Part 22

The legumes are the seeds of peas, beans, lentils and peanuts.

While they are seeds, just as the cereals are, they differ in that they contain a very much larger proportion of protein and may be substituted for meat or eggs in a diet. In all vegetarian diets the legumes should be used freely to replace the meat.

All legumes must be thoroughly cooked and thoroughly masticated. Because the protein in these foods is more difficult of digestion than that in meat or eggs, particularly if not thoroughly masticated, they are better adapted for the use of men doing manual labor. Soldiers, day laborers, and others, whose work calls for physical exercise, can digest legumes, when those whose occupation is more sedentary can not do so.

TABLE VIII.—LEGUMES

—————————————————————+—————+———————+—————+————————+—————+—————————— Food Materials |Water|Protein|Fat |Carbo- | | | | | |hydrates|Ash |Fuel Value |Per |Per |Per |Per |Per |per pound |Cent |Cent |Cent |Cent |Cent |Calories —————————————————————+—————+———————+—————+————————+—————+—————————— Dried Legumes: | | | | | | Navy beans |12.6 | 22.5 | 1.8 | 59.6 | 3.5 | 1,605 Dried Peas | 9.5 | 24.6 | 1.0 | 62.0 | 2.9 | 1,655 Lentils | 8.4 | 25.7 | 1.0 | 59.2 | 5.7 | 1,620 Lima beans |10.4 | 18.1 | 1.5 | 65.9 | 4.1 | 1,625 Peanuts | 9.2 | 25.8 |38.6 | 24.4 | 2.0 | 2,560 Peanut butter | 2.1 | 29.3 |46.5 | 17.1 | 5.0 | 2,825 Fresh Legumes: | | | | | | Canned peas |85.3 | 3.6 | 0.2 | 9.8 | 1.1 | 255 Canned lima beans |79.5 | 4.0 | 0.3 | 14.6 | 1.6 | 360 Canned string beans|93.7 | 1.1 | 0.1 | 3.8 | 1.3 | 95 Canned baked beans |68.9 | 6.9 | 2.5 | 19.6 | 2.1 | 600 String beans |89.2 | 2.3 | 0.3 | 7.4 | 0.8 | 195 Shelled peas |74.6 | 7.0 | 0.5 | 16.9 | 1.0 | 465 —————————————————————+—————+———————+—————+————————+—————+——————————

The protein of the legumes is of the same nature as the casein of milk. It has been called vegetable casein.

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=Peanuts.= While an underground vegetable, grown like potatoes, peanuts resemble nuts, inasmuch as they contain so much oil. Like other legumes, they require cooking. They are roasted because this develops the flavor.

Because of the proportion of the chemical elements in peanuts, they will sustain life for an indefinite period, without other food, as they provide rebuilding material, energy and heat. Used alone, however, there is no counteracting acid, and it is better to add some fruit, such as apples, or apples and dates.

In eating peanuts it is imperative that they be masticated until they are a pulp; otherwise they are very difficult of digestion. The pain which many people experience, after eating peanuts, is probably due to eating too large a quantity and not fully masticating them, forgetting that they are a very rich, highly-concentrated food. Both peanuts and peanut butter contain over twenty-five per cent of protein and a much larger percentage of fat; therefore they yield much heat and energy.

Peanut Butter. While peanut butter contains forty-six and one half per cent fat, it contains only seventeen per cent carbohydrates. Since sugars and starches are protections to fat, being used for energy before the fats are consumed, if these sugars and starches are not supplied in other food, the fats in the peanut butter are consumed for energy. If starches are consumed in other foods, it is clear that one who wishes to reduce in flesh should avoid peanut butter, as well as other fats.

Peanut butter is more easily digested than the baked peanut, unless the latter is chewed to a pulp. It can be made at home by grinding the peanuts in a meat grinder and then further mashing with a rolling pin or a potato masher. A little lemon juice mixed with the peanut butter makes it not only more palatable, but more easily digested. A peanut butter sandwich is quite as nourishing as a meat sandwich.

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=Shelled Peas.= Shelled peas were used in Europe as far back as in the Middle ages, and there, to-day, the dried or “split” pea is used quite as extensively as the dried bean. In America, peas are used almost entirely in the green stage, fresh or canned.

As seen by Table VIII, the green, shelled pea contains seven per cent protein and sixteen per cent sugar and starch, while the dry or “split” pea contains over twenty-four and a half per cent protein and sixty-two per cent sugar and starch, the difference being in the amount of water in the shelled peas. Canned peas contain even a larger per cent of water.

A variety of green peas is now being cultivated in which the pod of the pea is used, just as the pod of the string bean. It is a sweet and delicious side dish.

Dry Peas are used in this country only by boiling, putting through a sieve, and serving as pureé.

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=Beans.= Baked navy beans may well be substituted on a menu for meat, containing, as they do, twenty-two and one half per cent protein. It is needless to state that beans and lean meat or eggs should not be served at the same meal. Beans have the advantage of being cheaper than meat, yet, as stated above, the protein in the legumes is less easily digested than the protein of meat or eggs. They must be thoroughly cooked and thoroughly masticated.

There is but a small percentage of fat in dried beans and for this reason they are usually baked with a piece of pork. They make a very complete, perhaps the most complete food, containing nutrient elements in about the proper proportions. Effort has been made to make a bean cracker for the sustenance of soldiers on a march, thus giving them a complete food in condensed form.

In baking dried beans or peas, soft or distilled water should be used, as the lime of hard water makes the shell almost indigestible. For the same reason salt should be added when the beans are nearly done. If soft water is not obtainable, add a little baking soda, in the proportion of a half a teaspoon to two quarts of water.

String Beans. The string bean contains very little nutrient elements, as shown by Table VIII. The pod and the bean, at this unripe stage, are nearly ninety per cent water. Their chief value as a food consists of their appetizing quality to those who are fond of them, thus stimulating the flow of gastric juice. Like all green vegetables, they stimulate the action of the kidneys. For this reason all green vegetables are particularly valuable to those who drink little water.

Lima Beans. The dry, shelled bean, used during the winter, boiled and baked is the lima bean.

Kidney Beans contain much water but are more nutritious than the string bean.

Soy Bean. In China and Japan this bean is used extensively. Being rich in protein, it makes a well balanced diet with rice.

The soy bean is made into various preparations, one of the most important being shoyo, now being introduced into other countries. To make it, the soy bean is cooked and mixed with roasted wheat flour and salt; into this is put a special ferment. It is then allowed to stand for years in casks. The result is a thick, brown liquid with a pungent, agreeable taste. It is very nourishing.

A kind of cheese is also made from boiling the soy bean for several hours, then wrapping the hot mass in bundles of straw, and putting it in a tightly closed cellar for twenty-four hours.

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