Science in the Kitchen Part 20

Blanched almonds, if baked for a short time, become quite brittle, and may be easily pulverized, and are then more easily digested. Bread made from almonds thus baked and pulverized, is considered an excellent food for persons suffering with diabetes.

_Brazil Nuts_ are the seeds of a gigantic tree which grows wild in the valleys of the Amazon, and throughout tropical America. The case containing these seeds is a hard, woody sh.e.l.l, globular in form, and about the size of a man's head. It is divided into four cells, in each of which are closely packed the seeds which const.i.tute the so-called nuts, of commerce. These seeds are exceedingly rich in oil, one pound of them producing about nine ounces of oil.

The _Cocoanut_ is perhaps the most important of all the sh.e.l.l fruits, if we may judge by the variety of uses to which the nut and the tree which bears it can be put. It has been said that nature seldom produces a tree so variously useful to man as the cocoanut palm. In tropical countries, where it grows abundantly, its leaves are employed for thatching, its fibers for manufacturing many useful articles, while its ashes produce potash in abundance. The fruit is eaten raw, and in many ways is prepared for food; it also yields an oil which forms an important article of commerce. The milk of the fruit is a cooling beverage, and the woody sh.e.l.l of the nut answers very well for a cup from which to drink it. The saccharine juice of the tree also affords an excellent drink; and from the fresh young stems is prepared a farinaceous substance similar to sago.

The cocoanuts grow in cl.u.s.ters drooping from the tuft of long, fringed leaves which crown the branchless trunk of the stately palm. The cocoanut as found in commerce is the nut divested of its outer sheath, and is much smaller in size than when seen upon the tree. Picked fresh from the tree, the cocoanut consists first of a green outer covering; next of a fibrous coat, which, if the nut is mature, is hairy-like in appearance; and then of the woody sh.e.l.l, inside of which is the meat and milk. For household purposes the nuts are gathered while green, and before the inner sh.e.l.l has become solidified; the flesh is then soft like custard, and can be easily eaten with a teaspoon, while a large quant.i.ty of delicious, milk-like fluid is obtainable from each nut.

As found in our Northern markets, the cocoanut is difficult of digestion, as is likewise the prepared or desiccated cocoanut. The cocoanut contains about seventy per cent of oil.

The _Chestnut_ is an exception to most nuts in its composition. It contains starch, and about fifteen per cent of sugar. No oil can be extracted from the chestnut. In Italy, and other parts of Southern Europe, the chestnut forms an important article of food. It is sometimes dried and ground into flour, from which bread is prepared. The chestnut is a nutritious food, but owing to the starch it contains, is more digestible when cooked. The same is true of the _Acorn_, which is similar in character to the chestnut. In the early ages, acorns were largely used for food, and are still used as a subst.i.tute for bread in some countries.

The _Hazelnut_, with the _Filbert_ and _Cobnut_, varieties of the same nut obtained by cultivation, are among the most desirable nuts for general consumption.

The _Walnut_, probably a native of Persia, where in ancient times it was so highly valued as to be considered suited only for the table of the king, is now found very commonly with other species of the same family, the _b.u.t.ternut_ and _Hickory nut_, in most temperate climates.

The _Pecan_, a nut allied to the hickory nut, and grown extensively in the Mississippi Valley and Texas, is one of the most easily digested nuts.

The _Peanut_ or _Groundnut_ is the seed of an annual, cultivated extensively in most tropical and sub-tropical countries. After the plant has blossomed, the stalk which produced the flower has the peculiarity of bending down and forcing itself under ground so that the seeds mature some depth beneath the surface. When ripened, the pods containing the seeds are dug up and dried. In tropical countries the fresh nuts are largely consumed, and are thought greatly to resemble almonds in flavor.

In this country they are more commonly roasted. They are less easily digested than many other nuts because of the large amount of oily matter which they contain.

_RECIPES._

TO BLANCH ALMONDS.--Sh.e.l.l fresh, sweet almonds, and pour boiling water over them; let them stand for two or three minutes, skim out, and drop into cold water. Press between the thumb and finger, and the kernels will readily slip out of the brown covering. Dry between clean towels. Blanched almonds served with raisins make an excellent dessert.

BOILED CHESTNUTS.--The large variety, knows as the Italian chestnut, is best for this purpose. Remove the sh.e.l.ls, drop into boiling water, and boil for ten minutes, take out, drop into cold water, and rub off the brown skin. Have some clean water boiling, turn the blanched nuts into it, and cook until they can be pierced with a fork. Drain thoroughly, put into a hot dish, dry in the oven for a few minutes, and serve. A cream sauce or tomato sauce may be served with them if liked.

MASHED CHESTNUTS.--Prepare and boil the chestnuts as in the preceding recipe. When tender, mash through a colander with a potato masher. Season with cream and salt if desired. Serve hot.

TO KEEP NUTS FRESH.--Chestnuts and other thin-sh.e.l.led nuts may be kept from becoming too dry by mixing with an equal bulk of dry sand and storing in a box or barrel in some cool place.

TABLE TOPICS.

Who lives to eat, will die by eating.--_Sel._

Fruit bears the closest relation to light. The sun pours a continuous flood of light into the fruits, and they furnish the best portion of food a human being requires for the sustenance of mind and body.--_Alcott._

The famous Dr. John Hunter, one of the most eminent physicians of his time, and himself a sufferer from gout, found in apples a remedy for this very obstinate and distressing malady. He insisted that all of his patients should discard wine and roast beef, and make a free use of apples.

Do not too much for your stomach, or it will abandon you.--_Sel._

The purest food is fruit, next the cereals, then the vegetables. All pure poets have abstained almost entirely from animal food.

Especially should a minister take less meat when he has to write a sermon. The less meat the better sermon.--_A. Bronson Alcott._

There is much false economy: those who are too poor to have seasonable fruits and vegetables, will yet have pie and pickles all the year. They cannot afford oranges, yet can afford tea and coffee daily.--_Health Calendar._

What plant we in the apple tree?

Fruits that shall dwell in sunny June, And redden in the August moon, And drop, when gentle airs come by, That fan the blue September sky, While children come, with cries of glee, And seek there when the fragrant gra.s.s Betrays their bed to those who pa.s.s At the foot of the apple tree.

--_Bryant._

LEGUMES

The legumes, to which belong peas, beans, and lentils, are usually cla.s.sed among vegetables; but in composition they differ greatly from all other vegetable foods, being characterized by a very large percentage of the nitrogenous elements, by virtue of which they possess the highest nutritive value. Indeed, when mature, they contain a larger proportion of nitrogenous matter than any other food, either animal or vegetable. In their immature state, they more nearly resemble the vegetables. On account of the excess of nitrogenous elements in their composition, the mature legumes are well adapted to serve as a subst.i.tute for animal foods, and for use in a.s.sociation with articles in which starch or other non-nitrogenous elements are predominant; as, for example, beans or lentils with rice, which combinations const.i.tute the staple food of large populations in India.

The nitrogenous matter of legumes is termed _legumin_, or vegetable casein, and its resemblance to the animal casein of milk is very marked.

The Chinese make use of this fact, and manufacture cheese from peas and beans. The legumes were largely used as food by the ancient nations of the East. They were the "pulse" upon which the Hebrew children grew so fair and strong. According to Josephus, legumes also formed the chief diet of the builders of the pyramids. They are particularly valuable as strength producers, and frequently form a considerable portion of the diet of persons in training as athletes, at the present day. Being foods possessed of such high nutritive value, the legumes are deserving of a more extended use than is generally accorded them in this country. In their mature state they are, with the exception of beans, seldom found upon the ordinary bill of fare, and beans are too generally served in a form quite difficult of digestion, being combined with large quant.i.ties of fat, or otherwise improperly prepared. Peas and lentils are in some respects superior to beans, being less liable to disagree with persons of weak digestion, and for this reason better suited to form a staple article of diet.

All the legumes are covered with a tough skin, which is in itself indigestible, and which if not broken by the cooking process or by thorough mastication afterward, renders the entire seed liable to pa.s.s through the digestive tract undigested, since the digestive fluids cannot act upon the hard skin. Even when the skins are broken, if served with the pulp, much of the nutritive material of the legume is wasted, because it is impossible for the digestive processes to free it from the cellulose material of which the skins are composed. If, then, it be desirable to obtain from the legumes the largest amount of nutriment and in the most digestible form, they must be prepared in some manner so as to reject the skins. Persons unable to use the legumes when cooked in the ordinary way, usually experience no difficulty whatever in digesting them when divested of their skins. The hindrance which even the partially broken skins are to the complete digestion of the legume, is well ill.u.s.trated by the personal experiments of Prof. Strumpell, a German scientist, who found that of beans boiled with the skins on he was able to digest only 60 per cent of the nitrogenous material they contained. When, however, he reduced the same quant.i.ty of beans to a fine powder previous to cooking, he was enabled to digest 91.8 per cent of it.

The fact that the mature legumes are more digestible when prepared in some manner in which the skins are rejected, was doubtless understood in early times, for we find in a recipe of the fourteenth century, directions given "to dry legumes in an oven and remove the skins away before using them."

The green legumes which are more like a succulent vegetable are easily digested with the skins on, if the hulls are broken before being swallowed. There are also some kinds of beans which, in their mature state, from having thinner skins, are more readily digested, as the Haricot variety.

SUGGESTIONS FOR COOKING.--The legumes are best cooked by stewing or boiling, and when mature, require prolonged cooking to render them tender and digestible. Slow cooking, when practicable, is preferable.

Dry beans and peas are more readily softened by cooking if first soaked for a time in cold water. The soaking also has a tendency to loosen the skins, so that when boiled or stewed, a considerable portion of them slip off whole, and being lighter, rise to the top during the cooking, and can be removed with a spoon; it likewise aids in removing the strong flavor characteristic of these foods, which is considered objectionable by some persons. The length of time required for soaking will depend upon the age of the seed, those from the last harvest needing only a few hours, while such as have been kept for two or more years require to be soaked twelve or twenty-four hours. For cooking, soft water is best. The mineral elements in hard water have a tendency to harden the casein, of which the legumes a largely composed, thus rendering it often very difficult to soften them.

The dry, unsoaked legumes are generally best put to cook in cold water, and after the boiling point is reached, allowed to simmer gently until done. Boiling water may be used for legumes which have been previously soaked. The amount of water required will vary somewhat with the heat employed and the age and condition of the legume, as will also the time required for cooking, but as a general rule two quarts of soft water for one pint of seeds will be quite sufficient. Salt should not be added until the seeds are nearly done, as it hinders the cooking process.

PEAS.

DESCRIPTION.--The common garden pea is probably a native of countries bordering on the Black Sea. A variety known as the gray pea (_pois chiche_) has been used since a very remote period. The common people of Greece and Rome, in ancient times made it an ordinary article of diet. It is said that peas were considered such a delicacy by the Romans that those who coveted public favor distributed them gratuitously to the people in order to buy votes.

Peas were introduced into England from Holland in the time of Elizabeth, and were then considered a great delicacy. History tells us that when the queen was released from her confinement in the tower, May 19, 1554, she went to Staining to perform her devotions in the church of Allhallows, after which she dined at a neighboring inn upon a meal of which the princ.i.p.al dish was boiled peas. A dinner of the same kind, commemorative of the event, was for a long time given annually at the same tavern.

Peas, when young, are tender and sweet, containing a considerable quant.i.ty of sugar. The nitrogenous matter entering into their composition, although less in quant.i.ty when unripe, is much more easily digested than when the seeds are mature.

When quite ripe, like other leguminous seeds, they require long cooking.

When very old, no amount of boiling will soften them. When green, peas are usually cooked and served as a vegetable; in their dried state, they are put to almost every variety of use in the different countries where they are cultivated.

In the southeast of Scotland, a favorite food is made of ground peas prepared in thick cakes and called peas-bainocks.

In India and southern Europe, a variety of the pea is eaten parched or lightly roasted, or made into cakes, puddings, and sweetmeats. In Germany, in combination with other ingredients, peas are compounded into sausages, which, during the Franco-Prussian war, served as rations for the soldiers.

Dried peas for culinary use are obtainable in two forms; the split peas, which have had the tough envelope of the seed removed, and the green or Scotch peas.

The time required for cooking will vary from five to eight hours, depending upon the age of the seed and the length of time it has been soaked previous to cooking.

_RECIPES._

STEWED SPLIT PEAS.--Carefully examine and wash the peas, rejecting any imperfect or worm-eaten ones. Put into cold water and let them come to a boil; then place the stewpan back on the range and simmer gently until tender, but not mushy. Season with salt and a little cream if desired.