The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1913-12-08
BOUILLON CUBES NOT
 CONCENTRATED MEAT ESSENCE.
Economical Than the Conner ciaI Meat Extracts.

Washington, Dec. S-The belief of many people that boUiIlon cubes are concentrated meat essence and of high nutritive value, has been shattered by a recently issued bulletin of the De- partment of Agriculture which says, that while they are valuable stimu- lants or fIavoring agents they have lit tie or no real food value and are re1a- lively, expensive in comparison with homemade broths and soups. This vuIletin (No. 27) compares the con tents and food value of bou1llon cubes with meat extracts and home-m made preparations of meat
 The ordinary commercial bouillon cubes, according to this bulletin, con sist of from F to A table salt. As they range in price from 10 to 20 cents an ounce, purchasers of these cubes are buying salt at a high price. The cubes do contain a small amount of protein (musc1e-building materia1) in addition to their stimulating prop critics and the makers of most of the cubes make no advertised claim that they are concentrated beef broth or essence. However, many housewives believe that they are and that they possess high nutritive value, especially for inva1ids. This is not the case. The fact that the cubes sell for from 1 to 2 cents each, and each cube makes a cup of broth, nisleads the housewife into believing that she Is securing meat extract -cheaply when really she is buying it in expensive form.
 According to analyses of these cubes, besides the common salt which constitutes from 49 to 72 per cent. of the total weight, the amount of meat extract ranges from per cent. in the poorest brands to but 28 per cent. in the very best. The third important ingredient is plant vegetable ex- tract which constitutes from 8 to 30 per cent. This plant extract is useful because of it's flavorfng properties but has slight, if any, nutrttive value.
 The departme meat chemist has carefully anaIyed sen1i-solid meat ex- tracts, fluid meat extracts, and com mercial meat juice, which are offered on the market to the American pub lie, in addition to the bouiIlon cubes. He has also conducted experiments in making homemade beef broth and meat and vegetable soup. A compila- ton of the relative costs of commer- cdal and homemade meat prepara- tions has resulted in the following table:
 Ounces of meat
 extract obtained
 Substance. for 10 cents. Best grade boui1Ion cubes. .1-8 Cheapest grade bouil1on cubes. liz Best grade seni-solid meat ex-
 . 4- Cheapest grade semi-soid meat
 extract 1-S Best grade fluid meat extract. .1-3 Cheapest grade fluid meat extract 1-5 Commercial meat juice. lilo Homemade beef broth. Is Homemade meat and vegetable
 soup .1-Z
 Both the bouillon cubes and the meat extracts are stimu1ants and havoring agents, but have only a slight food value and are more expen- sive than homemade soups While an actual cup of bouillon prepared from a cube costs only one or two cents and the same sized cup of homemade meat broth costs approximately 4 1-3 cents, the former is largely salt and water without the high food value that the latter might have particular 1y for children and invalids. The in gradients of each are given here: Cup of BouiIIon Made from a Com
 merciaI BouiIlon Cube. Salt =. 1.4STo l Plant extract l.O42o l Meat extract ......... .60% | Fat A trace |
 Cup of Homemade Broth. Water 95.42% | Fat ............ 1.72R | Meat and meat extractives. 1,21@o | Salt 1.07To |