Excerpt from Preparation of Vegetables for the Table
The object of this bulletin is to help the housekeeper to a better understanding of the vegetable foods and the methods of preparing them. The aim has been to give, in a simple, clear form, an idea of the structure and composition of plants with relation to their food value, and the principles underlying the preparation of vegetables for the table. Although the bulletin is not designed primarily as a cookery book, yet a large number of recipes for cooking vegetables are given. These recipes are types, which may be modified or changed to suit the materials or conditions with which the housekeeper has to deal. Every recipe has been carefully tested, and it is only fair to the writer and to the cook that they shall be followed accurately the first time they are used.
Some of the vegetables and herbs called for are not commonly found in the home garden, but they may be grown in every garden, a and are well worthy of a place in our menu.
Structure And Composition Of Vegetables.
Plants are made up of innumerable cells, each consisting of a thin membranous wall inclosing a semifluid mass, in which lies the nucleus or center of cell activity and minute grains of starch or other material which the plant has elaborated.
The whole framework of the very young plants is made up of these cell walls, commonly called cellular tissue or cellulose. However, early in the growth of the plant wood cells begin to develop. The wood cells grow into a fibrous substance that may be torn apart like threads, which is called woody fiber. It is this woody fiber and the thickening and hardening of the cellular tissue that make poorly grown or stale vegetables hard and indigestible.
Practically all green plants contain a large percentage of water with a large or smaller percentage of starch and some nitrogenous material (protein), sugar, gum, crude fiber, and other carbohydrate and mineral matter. The fruits and seeds of some plants are rich in fat, but the plant itself rarely contains any appreciable amount of this constituent.
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