Salt. — Of these the commonest is common salt, but
the lime salts, iron, magnesia, potash, and phosphorous,
are also necessary. They are, however, contained in suf-
ficient quantities in various common articles of diet. Let-
tuce, for example, furnishes plenty of potash. Salt,
however, is added from without. So necessary is it to
man that when the need for revenue was most urgent in
108 HANDBOOK OF DOMESTIC SCIENCE
India, France, and other countries, then recourse was
always had to the ''salt tax," since even the poorest
would buy salt regardless of the increase in price. The
salt licks of the prairie or deserts are greatest attractions
of these regions to all the animals near.
About half a pound of salt is the normal quantity in an
adult's body. Since this constantly wastes away in tears,
and in sweat, it is necessary that it should be constantly
replenished. Nevertheless, the amount of salt used is often
excessive and is the result of a dulled sense of taste and
of habit, rather than necessity.
Such expressions as "the salt of life," "Attic salt," "to
taste a man's salt," and "he flavors his food with salt" (mean-
ing he is wealthy) show the esteem in which salt has been
held from the earliest times. It is a symbol of wisdom and
wit and hospitality, and in the African gold coast region, of
wealth. There formerly a slave or two could be purchased
for a handful of salt. The best table salt is most cheaply
made by evaporating water from salt springs. This busi-
ness is carried on in an extensive scale in New York, Mich-
igan, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia.
It is also produced from sea- water and mined as rock salt.
Water
Water, constituting as it does about eighty-seven per cent
of the whole bulk of the body, wasting every moment, too,
must be of necessity a most important element of food.
Says Edward Smith in "Foods": —
" It is required for many purposes : First, to soften or dis-
solve solid foods so as to facilitate their mastication and
digestion ; second, to maintain a due bulk of blood and the
structures of the body ; third, to keep substances in solution
or suspension, whilst moving in the body ; fourth, to supply
elements in the chemical changes of the body ; fifth, to
FOODS 109
enable the waste materials to be carried away from the body ;
sixth, to discharge superfluous heat by transpiration through
the skin, and by emissions though other outlets ; and sev-
enth, to svipply in convenient form heat to, or to abstract
heat from, the body. Some of these functions are performed
by water in its liquid state, and others in a state of vapor."
Our foods contain more or less water. " In general," says
Atwater [Gov. Eeport " Foods "], "animal foods contain the
most water and vegetable foods the most nutrients, though
potatoes and turnips are exceptions, the former being three-
fourths and the latter nine-tenths water. Butter, on the
other hand, though one of the animal foods, generally has
only ten or more per cent water. The milk from which it is
made is not far from seven-eighths water. Meats have more
water in proportion as they have less fats ; and vice versa, the
fatter the meat the less the amount of water in it. The
flesh of fish is in general more watery than ordinary meats.
Flour and meal have but little water, and sugar when well
dried has almost none."
Page 55
Presented as published in 1900. 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
Salt. — Of these the commonest is common salt, but the lime salts, iron, magnesia, potash, and phosphorous, are also necessary. They are, however, contained in sufficient quantities in various common articles of diet. Lettuce, for example, furnishes plenty of potash. Salt, however, is added from without. So necessary is it to man that when the need for revenue was most urgent in
India, France, and other countries, then recourse was always had to the ''salt tax," since even the poorest would buy salt regardless of the increase in price. The salt licks of the prairie or deserts are greatest attractions of these regions to all the animals near.
About half a pound of salt is the normal quantity in an adult's body. Since this constantly wastes away in tears, and in sweat, it is necessary that it should be constantly replenished. Nevertheless, the amount of salt used is often excessive and is the result of a dulled sense of taste and of habit, rather than necessity.
Such expressions as "the salt of life," "Attic salt," "to taste a man's salt," and "he flavors his food with salt" (meaning he is wealthy) show the esteem in which salt has been held from the earliest times. It is a symbol of wisdom and wit and hospitality, and in the African gold coast region, of wealth. There formerly a slave or two could be purchased for a handful of salt. The best table salt is most cheaply made by evaporating water from salt springs. This business is carried on in an extensive scale in New York, Michigan, Ohio, Virginia, and West Virginia.
It is also produced from sea- water and mined as rock salt.
Water
Water, constituting as it does about eighty-seven per cent of the whole bulk of the body, wasting every moment, too, must be of necessity a most important element of food.
Says Edward Smith in "Foods": —
" It is required for many purposes : First, to soften or dissolve solid foods so as to facilitate their mastication and digestion ; second, to maintain a due bulk of blood and the structures of the body ; third, to keep substances in solution or suspension, whilst moving in the body ; fourth, to supply elements in the chemical changes of the body ; fifth, to
enable the waste materials to be carried away from the body ; sixth, to discharge superfluous heat by transpiration through the skin, and by emissions though other outlets ; and seventh, to supply in convenient form heat to, or to abstract heat from, the body. Some of these functions are performed by water in its liquid state, and others in a state of vapor."
Our foods contain more or less water. " In general," says Atwater [Gov. Eeport " Foods "], "animal foods contain the most water and vegetable foods the most nutrients, though potatoes and turnips are exceptions, the former being threefourths and the latter nine-tenths water. Butter, on the other hand, though one of the animal foods, generally has only ten or more per cent water. The milk from which it is made is not far from seven-eighths water. Meats have more water in proportion as they have less fats ; and vice versa, the fatter the meat the less the amount of water in it. The flesh of fish is in general more watery than ordinary meats. Flour and meal have but little water, and sugar when well dried has almost none."