The Potato

The Potato always stands first among the vegetables of the garden, and there is practically no other variety upon which life can be maintained in health and strength. When acting as Commissioner for the Manchester Guardian, during the famine in the west of Ireland in 1897, I had abundant opportunities of observing how well those who obtained a sufficient supply of potatoes were able to work and to maintain physical proficiency. It has been shown by prolonged experiment in Denmark by Dr. Hindhede, the chief of the National Nutrition Department, that man can perform considerable labour on potatoes with the addition of a small quantity of margarine, and continue to do so for many months in succession. Apart from its nutritive value the potato possesses two important medicinal properties: it assists in the prevention of fermentation in the intestine - an action which is precisely the reverse of what has been ascribed to it - while it is shown by the above experimenter to dissolve uric acid, and thus to be of the highest value to persons who suffer from this particular poison.

Although an average potato contains nearly 20 per cent., or about one-fifth, of its weight of starch, l 1/2 per cent. of protein, or muscle-making food, and almost no fat at all, it must be pointed out that the tuber varies considerably, and this variation is also affected by cooking. Thus, when boiled, the potato loses a large proportion of its protein and minerals. Baked, steamed, roasted, or fried potatoes are all good and subject to no waste. To make the most of the potato it must be sound, robust - not old or shrunk - and of a rich variety. The last fact, however, the average consumer will find it difficult to ascertain. Waxy-potatoes are richer than those which are mealy, but not so digestible. The juice of the potato is rich in nutritive matter, hence the importance of avoiding any process by which it would be wasted. Few persons consume the skin of old potatoes - the majority scooping out the interior of those which are baked. In this way the loss of nutritious material is considerable, as the skin and the layer contiguous to it are much the richest portions of the tuber.

It is useful to know that potatoes produce on a given area of land a very much larger quantity of food than any of the cereals or pulses. Thus, while a very heavy crop of wheat, 60 bushels to the acre, weighing over 3600 lb., contains approximately 2770 lb. of nutritive food, a twenty-ton crop of potatoes provides 10,000 lb. - and this weight has been exceeded on an acre of land.

The Artichoke

The Artichoke comes next in value to the potato as a food, although it is not so popular as it ought to be. It possesses one property, however, which the potato does not - it will grow on very poor land, and on land of almost all classes, and should be found in every garden. It contains 18 per cent. of food - i. e. the nutritious and digestible material remaining after allowance is made for fibre and water. Artichokes are a valuable addition to the list of those vegetables which form a nutritious diet.

The value of the Parsnip has not been fully understood - its food contents being variously estimated. Like all roots and bulbs, parsnips should be young - the old roots containing a large proportion of indigestible fibre. Like turnips, this root takes up water in boiling, and it is therefore better baked and browned. Again, like the potato, it is immensely improved by being baked under meat; its flavour is not only increased, but it is enriched by the fat and gravy falling upon it. Parsnips make excellent fritters. They are, too, one of the last winter vegetables which successfully withstand frost.

The Turnip

The Turnip takes a much lower position, as it contains less than 10 per cent. of food - a portion of this being lost by boiling. Something, however, depends upon the variety of turnip employed. The yellow variety is richer than the white, while the swede is richer than either. Turnips should be eaten young, for, when properly cooked, they almost melt in the mouth; but, like most vegetables, they become fibrous, innutritious, and difficult of digestion when fully mature. Mashed with thin cream they make a delectable dish.

Carrots

Carrots are rich in sugar, and when young and tender their flavour is at its best. As a nourishing food they are much superior to turnips, but the practice of keeping them in the ground to the end of the growing season in order to gain size is to deprive them of their best qualities. Mature carrots are coarse, fibrous, their delicate flavour is lost, and they are not only much less nutritious, but difficult of digestion. Carrots, too, lose a considerable quantity of their nutritive properties by boiling - all their constituents suffering. Carrots may be stewed with much greater advantage, as in this process nothing is lost.

Onions And Leeks

Onions And Leeks are both good foods if they are cooked with sufficient care to prevent a loss of their food constituents. Eaten in a raw condition by men engaged in hard physical labour, they afford much support, but owing to the quantity of fibrous matter they contain they are not easily digested. This fibre, however, is a useful property, promoting healthy movement of the bowels by stimulating their activity. Onions are of great assistance to consumers of the cheaper kinds of food, owing to the piquancy of their flavour, and the relish they supply when consumed with bread-and-cheese and the plainer forms of meat. Just as the onion adds much to the value of steak fried with it, so when fried with rice or potato in dripping or margarine it makes a much appreciated dish. The onion, too, is a prime factor in the simpler soups of the French; it is an essential ingredient of various fritters, and provides flavouring which goes so far in preparing cheap foods for an endless number of dishes. Leeks, which are almost equally nourishing, are cooked in much the same way as the onion, but cooked alone or served with white sauce.

Beetroot

Beetroot is not only one of the most nourishing vegetables, and one which should be grown more extensively, but it is the great source of our sugar supply. In France this plant, almost unknown on British farms, covers 600,000 acres; in Germany 1,250,000; in Italy 133,000; in Russia nearly 2,000,000 acres; and in Sweden, Holland, Belgium, and Austria considerable areas of land. The beet is a prolific plant, which should find a place in every garden, producing, as it will, 2 cwt. to a rod of land. It is rich in sugar, of which it contains about 15 per cent., so that a pound provides nearly 2 1/2 oz. From this point of view it is, next to the potato, one of the richest winter vegetables.