Part 6

The original sources of sirups, besides commercial glucose, are cane-sirup, made directly by evaporating the juice of the sugar-cane; maple-sirup, made from the pure maple-sap; sorghum-sirup, or molasses, from the juice of the sorghum-cane, which is grown extensively in the South and Central West; and last, yet perhaps most common, "New Orleans" molasses, which is the residue from the manufacture of cane-sugar. This may be very wholesome if taken from the first drippings of the crystallized sugar, but if taken from sugar refineries it contains chemicals that have been used in the refining and the bleaching processes, and is a very doubtful product. An excellent quality of sirup can be made in the home by adding to the brown sugar a certain quantity of water, and boiling down to the desired consistency.

HONEY

Honey occupies a very unique place, as it is practically the only food substance which man utilizes from the insect world. Honey cannot be strictly compared with milk and eggs as a food product, as the latter are complete foods for the nourishment of young and growing animals, hence must contain all food material necessary to construct the animal body. Honey, which is a carbohydrate, is gathered and used as a food for the adult bee. Pollen, or bee-bread, a nitrogenous substance, is the food of the larvae or young bees. This illustrates a very interesting fact in physiological chemistry. The insect differs radically from higher animals in that its life is divided into three complete stages. When the adult insect, with its wings, emerges from the cocoon or pupa, its growth is complete. Some insects never take any food in the adult stage; but the adult bee takes food, which is practically pure carbohydrates, and which would not maintain the life of a young animal.

Honey is composed chiefly of glucose and levulose, with perhaps 10 per cent of cane-sugar, depending upon the flowers from which it is gathered. Honey is extensively adulterated with glucose, and sometimes with cane-sugar; thus the natural flavors are impaired and the product cheapened.

CONFECTIONS

Under the general term of confections are included all products manufactured for the purpose of appealing chiefly to the sense of taste rather than to serve any special purpose as food. The chief products that enter into confections are the various forms of sugars, chiefly glucose, because of its cheapness; fruits, nut-kernels, flavoring extracts, and coloring materials. Many of the substances used are very wholesome, yet the habit of eating confections as a general rule should be discouraged, if not condemned, the reasons being--

1 That the material from which they are made is usually unknown to the public, and the temptation of manufacturers to use cheap or adulterated material too often controls, therefore quality is sacrificed to profits.

2 Confections are usually eaten without regard to appetite, or the physical need of food.

3 The combination of things from which confections are made shows that they are put together not for their food value, or nutritive virtue, but wholly for the purpose of appealing to an artificial sense of taste, rather than natural appetite. This destroys the appetite for similar products in simpler forms.

The following are the best forms in which sugar can be found, given in the order of their importance:

1 Sweet fruits 2 Honey 3 Sorghum 4 Maple-sugar or sirup 5 Unrefined cane-sugar 6 Refined cane-sugar

Even glucose sirups are perfectly wholesome when free from adulterants. The mixing, fixing, refining and manufacturing all go to make our sugar supply more expensive and less wholesome than the plain fruit-sugars, honey and sorghum.

In order to avoid repetition, all articles containing sugar are referred to throughout this work as sweets. By "sweets" I mean sugar, sirups, honey, and all foods containing sugars, such as desserts, soda-fountain drinks, and the limitless number of confections. While carbohydrates rank second in importance in the human diet, yet Nature has made no provision for sugar being taken in its concentrated form. In this form it is the most severe article of human diet, and to its use can be traced the origin of a vast number of stomach, intestinal, and other disorders. Superacidity, fermentation, intestinal gas, and the large number of sympathetic disorders that follow these conditions are caused largely by the overconsumption of sugars. It would be equally as important for the Federal Government, or the States, to regulate the manufacture and the sale of confections as to regulate the manufacture and the sale of intoxicating liquors.

VEGETABLE OILS

Vegetable oils form too small a portion of the modern bill of fare. Oils of vegetable origin, whether taken in their natural form or pressed out, and used with other foods, are the most valuable nutrients known for the production of heat and energy. By this statement I mean to convey the idea that a given quantity of fat will produce more heat and energy than any other article of human nutrition, and that vegetable fats are more valuable than animal fats, because they are more adapted to the fat metabolism of the human body, and less likely to contain harmful substances. Vegetable oils contain a larger per cent of olein, which is considered the most palatable and the most valuable fat known.

The olive is a unique plant, standing along the border line between fruits and nuts. Ripe olives contain from 40 to 60 per cent oil, the best quality of which is extracted by cold pressure, the cheaper grades being pressed out at higher temperature. The superiority of olive-oil is due to the fact that it is composed almost wholly of olein; that it contains very little fatty acids and other impurities, and has a mild, sweet, and agreeable flavor.

The adulteration of olive-oil has been extensively practised, but the agitation of pure food, and the demand for same are improving the quality of this excellent article of food.

Cottonseed-oil is the largest vegetable oil industry in America. It is also the cheapest of vegetable oils. The cottonseed-kernel from which the oil is taken is not an edible product. Though used as cattle feed, it contains alkaloid substances which sometimes have a poisonous effect when fed too generously.

The methods of cottonseed-oil manufacture are more complex than those of olive-oil. The oil must be heated and bleached with certain chemical agents, and if designed for salad-oils, frequently a portion of the stearin is removed to make the oil more liquid.

When the cottonseed-oil is carefully manufactured, it is considered to be entirely free from harmful substances. However, as the original material contains poisonous combinations, and as chemical agents are used in refining and bleaching, cottonseed-oil products are open to the same criticism as glucose and refined sirups; that is, they are wholesome when properly made, but cheap and careless production renders the product undesirable as food. Manufactured under careful Government supervision, cottonseed-oil will, no doubt, be one of the great foods of the future. I recommend the purer brands of cottonseed-oils, when pure olive-oil cannot be obtained or afforded.

Peanut-oil is an excellent food substance which is almost entirely neglected in this country. It contains the best portion of the peanut. Other vegetable oils, valuable as foods, and the use of which is to be recommended, are sesame-oil and sunflower-oil. These products are not produced extensively in this country.

The cocoa-butter is pressed from the beans from which cocoa and chocolate are made. The butter has a flavor similar to these articles. Cocoa-butter should not be confused with cocoanut-butter. These products are very different in origin.

Cocoanut-butter is not extensively used in America as a food product, owing to the fact that the exposed fat globules oxidize very rapidly. It is extensively used in Germany, however, and with the introduction of better methods of preservation, we expect to see cocoanut-butter more generally used in this country, as the source from which it is derived is almost unlimited.

Palm-oil comes from a different species of the palm plant than that which produces the cocoanut. It is a very inexpensive product and one which is chiefly used in the production of soap and candles, although it is perfectly wholesome as a food. Such products have not been utilized in this country as food, because our boundless prairies and corn-fields have made the production of cattle and swine cheap, and our fat supply has swung toward points of least resistance.

Not all vegetable oils are edible or wholesome. Some contain, in addition to olein, stearin and palmitin, and other fats quite as undesirable. Castor-oil, for example, contains ricinolein, which is a poison, and to which its purgative action is due. Croton-oil is the most powerful laxative known to medicine, owing to the fact that Nature abhors a poison.

Linseed-oil contains large quantities of linolein, which is the substance that oxidizes, forming the stiff, rubbery coat on the surface of linseed-oil when exposed to the air. This makes linseed-oil valuable matter to the painter, but objectionable as a food.

LESSON IX

DRUGS, STIMULANTS, AND NARCOTICS