 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 in 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 wainut-contain upward of 60 per
, cent. The almond, cocoanut and.
pistachio yield between so and co per
cent. Of this nutrient. The}iseechnut,,
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 73 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 thew 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 beino
! que TO this property. Some nuts (for
instance. the chestnut) have a starcbv
flavor as well as "nutty" taste. The
small native nut is much more highly
navored than the large Italian or the
japanese chestnut. The almond nos.
sesses the cyanic-acid flavor. which is
characteristic of peach pits, plum pits.
etc, and this might be expected when
II 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 it 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 peanuta
there Is decided flavor resembling
that OF the closely related beans and
peas, and to some persons this ;s NOT
unpalatable. In the roasted peanut
which most of us prefer to the raw
the flavor is largely dependent man
the Drowned oils and starches or other
carbohydrates.