There can be no doubt that, wherever possible, the best method for the housewife to preserve food is to do her own drying, canning, preserving and pickling of fruits and vegetables, which she knows are fresh, putting up her own preserves, jams, jellies, pickles, syrups, grape juice, etc.
Since economy in food lies in the least amount of money for the greatest amount of nutriment, the preparation of simple foods in the home, with a care that no more is furnished for consumption than the system requires, is the truest economy in health and in doctor’s bills.
It is not more brands of prepared food which are needed, but purity of elements in their natural state. A dish of wholesome, clean oat meal has more nourishment and more fuel value than the average prepared food.
In the effort to emphasize the importance of pure food in amount and quality, pure air and pure water must not be overlooked. Much infection is carried by these two elements. Pure air, containing a normal amount of oxygen, is absolutely necessary that the system may digest and assimilate the foods consumed.
COOKING
The cooking of food is as important as its selection, because the manner of cooking makes it easier or more difficult of digestion. The question of the proper selection and cooking of food is so vital to the health and resultant happiness of every family, and to the strength and well being of a nation, that every woman, to whom the cooking for a family is entrusted, should have special preparation for her work, and every girl should be given practical and theoretical training in Dietetics in our public schools. The study is as dignified as the study of music and art. Indeed it can be made an art in the highest conception of the term. Surely the education of every girl in the vocation, in which she sooner or later must engage, either actively or by directing others, means more than education in music and drawing. We must all eat two and three times every day; there are few things which we do so regularly and which are so vital; yet in the past we have given this subject less study than any common branch in our schools. When the dignity of the profession of dietetics is realized, the servant problem will be largely solved.
In cooking any food, heat and moisture are necessary, the time varying from thirty minutes to several hours, according to different foods. Baked beans and meats containing much connective tissue, as boiling and roasting cuts, require the longest time.
The purposes in the cooking of foods are: the development of the flavor, which makes the food appetizing, thus encouraging the flow of gastric juice; the sterilization, thereby killing all parasites and micro-organisms, such as the tape worm in beef, pork, and mutton, and the trichinae in pork; the conversion of the nutrients into a more digestible form, by partially or wholly converting the connective tissue into gelatin.
Cooking of Meats