Read Ebook: Cheese and its economical uses in the diet by Hunt Caroline Louisa Langworthy C F Charles Ford

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w priced are important not only from the point of view of flavor, but also from the point of view of their nutritive value. Among such cheeses the one which, as noted above, is known to the trade as standard factory cheese and to the housewife as American cheese stands out pre-eminently. Therefore when the word "cheese" is used without specification in the following pages it may be taken to refer to this particular variety.

THE FLAVOR OF CHEESE.

Cheese owes its flavor to the fatty acids and their compounds which it contains and to ammonia-like bodies formed during ripening from the cleavage of the casein, to salt added to the curd, and in some varieties, like Roquefort, to bodies elaborated by molds which develop in the cheese. In the highly flavored sorts some of the fatty acids of a very marked odor are present in abundance, as are also the ammonia-like bodies. Indeed, in eating such cheese as Camembert a trace of ammonia flavor may often be plainly detected.

The cleavage of the nitrogenous material of the cheese and other changes are brought about chiefly by the action of enzymes originally present in cheese or by microorganisms and are to be regarded as fermentative and not as putrefactive changes.

The liking for highly flavored cheeses of strong odor is a matter of individual preference, but from the chemist's standpoint there is no reason for the statement often made that such cheeses have undergone putrefactive decomposition.

COMPOSITION OF CHEESE AND SOME OTHER FOODS COMPARED.

In the present state of our knowledge concerning dietetics it seems best to give the housekeeper general rather than absolute rules with respect to the kind and amount of food which should be eaten at any meal or at any given time by persons in normal health living under usual conditions. It is not necessary, therefore, for the housekeeper to know the exact composition of food materials in order to cater well for her family, a rough approximation being sufficient for the purpose. In the case of cheese she will be near enough to the fact if she thinks of it as composed approximately of equal parts by weight of proteids, fats, and water. This rough conception is sufficient to associate it in her mind with the foods of high proteid value, a point which is important in connection with the making of bills of fare. It should lead her to class it also with the foods which are rich in fat and prevent her from combining it unnecessarily with other fatty foods.

In order, however, that the question of the use of cheese in the diet may be adequately discussed, knowledge of its composition in comparison with other foods is desirable, and there is an abundance of data available on this subject, since the composition of cheese and other foods has often been investigated at the Department of Agriculture, in experiment station laboratories, and in many other places where nutrition problems are studied. An extended summary of analyses of cheese of different sorts is included in an earlier publication of this department.

Data regarding the composition of cheese and a few other common foods are summarized in the following table:

It will be seen from the above table that cheese has nearly twice as much protein, weight for weight, as beef of average composition as purchased and that its fuel value is more than twice as great. It contains over 25 per cent more protein than the same weight of porterhouse steak as purchased, and nearly twice as much fat.

As shown by the figures in the above table, cheese contains 3.8 per cent ash. Of this a considerable part may be salt added in cheese making. Like the milk from which it is made, cheese ash is characterized chiefly by the presence of calcium , magnesium, phosphorus, and iron, the average values as given in earlier bulletins of the department being 1.24 per cent calcium oxid, 0.049 per cent magnesium oxid, 1.49 per cent phosphorus pentoxid, and 0.0015 per cent iron.

The total amount of the mineral matter needed per day by the body is relatively small, yet mineral matter is very important. It is commonly assumed and is probably true, that a mixed diet reasonably varied and reasonably generous will supply all the ash constituent which the body requires. If for any reason calcium and phosphorus are lacking in the diet, the amounts may be readily increased by a free use of milk and such milk products as cheese and junket, without decreasing the palatability of the diet or materially increasing its cost.

FOOTNOTES:

U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Anim. Indus. Bul. 146.

U. S. Dept. Agr., Office Expt. Stas. Buls. 185 and 227.

NUTRITIVE VALUE AND COST OF CHEESE AND SOME OTHER FOOD MATERIALS.

Since the market prices of foods vary, it is difficult to compare the amounts of nourishment secured for a given sum, 10 cents say, in buying different food materials. We may, however, suppose that foods have certain prices and make the comparison on this basis. In the following table the amount of cheese obtained for 10 cents when cheese costs 22 cents a pound is shown, together with the protein and energy value of this quantity, this value being compared with similar values for a number of other common foods at certain assumed prices per pound.

Since cheese is ready to be eaten when it comes from the market, it may be more interesting for some purposes to compare its composition with that of cooked beef, freed from bone and from superfluous fat, such a piece as would be served to a person at the table. Weight for weight, cheese has appreciably more protein than such cooked beef, and 50 per cent more fat.

So far as its composition is concerned, then, cheese is entitled to be considered as directly comparable with meat. The possibilities of using cheese and some other food materials in the same way as meat is discussed in some detail in an earlier publication of this department. It is so used by the peasants of some parts of Europe, and was formerly so used among many other groups of people. The fact that it is not more commonly so used in this country is probably due to several causes. One cause is habit, which makes the meal seem incomplete unless it includes meat; another is the fact that since cheese has a more pronounced flavor than meat, it is not so likely to be generally acceptable as the chief food of a meal. There is always likely to be at least one member of the family who does not relish it in quantity. Another cause is the fact that it is commonly believed to be indigestible, and still another is the fact that housekeepers, through lack of experience, are much less skillful in the arrangement of bills of fare in which cheese is the central food than they are in arranging bills of fare in which meat is thus used. These last two causes will be considered in sections which follow.

FOOTNOTES:

U. S. Dept. Agr., Yearbook 1907, p. 367.

THE DIGESTIBILITY OF CHEESE.

As was stated above, cheese has been thought a cause of digestive disturbances, but work recently done by the Office of Experiment Stations, in cooperation with the Bureau of Animal Industry, and briefly summed up in a recent publication tends to disprove this.

In the large number of experiments which were conducted, young men in good health were fed on a diet consisting of bread and fruit combined with American factory cheese which was made with different amounts of rennet and in different stages of ripening. The results showed that over 90 per cent of the nitrogenous material of the cheese was digested--that is, retained in the body--and nearly 90 per cent of the energy it supplied was available. In other words, cheese compares favorably with other foods in thoroughness of digestion--that is, in the percentage finally digested. Furthermore, it did not cause constipation or other physiological disturbances.

The above statement refers to full-cream cheese. Experiments made at the same time gave practically the same values for the digestibility of skim-milk cheese, of Swiss cheese, of Roquefort and Camembert cheese, and of cottage cheese.

Artificial digestion experiments made at the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station indicate that cheese protein is digested by the ferments of the intestines rather than by those of the stomach, and this is suggested as a reason for its reputation as a "hearty" food, the belief being that some foods which remain in the stomach longer than the average time, or are not digested by the stomach, are "hearty." Cheese protein is intimately associated with fat, and there is experimental evidence to show that this condition has an effect upon the progress of digestion in the stomach.

The burning sensation or similar sensations sometimes experienced after eating certain sorts of cheese has been attributed to the presence of small amounts of free fatty acids. It is commonly said that cheese is difficult to digest, the idea being that the body expends more labor in assimilating it than is required for other comparable foods. Experiments recently carried on by the Office of Experiment Stations in which the respiration calorimeter was used to study the energy expenditure during the period of active digestion, do not indicate that cheese differs materially in ease of digestion from a comparable amount of meat. Uncooked full-cream cheese was used in these experiments. Another series recently begun by the Office of Experiment Stations with cooked cheese, though not yet sufficiently advanced to be conclusive, indicates that cheese thus eaten does not differ materially from raw cheese in this respect.

In connection with the use of cooked cheese in the diet, one fact should always be kept in mind. This is that, in common with all other fatty foods, cheese which has been overheated in cooking is likely to contain burned--that is, decomposed--fats. Disturbances from this cause, however, should be laid to poor cooking and not to the composition of this special food.

The use of potassium bicarbonate has often been recommended for increasing the digestibility of cheese, the amount suggested being a level teaspoonful to a pound of cheese. That the bicarbonate renders the cheese soluble in any appreciable degree, as has been claimed, is not apparent from a number of experiments which have been made. It does, however, neutralize some of the free fatty acids of the cheese, thus destroying some of the characteristic flavor. To some people this may be an advantage, but to others it would be counted a disadvantage.

FOOTNOTES:

U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Anim. Indus. Circ. 166.

Minnesota Sta. Bul. 74.

Hutchison's "Food and the Principles of Dietetics," London, 1901, p. 145.

U. S. Dept. Agr., An. Rpt. Sec. 1910, p. 149; Rpt. Office Expt. Stas. 1910, p. 35; Yearbook 1910, p. 359.

THE USE OF CHEESE IN THE DIET.

It has been the purpose, in preparing this discussion of cheese, to consider ways in which mild-flavored sorts may serve as staple articles of diet, rather than the use of highly flavored varieties as appetizers and as accompaniments of other foods. The use of highly flavored cheese as a condiment is customary and may profitably be extended, since it offers a simple way of adding to the attractiveness of the diet. The variety of the cheese selected is a matter of choice, some persons preferring such kinds as well-ripened American full-cream cheese or the potted cheeses, and others such sorts as Roquefort, Camembert, and other varieties. From the physiologist's standpoint, cheese used in this way for its flavor should really form a part of a well-balanced meal rather than be added to a meal which already supplies an abundance of nutritive material. In other words, condimental cheeses may better accompany a moderate than a very generous menu.

In considering the use of cheese in quantity as an integral part of the diet there are many possibilities from simple combinations like bread and cheese to elaborate dishes in which cheese is used as a flavor and as a principal constituent.

As has been pointed out, cheese, being rich in both protein and fat, would logically replace such foods as meat, fish, and eggs when taken in quantity, rather than cereal foods characterized by a large amount of starch, or succulent foods, such as vegetables and fruits. In planning menus of which cheese forms a large part the housekeeper should bear these facts in mind.

BILL-OF-FARE MAKING WITH CHEESE AS THE CENTRAL FOOD.

Since meat has so generally been the chief protein food of a meal, and the kind selected usually has determined the choice of vegetables and condiments, it is not strange that very many housekeepers should be inexperienced and consequently unskillful in planning meals in which cheese is substituted for meat when for any reason they may desire to make such a change. In seeking skill they might take a suggestion from the experiments to which reference has been made, and also from a case investigated and reported by the Office of Experiment Stations, of a man who lived for months upon a diet of bread, fruit, and cheese, and who remained in good health and active, and did not weary of the monotony of the diet.

The first two articles of the diet mentioned, namely, the bread and the cheese, could have been taken in such amounts as to constitute what is usually considered a balanced ration, i.e., in such amounts as to supply the right quantity of muscle-forming foods in comparison with the energy value. The bread and cheese taken with the fruit, however, make a ration which is well balanced not only in the older and more widely accepted sense, but also in the more modern sense that it makes an attractive and palatable combination of foods, as well as a balanced ration, and thus favors digestion. The watery and refreshing fruits or succulent vegetables with their large supply of cellulose are a pleasant contrast to the concentrated and fatty cheese.

Housekeepers would probably find that if in planning menus of which a cheese dish is the chief feature they were to take pains to supply also crisp, watery vegetables, water cress, celery, lettuce served with a dressing or with salt alone, or simple fruit salads, and would give preference to refreshing fruits, either fresh or cooked, rather than to what are known as heavy desserts, they would in general be more successful in pleasing those who are served.

There is another point also to be considered in combining cheese with other foods. Whether it is raw or cooked it is likely to be somewhat soft, and so seems to call for the harder kinds of bread--crusty rolls or biscuit, zweiback, toast, pulled bread, rye bread, the harder brown breads, or crackers, and some of the numerous crisp ready-to-eat cereal breakfast foods. Brittle cookies, too, seem more suitable than rich soft cakes or puddings for the dessert in such meals.

A few bills of fare are given below which experience has shown to represent combinations of dishes which are palatable and which, if eaten in usual amounts, will supply protein and energy in proportions which accord with usual dietary standards. Menus such as these are more commonly served at lunch or at supper, but they might equally well be served for dinner, the selection of dishes for any meal being of course chiefly a matter of custom and convenience for those who have any range of choice.

MENU NO. 1.

Macaroni and cheese . Raisin bread or date bread. Orange and water-cress salad. Baked apples. Sugar cookies. Cocoa.

MENU NO. 2.

Cheese fondue . Toast, zwieback, or thin and crisp baking-powder biscuit. Celery. Potatoes, baked, boiled, or fried in deep fat. Peas, or some other fresh vegetables. Coffee. Fruit salad with crisp cookies or meringues.

MENU NO. 3.

Clear soup. Baked eggs with cheese or Boston roast . Baked potatoes. Lettuce salad. A sweet jelly, crab apple or quince for example, or a preserve. Rye bread. Orange or banana shortcake. Tea.

These bills of fare should be taken as suggestive merely and not as a solution of the problem. In fact, the whole art of making bills of fare needs developing. There is abundant evidence that overeating, where it exists, is frequently due to the fact that meals are not skillfully planned. People often continue eating after they have taken enough in total bulk because they have not had all they want of some particular kind of food. The meal has contained too large a percentage of proteid or too much starch; has been too moist or too dry; too highly flavored or not sufficiently flavored. Bill-of-fare making calls not only for knowledge of food values but also for skill in combining flavors and textures.

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