As to the best ways of cooking fresh vegetables, with regard
to preserving the water-soluble C properties, we quote from the
Lancet, London, as follows:
"The destruction of the antiscorbutic properties depends rather
upon the time than the temperature employed. All foods, espe-
cially vegetables, should be cooked for as short time as possible,
at boiling point. Slow methods of cooking, such as stewing with
meat or simmering below the boiling point, should be avoided.
Potatoes should be plunged into boiling water, and the boiling
continued for twenty to thirty- minutes after the boiling point has
again been reached." — November 30, 1918.
As throwing further light on the destructive effects of soda on
vitamines, we refer to the experiments of Miller," who states that
the cooking of navy beans in 0.5% sodium bicarbonate (soda)
14 Journal of Biological Chemistry, volume 44, No. 1, page 173.
25
SCIENCE of FOOD ancf COOKERY
solution for one hour and ten minutes caused a loss of 37.4% of
vitamine.
To the common use of "soda biscuit" and of corn bread raised
with soda, throughout the Southern States, is largely attributed the
prevalence of pellagra and other deficiency diseases, due largely to
a lack of a proper supply of food accessories, the vitamines.
When fruits, salad plants, herbs, and fresh vegetables are de-
scribed as antiscorbutic, the meaning is simply that they have the
powec of preventing those changes in the blood which produce
scurvy. What they really do is to supply the blood with various
salts and accessory substances which maintain the body fluids in
their proper ^chemical condition, thus preventing tissue change
and decay.
VITAMINES AND CALORIES
In the past, it has been customary to express the value of a
diet largely in terms of heat units, or calories, since it was sup-
posed that the value of foods depended largely, if not entirely,
upon the amount of heat produced from the consumption of their
so-called nutritive constituents — protein, carbohydrate, fat, etc.
Therefore, with the rise in prices of foods generally, as the result
of the great war, the public was well advised to consider the
caloric value of the foods purchased, in order that the greatest
possible amount of energy might be obtained for the least ex-
penditure of means.
The result was, there came a tendency to purchase food by
the calorie rather than by the kind. This principle is all right so
far as it goes; but in the light of our newer knowledge on the
subject of nutrition, it falls far short of the actual needs of the
human machine, which is infinitely more complicated than an ordi-
nary mechanical contrivance.
As a result of biological studies carried on during the past
few years, much light has been thrown on this important subject.-
For instance, a diet was constructed in which protein was repre-
sented by the casein in milk, carbohydrate by starch, and fat by
lard, all carefully purified by chemical treatment, so as to exclude
anything but these three substances. This was fed to young rats
26
SCIENCE of FOOD and COOKERY
Page 12
Presented as published in 1921. 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
As to the best ways of cooking fresh vegetables, with regard to preserving the water-soluble vitamin C properties, we quote from the Lancet, London, as follows:
"The destruction of the antiscorbutic properties depends rather upon the time than the temperature employed. All foods, especially vegetables, should be cooked for as short time as possible, at boiling point. Slow methods of cooking, such as stewing with meat or simmering below the boiling point, should be avoided. Potatoes should be plunged into boiling water, and the boiling continued for twenty to thirty minutes after the boiling point has again been reached." — November 30, 1918.
As throwing further light on the destructive effects of soda on vitamines, we refer to the experiments of Miller, who states that the cooking of navy beans in 0.5% sodium bicarbonate (soda)
14 Journal of Biological Chemistry, volume 44, No. 1, page 173.
solution for one hour and ten minutes caused a loss of 37.4% of vitamine.
To the common use of "soda biscuit" and of corn bread raised with soda, throughout the Southern States, is largely attributed the prevalence of pellagra and other deficiency diseases, due largely to a lack of a proper supply of food accessories, the vitamines.
When fruits, salad plants, herbs, and fresh vegetables are described as antiscorbutic, the meaning is simply that they have the power of preventing those changes in the blood which produce scurvy. What they really do is to supply the blood with various salts and accessory substances which maintain the body fluids in their proper chemical condition, thus preventing tissue change and decay.
VITAMINES AND CALORIES
In the past, it has been customary to express the value of a diet largely in terms of heat units, or calories, since it was supposed that the value of foods depended largely, if not entirely, upon the amount of heat produced from the consumption of their so-called nutritive constituents — protein, carbohydrate, fat, etc. Therefore, with the rise in prices of foods generally, as the result of the great war, the public was well advised to consider the caloric value of the foods purchased, in order that the greatest possible amount of energy might be obtained for the least expenditure of means.
The result was, there came a tendency to purchase food by the calorie rather than by the kind. This principle is all right so far as it goes; but in the light of our newer knowledge on the subject of nutrition, it falls far short of the actual needs of the human machine, which is infinitely more complicated than an ordinary mechanical contrivance.
As a result of biological studies carried on during the past few years, much light has been thrown on this important subject. For instance, a diet was constructed in which protein was represented by the casein in milk, carbohydrate by starch, and fat by lard, all carefully purified by chemical treatment, so as to exclude anything but these three substances. This was fed to young rats