The Coconino sun., 1917-02-23
POTATOES PERFORM
 IMPORTANT FUNCTIONS.
 METHODS OF PREPARATION

The general use of potatoes in the average family and the better GUS toms prevailing in many homes in preparing the tubers for food are based on sound economic and dialetic reasons, according to specialists of the Office of Home Economies of the United States Department of Agricul- ture. Studies of the preparation and use of potatoes as food are reported in Department of Agriculture Bulletin No. 46S, recently issued.
 Potatoes are easy to cook in vari- ety of ways. From the point of view of dietetics, they furnish starch in one readily digestible form, contain mine ral substances of importance to the body, and-a fact less generally known-tend to make the tissues and fluids of the body alkaline, so counter acting the tendency of meats, eggs, fish, and like foods to create acid con- ditions. Since the body does its work best when it's condition is either neut- ral or slightly alkaline, potatoes, like most vegetables, perform an import ant function in the diet besides fur nishing energy-producing material. This scientific fact justifies the cus- tom that is prevalent in many families of serving goodly supply of potatoes or other vegetables with each helping of meat.
 Potatoes, however, while valuable addition to mixed diet, alone are not suited to meet the needs of the body because of their poverty in proteins and fat. Of these latter important elements protein is furnished in meats, eggs, fish, milk, beans, and similar foods, and fat in butter, bacon, table oils, and the fats and oils used in cookery.
 Greater care than commonly is ex- ercised should be taken in peeling potatoes. Very often 20 per cent of the potato is pared away. This re- suits not only in the waste of consid- erable potato but also in the loss of one of the most valuable portions of the tuber, since the soluble mineral salts are present in the material near the skin, which would be removed and thrown away. These salts can be preserve by a more careful removal of the skin, as by shallow pairing or rubbing, and also by boiling or baking the potatoes in their jackets.
 Pairing before boiling, however, may be the most desirable method of cooking potatoes which through an undue exposure to light may have ac- quired a bitter taste, or those which have been kept until late in spring, since in this way more of the dis agreeable flavor is eliminated. Such potatoes may also be soaked before cooking.
 While these methods may be desir- able with potatoes which have been exposed to light, they result in the loss of considerable food value with out compensating advantages when applied to new or well-matured po- tatoes. If such potatoes are boiled after pairing, they should be dropped into boiling water instead of being placed on the stove in cold water. By the latter method there is twice the loss of protein, or tissue building clements, resulting from the former. The loss of mineral matter is about the same by each method. There is no loss of starchy material in boiling unless portions of the tuber break off.
 Practically the only loss when po- tatoes are baked in their skins is of the water which escapes as steam. The more or less common custom of pricking holes in the skin of baked potatoes or breaking them is explained by the fact that unless the steam which is formed inside the skin is all lowed to escape it will change back into water and produce sogginess.
 Potatoes which have turned green and sprouting tubers have present a considerable quantity of solanin, an acrid poisonous substance which, though not dangerous in the quanti- ties ordinarily met with, gives a dis agreeable flavor. It is best, there fore, to avoid such potatoes or to cut out green or sprouting portions.