The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1913-12-08
{ ! title Food /
Value, oll1ldiill
BouiIlon Cube.
COMPOSED MOSTLY OF TABLE.
SALT SAYS REPORT. FtDEPT.
Il OF AGRICULTURE.
HOMEMADE BR0THs AND SOUPS
FAR MORE VALUABLE AND
ARE MUCH CHEAPER. y

WASHINGTON. D. c., Dec. 81.
The belief OF many people that bouil=
Ion cubes are concentrated meat es-
sence and Of high snutritiye value,
has been shatteredsby a recently, is
sued bulletin of the Department of
Agriculture which says, that while
they are valuable stimulants or fla
voring agents they have little or no
real food value and are relatively 'ex
pensive in comparison with home
made broths and soups. This bulle-
tin mo. 27) compares the contents
and food value of bonillon cubes with
meat extracts and homemade prep
arations of meat.
The ordinary commercial bouillon
cubes, according to this bulletin, con-
sist Of from y to Y table salt. AS
they range in price from 10 to 90
cents an ounce, purchasers of these
cubes are buying salt at high price.
The cubes do contain a small amount
of protein (mpscle-building mate
riaD in addition. to their; stimulating
properties. and the makeralof most az
the cubes make no advertised claim
that they are concentrated ,beef, broth
or. essence. However, many houses
wives believe that they are. andS8hat
they possess high nutritiyetyalIe, Yes5
pecially for invalids. This Is not the
case. The fact that the cubes sell
for from to 2 cents each, and each
cube makes a cup of broth, misleads
the housewife into believing that she
is securing meat extract cheaply
when really she is buying It in an ex-
pensive form,
According to analysis of these
cubes, besides the common salt which
constitutes from 40 to 72 per cent.
of the total weight, the amount of
meat extract ranges from s per cent.
in the poorest brands to but % per
cent. in the very best. The third i'm
portant ingredient is plant or vegeta-
bile extract which constitutes from
to 30 per cent. This plant extract
is useful because Of its flavoring
properties but has slight, II any, nu-
tritive value,
The departments meat chemist has
carefully Analysed semi-solid meat
extracts, fluid meat extracts and COM
mercial meat juice. which are offered
on the market to the American pub
lie, in addition to the bouillon cubes.
He has also conducted experiments in
making homemade beef broth and
meat and vegetable soup.
Both the bouillon cubes and the
meat extracts are stimuiants and fla
voring agents,0but have only slight
food value anda are more expensive
than homemade soups. While an
actual. cup Of bouill0n prepared from
cube costs only one or two cents
and the same sized cup Of home
made broth costs approximately 4 1-3
cents, the former is largely salt and
water without the high food value
that the latter might have particu-
larly for children and invallds.
Although the cost of making the
beef broth, using expensive meat, is
about 4 1-3 cents per cup, the broth
contains all the fat OF the meat which
is a valuable food and which is .prac-
tically eliminated from ordinary COM
mercial meat extracts. Also, the
meat. after the soup is made is avail
able for tile preparation Of hash. The
cost could be greatly reduced if3ths
meats are purchased at lower priced
markets or If less expensive cuts|aro
used and the homemade broth. would
still have much greater food value
than the bouillon. gpa 70'@