The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1937-06-03
Homemakers' Column
Edited by Miss Mildred Barton, Home
Demonstration Agent, Oakland
JUNE-PEAs AND SNAP BEANS

JUNE-PEAS AND SNAP BEANS
According to the United States De-
partment of Agriculture, peas anG
snap beans are going to be in abund-
ance this June, and prices low, too!
This fact should be Of interest to
the homemaker because these two veg
etables are among the good vitamins
and mineral sources. Snap beans are
rich in calcium and vitamin A, good
source of iron, phosphorus and vita
min G, and a fair source of vitamin B.
Peas are a rich source Of iron, phos-
phorus and vitamin C, and a good
source for the pellagra-preventing
factor.
No thorough-going study of the eff
feet of canning upon vitamins and
minerals has yet been made. Cooking
for immediate use may result in some
loss of these food essentials. The Ion
ger cooking required for safe canning
would undoubtedly mean more vitamin
losses, but should mean no mineral
waste; so that peas and snap beans
properly canned this month will still
be of considerable food value when the
cans are opened next winter.
Though there is bountiful supply
of these vegetables in the market, the
shopper must still have her critical
faculties alert as she goes to market,
if she is to serve savory food.
In buying snap beans she'll get pods
that are uniform in sizs, so that they
will cook evenly. She'll look for pods
that are fresh, bright green, clean and
free from blight spots. She'll pass by
the dull, wilted looking ones. She'll
pick up a pod or so and bend them
to see if they snap readily, or if they
are so mature that they are stringy or
tough, or fabby or wilted. Badly crook
ed, curled, or twisted pods and those
that are excessively tapered will not be
good buys either.
In shopping for peas, she'll look for
pods that are bright green, somewhat
velvety to the touch, fresh looking.
Pods of immature peas are usually
fiat and dark green. Those of old peas
are often yellowish. Peas ranked at U.
S. fancy should have more than two
thirds of the pods filled with fairly
we'll developed peas; U. S. No. 1 with
more than half the pods thus filled.
Peas deteriorate faster than do
snap beans, because of their sugar
content. This sugar changes rapidly
into starch, and with the sugar goes
the delicate pea flavor. If peas are to
be kept for some time after picking,
they should be in cool place, so as to
slow down this sugar change as much
as possible. Both snap beans and peas
should be eaten or canned soon as
possible after they are picked.
The 1887 housewife has two favor
lite ways of preparing snap beans. In
stead of swapping them into irregular
pieces as her mother did, she'll lay a
half dozen or so pods on the chopping
board and with long knife cut them
into slantwise inch pieces. 1t takes
no longer than the old way and looks
more attractive.
Food specialists have four ironclad
rules for the cooking of peas and snap
beans. First, cook in a minimum of
water, so that when the vegetable is
done there will be little or no water
left, in order to conserve food constit-
uents. Second, cook in an uncovered
pan so as to keep them green. Third,
have the water slightly sailed, and
boiling merrily, when you put the
vegetables in, so as to cut the cooking
time down. Fourth, consider the veg
etable cooked when there is still some
body and firamness to it. The average
cook overcooks both vegetables. They
are overcookel when they are mushy.
After the vegetable is put into the
boiling waterf, the cooking technique
varies bit for the peas and snap
beans. You simmer the former, boil
the latter.
The leftover beans can be served
in medium white sauce. Prepare the
sauce, using whatever vegetable liquor
is left over. Then add the cooked beans,
cooking them only long enough to be
heated through. In that way, they are
not overlooked and their flavor is de-
licious. Shredded cheese might be adj
ded to the white sauce and the dish
covered with buttered crumbs and set
into the oven to brown a bit.