accordingly be eaten of sparingly.
Potatoes, however well cooked, are far from a nourishing food. They
are watery, contain a high percentage of starch, and some sugar and
mucilage, together with a marked deficiency in flesh and force pro-
ducers. Starch and gum sustain the respiratory processes, and are
valuable addenda to other foods ; but fibrin and the ‘ plastic material ’
of the analytical chemist are required to build up the muscular and
other constituents of living animal organisms. As an addition to more
nutritious diet, the potato is inestimable, but by itself has not inaptly
been termed ‘a miserable food.’ To retain the highest amount of
nutriment in potatoes, they should be boiled or baked in their ‘jackets
FOOD IN RELATIONSHIP WITH NUTRITION AND DIGESTION. 33
or else cut in strips and immersed in boiling oil or fat. Thus cooked
they have been found to retain a far higher proportion of the useful
potassa salts. Carrots are fairly nutritious, but require thorough
boiling ; they should always be washed and brushed — never scraped.
Beetroots, of course, rank among the more valuable and fattening of
vegetable products, owing to the mucilage and saccharine they contain.
Baking beetroots is a gastronomic blunder, as the useful juices are
allowed to escape. They require sufficient boiling, care being taken
not to break the skin in any preliminary processes. Turnips are di-
gestible when fully cooked, and the watery particles pressed out, but,
like carrots, contain comparatively little nutritive matter ; less indeed.
The best turnips for human foodj run moderate-sized to small, and
are finely grained, smooth, and juicy, the larger and coarser kinds being
mostly useful for flavouring soups and stews, introduced into which
they serve to correct the pungent flavour of the onion. Parsnips
should be avoided by the dyspeptic. Owing to the woody fibre — one-
twelfth of the whole — contained in them, they are highly indigestible ;
beaten up, however, with potatoes and butter, as in Scotland, they
constitute a capital and wholesome dish, much approved of by young
children. Jerusalem Artichokes also rank amongst sustaining
aliments, but, perhaps, in the interesting onion family, embracing a
dozen useful varieties, from the stately Spanish, to the shallot and
tender 1 spring,’ are to be found the most valuable examples amongst
vegetables proper. Beans are very nutritious, but, like all pulse,
digest slowly, and are apt to provoke flatulence. Haricots are speci-
ally good, and should be partaken of oftener than they are. White
haricots are the best, but both kinds are cheap, easily cooked, readily
digestible, and afford much nourishment. In France their value as an
article of every-day dietary has long been appreciated, but the fashion
for them — which deserves all encouragement — has only just struck root
here. Peas, although not easily assimilated by some stomachs, are so
essentially rich in flesh-forming products, that it has been deemed ad-
visable to avoid their separate use, and to mix with less nutritious food.
In peas the flesh-forming agent is legumin. When dried they contain
more legumen and less saccharine than when green. Beans, peas, hari-
cots, and, indeed, all legumes need the addition of fat ; hence the prac-
tice of adding a lump of butter to a dish of peas.
Page 18
Presented as published in 1890. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
accordingly be eaten of sparingly. Potatoes, however well cooked, are far from a nourishing food. They are watery, contain a high percentage of starch, and some sugar and mucilage, together with a marked deficiency in flesh and force producers. Starch and gum sustain the respiratory processes, and are valuable addenda to other foods ; but fibrin and the ‘ plastic material ’ of the analytical chemist are required to build up the muscular and other constituents of living animal organisms. As an addition to more nutritious diet, the potato is inestimable, but by itself has not inaptly been termed ‘a miserable food.’ To retain the highest amount of nutriment in potatoes, they should be boiled or baked in their ‘jackets
or else cut in strips and immersed in boiling oil or fat. Thus cooked they have been found to retain a far higher proportion of the useful potassa salts. Carrots are fairly nutritious, but require thorough boiling ; they should always be washed and brushed — never scraped. Beetroots, of course, rank among the more valuable and fattening of vegetable products, owing to the mucilage and saccharine they contain. Baking beetroots is a gastronomic blunder, as the useful juices are allowed to escape. They require sufficient boiling, care being taken not to break the skin in any preliminary processes. Turnips are digestible when fully cooked, and the watery particles pressed out, but, like carrots, contain comparatively little nutritive matter ; less indeed. The best turnips for human food, run moderate-sized to small, and are finely grained, smooth, and juicy, the larger and coarser kinds being mostly useful for flavouring soups and stews, introduced into which they serve to correct the pungent flavour of the onion. Parsnips should be avoided by the dyspeptic. Owing to the woody fibre — one-twelfth of the whole — contained in them, they are highly indigestible ; beaten up, however, with potatoes and butter, as in Scotland, they constitute a capital and wholesome dish, much approved of by young children. Jerusalem Artichokes also rank amongst sustaining aliments, but, perhaps, in the interesting onion family, embracing a dozen useful varieties, from the stately Spanish, to the shallot and tender 1 spring,’ are to be found the most valuable examples amongst vegetables proper. Beans are very nutritious, but, like all pulse, digest slowly, and are apt to provoke flatulence. Haricots are specially good, and should be partaken of oftener than they are. White haricots are the best, but both kinds are cheap, easily cooked, readily digestible, and afford much nourishment. In France their value as an article of every-day dietary has long been appreciated, but the fashion for them — which deserves all encouragement — has only just struck root here. Peas, although not easily assimilated by some stomachs, are so essentially rich in flesh-forming products, that it has been deemed advisable to avoid their separate use, and to mix with less nutritious food. In peas the flesh-forming agent is legumin. When dried they contain more legumin and less saccharine than when green. Beans, peas, haricots, and, indeed, all legumes need the addition of fat ; hence the practice of adding a lump of butter to a dish of peas.