Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1934-09-13
Place for Gelatin on Menu
Pleasant to the Taste and Gives the Consumer Little
Worry as to Added Weight; Should Be
First Favorite With Dieters.

On a subject Of general interest to
housewives, especially mothers, the
value of gelatin as a food, an author
ity pens the following:
The other day reader asked me
If l would write something for the
column In regard to the value of
gelatin as a food. "Some one told
me-" she said, shat gelatin was fine
for reducing diet, because it did
not have any calories."
The short answer is that gelatin
has caloric value, but that it takes
so little Of it to make jelly that
when you eat gelatin dish, favored
as 1t usually is, with fruit juice, you
get few calories. 1t is a real help in
planning a reducing diet. Being in
solid form, it gives feeling of salts
faction which is lacking in the fruit
juice or even the fruit itself.
Several helpings of the gelatin des-
sert or salad can then be used and
the dieter" will feel as If he had
eaten several times as much bulk as
the amount of fruit actually gives.
OF course. he must be sure thar a
large amount Of sugar is not used
| with II.
Children almost invariably like
gelatin desserts. They are so easily
made that mothers use them a good
deal in the children's meal plan. In
my childhood we demanded "shaky,"
as we called 1t, often for dessert.
We were particularly fond of it when
1t was cut into cubes after it was
set, and piled into glass dish.
The fruit juice left from an opened
can of fruit may always be used in
this way. An even easier way of
making the gelatin dessert is to use
the already favored gelatins. Real
fruit juices are used in the good
quality products now and you may
take your choice Of flavors. You
probably have your special favorites
in f1avors, as have.
Gelatin combined with milk or
cream Is always a good combination.
When combined with it milk has q
special nutritive value, as it fur
nishes a comparatively large guam
tity Of a special protein which milk
has not in as large quantities, while
milk supplies one which gelatin lacks
| entirely. This lack led to the be-
lief, when the science of nutrition
was In its infancy, that gelatin had
no value as a food. Later study,
which has caused US to reverse many
of our early beliefs, has shown that
"proteins" which are necessary to
build new tissue and to repair old
tissue are very complicated. There
are many different proreins. Most
foods, such as milk, eggs, nuts, and
cereals, contain several different pro-
TENS. Gelatin is one of the proteins
found in meat and Is extracted from
the connective tissue and from the
bones by long boiling. Each protein is
made of many different, simple con-
stituents which are known as amino
acids. To made perfect protein
which will give the body everything
1t needs to build new tissue there
must be proportion of all these
| acids
Some of these acids are more val-
liable than others, because they will
promote growth as well as mainte-
nance. Gelatin lacks entirely one of
the most valuable Of these acids but
at the same time has very large
proportion of another most valuable
acid and good amounts of the others.
Thus, while gelatin could not be de-
pended upon fer the total supply Of
protein it is 100 per cent valuable In