Dairy butter vs. artificial butter
Butyrin is a fat found in small quantities in dairy butter, and does not exist in cottonseed-oil and other fats from which oleomargarin is manufactured. This is the reason that artificial butter lacks the flavor of the dairy product, and this is remedied to some extent by churning the fats of the cottonseed-oil and tallow with fresh cream, which imparts a small quantity of the butyrin and similar compounds to the oleomargarin and gives the characteristic flavor of butter.
Oils as active poisons
Besides the more common fats herein mentioned there are many other fats that exist in certain vegetable oils in small proportions. These fats give the oils their characteristic properties, and may render them unfit for food. Some oils are active poisons, such as croton-oil, which is the most powerful physic known. The power of all physics and cathartic drugs is measured by the active poisons they contain.
Packing-house uses of stearin and olein
When fats are heated to a high temperature they decompose and form various products, some of which are irritating and poisonous to the human system. In the manufacture of packing-house and cottonseed products the stearin is often separated from the olein. The granular appearance of pure leaf lard is due to crystals of stearin. In the packing-house stearin is separated from the tallow in large quantities. The stearin is used to make candles, etc., while the olein is used for food purposes in this country in the form of oleomargarin, while in Europe it is used under its right name as a cooking product. It is equally as wholesome, if not more so, than lard.
Rancid fats made edible
Fats may become rancid; this is caused by the decomposition of fat due to its uniting with the oxygen of the air. Rancid fats and nut-kernels can be restored and made edible by heating them in an oven until the oxidized fat is neutralized by the heat.
PROTEIDS OR NITROGENOUS FOOD SUBSTANCES
Proteids defined