FoodNet

Experimental cookery

1932

Page 102

Presented as published in 1932. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
Simpson and Halliday have determined the total volatile sulfur and hydrogen sulfide evolved when cabbage and cauliflower are cooked for different lengths of time. They found that the most acceptable product is obtained when winter cabbage is boiled 7 to 8 minutes, and spring cabbage 5 minutes. Cauliflower required 8 minutes to become tender. They con- clude that with prolonged cooking the decomposition products of sulfur compounds increase, and that these products produce the strong taste and odor associated with cabbage and cauliflower. Simpson and Halliday report that the amount of hydrogen sulfide in- creases from the fifth to the twentieth minute of boiling cabbage, and the total volatile sulfur between the seventh and thirtieth minutes. Cauliflower gives off more volatile substances in the same period than cabbage. Masters and Garbutt have found that the amount of sulfide increases up to a cer- 128 FRUITS AND VEGETABLES tain point and then decreases, becoming fairly constant. Kohman states that in corn the amount of hydrogen sulfide evolved is greater during the first half hour and decreases with each succeeding half hour. Shilling in determining the amount of hydrogen sulfide formed in cook- ing cabbage finds that it varies from 1 to 7 milligrams per 300 grams of fresh cabbage. The wide variation depends upon the amount of green compared with the white, the speed of cooking, the length of time of cooking, and the temperature involved in the method, i.e., boiling in water and the pressure cooker. Bigelow has reported that the black spotting on the corn around the edges of the can in canned corn is due to the formation of hydrogen sulfide in processing. The am.ount of sulfide is very small and there is no objection to it except from appearance. Stevenson states that iron sulfide is formed to a greater extent in canned peas than in canned corn. It is not so notice- able in peas on account of their color. In peas it is deposited as scales that break up easily in shipping and handling. Flavor The flavors of fruits and vegetables are due to several constituents, sugar, organic acids, mineral salts, and aromatic compounds. Sugar is found in fruits and vegetables. Beets, carrots, onions, peas, and other vegetables contain appreciable amounts. In vegetables like peas and corn the sugar is deposited as the insoluble carbohydrate, starch, in the mature seed. Immature peas and corn deteriorate rapidly in sugar content after they are gathered. Kertesz reports that starch increases and sugar decreases in stored fresh peas, but the sugar loss is not due to the trans- formation of sugar to starch. It is suggested that the apparent increase of starch content is because of loss of other constituents; and, whereas the loss of the sugar is not satisfactorily clarified, it may be consumed in respiration. Losses in sugar content can be prevented by inactivation of the respiratory enzymes by blanching, cooking, or storing near freezing temperatures.