Buckeye cookery

There are two kinds of sugars in commerce,—cane and grape. The former is made from cane, maple sap, beets, corn-staiks, etc.; the other from plants which have an acid juice. Cane sugar contains twelve parts carbon to eleven of water; grape sugar twelve of carbon to fourteen of water. Sugars are changed by fermentation into carbonic acid and alcohol, but grape sugar is most liable to such fermentation,—cane sugar first becoming grape sugar by chemical combination with water. Pure cane sugar remains perfectly dry and unchanged in the air, while grape sugar attracts moisture, and becomes mealy and damp. Cane sugar dissolves more’ readily in water than grape, and hence tastes sweeter. Two pounds of cane sugar sweeten as much as five of grape. These facts give a hint to housekeepers of great value. Grape sugar, which is worth only two-fifths as much as cane, is used largely to adulterate the latter. The fine, floury ‘‘powdered”’ sugar is largely grape sugar, and is not only of much less value, but deteriorates more rapidly than pure cane sugar. Brown sugar, after standing for some time, absorbs water from the air, and becomes grape sugar. It is, therefore, the best economy to buy the best white granulated sugar. There is another element of food which does not feed muscle, vegetable jelly, called pectine. This and pectine acid particularly abounds in fruits and berries. By the processes of ripening, the vegetable arids whieh are en- elosed in little cells, burst out, are diffused through thy wass of fruit and Binh Mia eae tt i aesaehY E iN tas Yb VLR CR ey eee Re ‘ sp US abd iene TOV, ay z . S30 J : 516 THE CHEMISTRY OF FOOD. manufacture pectine or jelly. Heat produces the same effect as ripening, and cooking is, in fact, only a rapid process of ripening. This jelly, when combined with sugar, goes to make up a variety of delicate articles, such as jellies and marmalades. They are nourishing, principally, on account of the sugar they contain, but are easily digested, cooling, and delicious. It should be mentioned that nearly all fruits are rich in sugar,—a ripe peach contain- ing as much as an equal quantity of cane juice. There are some other substances which appear in less quantity in foods which seem none the less essential to health and life. One of these is phos- phorus, which is an element of brain and nerves, and is wasted by mental activity and nervous excitement. The brain-worker demands a diet rich in hosphorus, and in such a form as to be easily assimilated. The food that est sustains a laborer in the open air is not the best for those who live among the excitements and exhausting demands on the brain, that are the rule in city life. For the latter, eggs, most kinds of fish, oysters, lobsters, crabs, game, cheese, and, among vegetables the potato; and these foods are just what are craved by city people. Another element is sulphur, which is required in the growth of bone and cartilage, the hair and nails. Of this there is so much in the yolk of an egg that silver is blackened by contact with it. Curd of milk and cheese are also rich in sulphur. Iron is always present in healthy blood, and its absence—paleness—is an indication of illness. Most articles of food contain iron; in the juice of flesh, in eggs, and in milk it is abundant. Lime and salt are also ingredients in all food, the former making bone, and the latter playing an important part in the creation of the digestive juices. Lime is found in all grains, particularly in wheat and in milk, in form of subphosphates. Bread and milk are for this reason an excellent diet for growing children, as they supply not only heat. and muscle, but lime that goes to supply the growth of bone. Salt also ex-’ : ists in many articles of food. if