One reason that nuts have obtained a bad reputation is that they are often eaten at the end of a heavy meal, when perhaps two or three times too much food has already been ingested. The result is indigestion and the sufferer swears off on nuts. If he had sense enough to reduce his intake of bread, potatoes, meat, pudding and coffee, the benefit would be very great. The tendency is for the sufferer from indigestion to pick out a certain food and blame all the trouble on that, when in truth the combinations and the quant.i.ty of food are to blame.
Some vegetarians make nuts one of their princ.i.p.al foods. We can easily get along without flesh, for we can obtain all the protein needed from milk, eggs, nuts and legumes. However, people who are used to flesh are able to digest it when they can take hardly anything else. The foods which we prefer are taken largely because we have become accustomed to them and have formed a liking for them, not because they are the very best from which to select.
COOKING.
_Nut b.u.t.ter_: Take the nut meats, clean away all the skins and grind fine in a nut mill. Then form into a pasty substance with or without the addition of oil or water, to suit the individual taste. Most nut b.u.t.ters are very agreeable in flavor. Sometimes the nuts are roasted and sometimes they are not. Almond b.u.t.ter is very good. The nut b.u.t.ters soon spoil if left exposed to the air, for the oils they contain turn rancid.
Peanut b.u.t.ter can be made by taking clean kernels of freshly roasted peanuts and grinding fine. Some are very fond of this b.u.t.ter. Cocoanut and cocoa b.u.t.ters are not made in this way. They are purified fats, the former from cocoanuts, the latter from the cocoa bean.
_Nut milk_: Take nut b.u.t.ter and mix with water until it is of the desired consistency. Cocoanuts contain a sweet liquid which is called cocoanut milk. However, the artificial cocoanut milk is made by pouring a pint of boiling water over the flesh of a freshly grated cocoanut. Let it stand until cold and strain. If it is allowed to stand some hours the fat will rise to the top and form cream. This milk is used by some who object to the use of animal products.
Various meals are made from nuts and made into food for the sick. This does no harm, nor does it do any special good. These meals contain more or less starch and the action of starches is much the same, no matter what the source. Please remember that there are no health foods.
COMBINATIONS.
Nuts are especially fine in combination with fruits. Fresh pecan meats and mild apples make a meal fit for the G.o.ds. Nuts may be used in any combination in which flesh is used, that is, they take the place of flesh foods. The starchy nuts take the place of starchy foods.
A good meal is made of a fruit salad, consisting of two or three kinds of fresh fruits and nuts.
Nuts or nut b.u.t.ter with toast also make a good meal.
Nuts have such fine flavor that cooks should think twice before spoiling them. It is very difficult to use them in cookery and get a product that is as finely flavored as the original nuts. The vegetarians use them in compounding what they call roasts, cutlets, steaks, etc. My experience with these imitation products has not been of the best, for though my digestive organs are strong, they do not take kindly to these mixtures.
Some of my friends report the same results, in spite of thorough mastication and moderation. These imitation roasts and cutlets usually contain much starch and there is no reason to believe that it is better to cook nut oils into starchy foods than it is to use any other form of fat for this purpose. Those who like starch and nuts can make a splendid meal of nut meats and whole wheat biscuits or zwieback.
In eating nuts, always remember that the mastication must be thorough.
It takes grinding to break up the solid nut meats and the stomach and bowels have no teeth. Those who can not chew well should use the nuts in the form of b.u.t.ter.
Ordinarily two ounces of nut meats, or less, are sufficient for a meal.
At present prices, nuts are not expensive, as compared with meat. Meat is mostly water. Lean meat produces from five to seven hundred calories to the pound. Nut meats produce from twenty-seven to thirty-three hundred calories per pound. In other words, a pound of nut meats has the same fuel value as about five pounds of lean meat, but not as great protein value.
Those who are not used to nuts have a tendency to overeat, but this is largely overcome as soon as people become accustomed to them.
CHAPTER XII.
LEGUMES.
==================================================================== Pro- Carbohy- Calories Water tein Fat drates Ash per lb.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- _Fresh Legumes_: String beans ......... 89.2 2.3 0.3 7.4 0.8 195 Sh.e.l.led limas ........ 68.5 7.1 0.7 22.0 1.7 570 Sh.e.l.led peas ......... 74.6 7.0 0.5 16.9 1.0 465
_Dried Legumes_:
Lima beans ........... 10.4 18.1 1.5 65.9 4.1 1625 Navy beans ........... 12.6 22.5 1.8 59.6 3.5 1605 Lentils .............. 8.4 25.7 1.0 59.2 5.7 1620 Dried peas ........... 9.5 24.6 1.0 62.0 2.9 1655 Soy beans ............ 10.8 34.0 16.8 33.7 4.7 1970 Peanuts .............. 9.2 25.8 38.6 24.4 2.0 2560 ---------------------------------------------------------------------
a.n.a.lyses of all foods are approximate. The food value varies with the conditions under which the foods are grown and is not always even approximately the same.
The fresh young legumes may be cla.s.sed with the succulent vegetables.
The matured, dried legumes are to be cla.s.sed both as starchy and proteid foods. They are very easily raised and consequently cheap. They are the cheapest source of protein that we have. Peas and beans are very important foods in Europe. In this country we consume enormous quant.i.ties of beans. In Mexico they use a great deal of frijoles, the poor people having this bean at nearly every meal. In China they make the soy beans into various dishes. The lentil is much used in Europe and is gaining favor here, as it should, for it is splendid food, with a flavor of its own. Peanuts, which are really not nuts, but leguminous plants growing their seeds under the ground, are used extensively as food for man and beast.
These foods are much alike in composition, the soy bean being exceptionally rich in protein.
These foods have the undeserved reputation of being indigestible and of producing flatulence. They are a little more difficult to digest than some other foods, but they cause no trouble if they are taken in simple combinations and in moderation, provided they have been properly prepared.
It is necessary to masticate these foods very well, and avoid overeating. They are generally so soft that they are swallowed without proper mouth preparation. The result is that too much is taken of these rich foods, after which there is indigestion accompanied by gas production.
One rather peculiar food belonging to the legumes is the locust bean or St. John"s bread, which we can sometimes obtain at the candy stores. It grows near the Mediterranean and is used in places for cattle feed. It is so sweet that it is eaten as a confection. Its name is due to the fact that they say St. John lived on this bean and wild honey. If he did he must have had a sweet tooth. Others say that the saint really devoured gra.s.shoppers. It is not easy to decide, but I prefer to believe that he was a vegetarian.
COOKING.
The fresh young legumes are to be considered in the same cla.s.s as succulent vegetables, which are dealt with in the next chapter.
Ripe peas, beans and lentils may be cooked alike.
In cooking ripe legumes, try to get as soft water as possible. Hard water contains salts of lime and magnesia and these prevent the softening of the legumes.
_Bean soup_: Clean the beans and wash them. Let them soak over night.
Cook them in the same water in which they have been soaked, until tender. They are to be cooked in plain water without any seasoning and with the addition of neither fats, starches nor other vegetables. When the beans are done, meat stock and other vegetables may be added, if desired. Pea soup is made in the same way.
The reason for not draining away the water in which the beans are soaked is that it takes up some of the valuable salts, the phosphates for instance. The addition of seasoning or fat while they are cooking makes the beans indigestible.
_Baked beans_: Clean and wash well. Soak them over night. Let them boil about three and one-half to four hours, using the water in which they were soaked. Then put them into the oven to bake. They are to be cooked plain and no fat or seasoning is to be added while they are baking.
After they are done you may add some form of fatty dressing, such as bacon, which has been stewed in a separate dish, or you may dress them with b.u.t.ter and salt when they are served. Cooked this way they digest much more easily than when cooked in the ordinary way with tomatoes and grease. Some prefer to add either sugar or mola.s.ses to the beans when they are put into the oven. Avoid too much sweetening. Lentils may be baked in the same way.
_Boiled beans_: The same as bean soup, except that less water is used.
Dressing may be the same as for baked beans. Lentils and peas may be treated in the same way.
Beans and corn may be cooked together.
COMBINATIONS.
The legumes are so very rich that they should be eaten in very simple combinations. It is best to take them with some of the raw salad vegetables and nothing else, or with the raw salad vegetables and one of the stewed succulent vegetables. The legumes contain all the protein and all the force food the body needs, so it is useless to add meat, bread and potatoes. Tomatoes and other acid foods should not be used in the same meal, yet beans and tomatoes or beans and catsup are very common combinations.
A plate of bean soup makes a good lunch. Bean soup or baked or boiled beans with succulent vegetables, raw and cooked, give all the nourishment needed in a dinner.
Pea and bean flours can be purchased on the market. These flours can not be made into dough, but they may be used for thickening. They contain more protein than ordinary flour.
Both peas and beans may be roasted, but they are rather difficult to masticate. Roasted peas have a fine flavor. Roasted peanuts are a nutritious food, and may be taken in place of peas or beans.
More legumes and less flesh foods will help to reduce the cost of living. Taken in moderation and well masticated, the legumes are excellent foods.