Encyclopedia of Diet: A Treatise on the Food Question, Vol. 2Christian, Eugene
Science
Encyclopedia of Diet: A Treatise on the Food Question, Vol. 2
Christian, Eugene
Diet; Diet in disease; Food
Commercial glucose, as was explained in Lesson IV, is made by
treating starch with dilute acids, and its wholesomeness depends
entirely upon the care with which this is done. Theoretically,
glucose is a very good food. In practise it is somewhat risky
because cheap chemicals used in its manufacture may leave harmful
and poisonous substances in the finished product. The manufacture of
glucose is an excellent illustration of the objections to man-made
foods as compared with natural foods. When we eat grapes we know
that we are taking one of the most important substances required in
the life-processes in a perfectly pure, unadulterated and wholesome
form. Science has taught man to manufacture the identical substance
that is found in the grape from corn, which is a much cheaper
product, but the temptation to economize for the sake of dividends,
and to allow the commercial spirit to control in the manufacture of
food products is always present. For this reason the manufactured
article comes under suspicion, while the natural form we know to
be "exactly as represented." The principal uses of glucose are for
table sirups and confectionery. Pure glucose as an article of food
lacks flavor; for this reason the usual method of manufacturing
sirups is to mix glucose and some other form of sirup or molasses.
[Sidenote: Sirups and molasses]
The original sources of sirups, besides commercial glucose,
are cane-sirup, made directly by evaporating the juice of
the sugar-cane; maple-sirup, made from the pure maple-sap;
sorghum-sirup, or molasses, from the juice of the sorghum-cane,
which is grown extensively in the South and Central West; and
last, yet perhaps most common, "New Orleans" molasses, which is
the residue from the manufacture of cane-sugar. This may be very
wholesome if taken from the first drippings of the crystallized
sugar, but if taken from sugar refineries it contains chemicals that
have been used in the refining and the bleaching processes, and is a
very doubtful product. An excellent quality of sirup can be made in
the home by adding to the brown sugar a certain quantity of water,
and boiling down to the desired consistency.
HONEY
[Sidenote: Honey, man's only food from the insect world]
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