Cocoa-Nut Cakes

1 ounce of German yeast, 4 tablespoonfuls of lukewarm water, 16 ounces of desiccated cocoa-nut powder. Mix into a paste, adding a little more lukewarm water if necessary. Leave in a warm place for twenty minutes. Then add 2 eggs (beaten up in 3 or 4 tablespoonfuls of milk), and a little salt. Mix well. Place into 16 small dishes or tins (well greased). Bake in a moderate oven twenty or thirty minutes. These are the cheapest diabetic cakes.

Almond cakes may be made in a similar manner, using almond flour in place of cocoa-nut powder.

Aleuront And Cocoa-Nut Cakes

For the preparation of these cakes, 2 ounces of desiccated cocoa-nut powder are mixed with a little water containing a small quantity of German yeast. The mass is then formed into a kind of paste, and this is kept for half an hour or longer in a warm place. The small amount of sugar contained in the cocoa-nut is almost entirely decomposed by the fermentation produced by the yeast, and the cocoa-nut paste becomes spongy. 2 ounces of Aleuront, 1 egg beaten up, and a small quantity of water, in which a little saccharin or Saxin has been dissolved, are now added to the cocoa-nut, and the whole well mixed until a paste is formed. This is spread out on a tin and divided into cakes, which are baked in a moderate oven for twenty or thirty minutes.

Cocoa-Nut And Plasmon Cakes

Mix together 2 tablespoonfuls of cocoa-nut powder, a little lukewarm water, and 1/4 ounce of German yeast, so as to form a stiff paste. Allow to stand (covered) in a warm place for about ten minutes, until it becomes spongy, then add 3 tablespoonfuls of Plasmon, a pinch of salt, 1 tablespoonful of glycerine, and 1 egg well beaten up with a little milk. Mix all together- Divide into 4 to 8 tins. Bake for twenty minutes or more.

1 No. 2 Protene can be obtained from The Piotene Co., 36 Welbeck Street, London, W.

Profene And Almond Bread

Mix 1 ounce of German yeast with 2 tablespoonfuls of lukewarm water and 1 ounce of almond flour (ground almonds). Allow the mixture to stand in a warm place for ten minutes, then add 4 ounces of No. 2 Protene, 1 egg (beaten up), a little salt, 1 1/2 ounces of butter, and a little milk. Mix all well together with a fork, divide into cobs, or place into small tins, and bake.

Glidine And Almond Cakes

3 tablespoonfuls of ground almonds; 3 tablespoonfuls of Glidine; 1/2 teaspoonful of baking-powder. Mix all together. Beat up 1 egg in a little milk. Then mix all together. (If necessary, a little more milk may be added.) Place in small tins so as to make little cobs. Bake in a moderate oven twenty to thirty minutes. These cakes are soft, and taste best when buttered. They contain a very small amount of starch and sugar, but may be eaten in moderate amount by diabetic patients. The very small quantity of sugar may be destroyed by the action of yeast if the cakes are made in the following manner: -

Place 4 ounces of ground almonds in one vessel. Mix 1/4 ounce of yeast in about 2 or 3 tablespoonfuls of lukewarm water, add this to the almonds, cover, leave it in a warm place for twenty minutes, until it becomes spongy. Then put 4 ounces of Glidine into a separate vessel with 1/2 teaspoonful of baking-powder. In another vessel beat up 1 egg in a little milk. Then mix all well together (almonds, Glidine, and egg) into a light paste, and if too thick add a little more milk. Drop with a spoon into small pots or tart tins to make 6 or 7 cobs. Bake in a moderately hot oven for twenty minutes or longer.

These cakes may be taken in any quantity by all diabetic patients.

Plasmon Biscuits

Plasmon 8 ounces, 1 egg beaten up in milk. Mix well together into a light paste. Divide into cakes and bake for ten minutes.

Bran and almond bread, almond bread, and gluten and almond bread may be prepared at the patient's home from flour supplied by Callard & Co. (London).

Most gluten bread contains so much starch that it is of little service. It should always be tested with iodine, and should be regarded as ordinary white bread, unless it is known to be one of the few specimens containing only a very small percentage of starch. When it is considered advisable to allow a diabetic patient a small quantity of white bread, 3 or 4 ounces daily - this may be replaced by an amount of gluten bread containing the same quantity of starch as the 3 ounces of ordinary bread. The bulk of this quantity of gluten bread will be much greater than that of the equivalent white bread. Many patients much prefer the small quantity of ordinary bread to its more bulky equivalent of gluten bread: but to some patients the more bulky gluten bread is more satisfying.

There are a few specimens of gluten flour (such as preparations supplied by Messrs R. O. Bischof & Brooke, 35 Brooke Street, Holborn, London, E.C.; and by J. Bonthron & Co., and Callard & Co., London, W.) which contain only 2 to 6 per cent, of starch. When the medical man has ascertained, by his own testing with iodine, that the gluten flour only contains a very small percentage of starch, it may be used freely for the preparation of bread, puddings, pancakes, according to directions supplied by the various firms (provided these directions do ttot recommend the addition of ordinary flour).

Diabetic spongecakes made from almond flour and sweetened with glycerine are excellent.

Gluten macaroni and gluten vermicelli are quite appetising articles.

As a matter of practical experience in the treatment of diabetes, the complete deprivation of starch in the breadstuffs is found to be so great a trial, and becomes so irksome, that it is usually necessary and often desirable to allow a small amount of ordinary bread.

Fruit when ripe, as a rule, should be avoided because of the large amount of sugar present, but in a few fruits - strawberries, gooseberries, apricots, melons, and oranges - the sugar is in the form of levulose, and this, as has been mentioned before, is more easily utilised by the tissues. Unripe fruits, gooseberries and raspberries, cranberries and rhubarb, sweetened with saccharin or neutralised with an alkali, have to take largely the place of ripe fruit. The " Forbidden Fruit," resembling a pale orange, contains very little sugar, and is suitable for diabetic patients. Diabetic marmalade, made with gelatine, glycerine, and orange juice and rind, is an attractive-looking compound, and a great boon to the diabetic's breakfast-table. Callard & Co. also make a diabetic jam which is almost sugarless.

Vegetables

Potatoes should not be taken by most diabetic patients; if taken, they are best in the form of well-fried potato chips. A small amount of potato in this form makes a large dish, as the potato expands with cooking.

Boiled walnuts are recommended as a substitute for potatoes. Place the shelled walnuts in an enamelled pan in boiling water and boil for thirty minutes; drain away the water carefully, place on a plate and sprinkle well with Aleuront flour or Glidine. Add salt, pepper, and butter.

In cooking green vegetables, butter and fat should be freely used; and oil, eggs, and cream may be used with the salad dressings.

Beverages

Beverages containing carbohydrates to any degree should be excluded from the dietary. These include beer, porter, ale and stout, rum, sweetened gin, liqueurs, sweet lemonade, cocoa and chocolate, fruit wines and syrups, port, champagne, sweet wines, and Tokay. The beverages allowable are water, soda-water, and mineral-water, tea, coffee, brandy, whisky, dry sherry, claret, Burgundy, hock, Moselle, most Rhine wines, and Hungarian wines. Citric acid lemonade, 10 grs. to the pint, sweetened with 4 drams of glycerine or a little saccharin, is an admirable thirst-quencher, and the following are also suitable.

Home-made lemonade (lemon juice and water) sweetened with saccharin or Saxin.

Soda and lemon: squeeze a lemon, and add a glass of soda or seltzer water.

A specially prepared diabetic cocoa is prepared, and also chocolate, flavoured with vanilla and sweetened with saccharin.