The potters herald. [volume] (East Liverpool, Ohio) 1899-1982, 1940-08-01
Consumer Notes
Issued Weekly by Consumer
Counsel Division, A. A. A.
Washington, D. C.
Start Your Own Consumer Group

Start Your Own Consumer Group
You'll be better buyer, and wiser
one, if you get your neighbors, or
union auxiliary, or club together to
study consumer problems.
An appetite for ice cream combined
with a little consumer initiative might
very we'll be used to start such
group this summer.
Start your group off with an after
noon or evening meeting. Assign
someone to look into your local laws
and see whether a minimum butterfat
content is set for ice cream sold in
your city. In Washington, survey
was made showing that ice cream sold
there ranged all the way from 8 per
cent to % per cent in butter-fat con-
tent. In their health laws, cities
usually set the minimums between 8
and IA per cent. The United States
Government requires II per cent of
butterfat in ice cream when it buys.
After you've found out if your city
has such law, compare the different
ice cream products sold in the COM
munity. See whether any Of them
specify the butterfat content on the
label. If they don't, ask the ice cream
manufacturers to give you the inform
alton on the label.
Check the local laws also for re-
strictions on air content in ice cream.
Many States and communities have
laws protecting the consumer against
paying for too much air when they
buy ice cream.
Have laboratory session in your
kitchen to determine the air content
of one kind of ice cream for yourself
Put half pint of the ice cream in a
funnel, then your 1 " pints of hot
water on the ice cream so that the
melted cream and water run through
the funnel into bowl. Pour the re-
sulting creamy water into a quart
milk bottle. Then measure the unfill-
ed part of the bottle by determining
with a measuring cup how much addi
tional water it takes to fill the bottle
In that way you can discover how
much air is in the ice cream. If, 70,
example, one-eighth of the quart bot
tie is empty, it would be equal to g
quarter of pint. Since you started
with half pint of ice cream in the
first place, this would mean half Of the
ice cream was air.
If you want further ideas on study
of ice cream write Consumers Counse
Division, Department of Agriculture
Washington, ID. c., for it's free bulle
tin, "a Quiz on Ice Cream" The D
vision will also give you help in get
ting your consumer group started OF
other problems.
X X X
Keep The Lid On!
Leave the lid off your can of COFFEE
for weeks, and you'll taste the differ
ence in your morning brew. : N&
Coffee exposed this way loses abou
half it's strength.
After roasting, all coffees begin t.
deteriorate. The aroma and flavor ar,
due to compounds resulting from th
roasting. These compounds dissipat
themselves in gas when coffee is ex
posed to the air.
If you can afford it, buy only o
a days supply at a time. 1t may cos
little more this way, but the cos
per cup in the end will be less be
cause you won't be tempted to in
crease the amount you use in each cul
as the coffee grows stale.
Theoretically, coffee kept in a coo
place should grow stale more slowl,
than coffee kept in warm place
Actually, no experiments have verified
this theory. Some people, nevertheless
keep their coffee in the refrigerator
One thing is certain: 1t is good ide
not to keep coffee on the shelf abov
the stove where the container is like
ly to get heated.
X X
Handle Stockings With Care
When you put on or take off
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