Part 31 (1/2)

”In order to judge the value of foods fairly not only the protein but the energy also must be compared. To supply energy cheese is one of the best of food products. On the basis of energy supplied, 1 pound of cheese equals--

1.98 pounds of sirloin steak.

2.61 pounds of round steak.

2.52 pounds of fowl.

1.17 pounds of smoked ham.

1.29 pounds of fresh ham.”

All these discussions have applied to whole-milk Cheddar cheese. With minor reductions, much the same figures will hold for Swiss, Limburger, Brick, Munster, Edam.

On the other hand, very little has been published until recently on the skimmed-milk cheeses. The food value lost in skimmed-milk has at times been enormous. Many households purchase milk by the bottle, use the top-milk as cream and lose a part of the remainder. Similarly creameries have wasted tons of skimmed-milk. The recovery of the protein of this milk for human food is both good economy and an important addition to the dietary. The United States Department of Agriculture has recently published the following: ”Cottage cheese is richer in protein than most meats and is very much cheaper. Every pound contains more than three ounces of protein, the source of nitrogen for body building. It is a valuable source of energy also, though not so high as foods with more fat. It follows that its value in this respect can be greatly increased by serving it with cream, as is so commonly done.”

It is an open question whether the decline of cheese-making in America is not due to our failure to develop the use of skim and part-skim cheeses. The whole-milk cheeses are very rich in fat. Use of such cheese in quant.i.ty in connection with ordinary foods quickly leads to the ingestion of too much fat. The skimmed-milk cheeses are primarily protein food and as such subst.i.tutes for lean meat.

”The following table shows that cottage cheese is much cheaper than most meats in furnis.h.i.+ng protein for the diet.

”For supplying protein, one pound of cottage cheese equals:

1.27 pounds sirloin steak.

1.09 pounds round steak.

1.37 pounds chuck rib beef.

1.52 pounds fowl.

1.46 pounds fresh ham.

1.44 pounds smoked ham.

1.58 pounds loin pork chop.

1.31 pounds hind leg of lamb.

1.37 pounds breast of veal.

”In addition to protein, energy for performing body work must be furnished by food. As a source of energy also, cottage cheese is cheaper than most meats at present prices. The following table shows the comparison when energy is considered.

”On the basis of energy supplied, one pound of cottage cheese equals:

8-1/3 ounces sirloin steak.

11 ounces round steak.

11 ounces chuck rib beef.

10 ounces fowl.

5 ounces fresh ham.

5 ounces smoked ham.

6 ounces loin pork chop.

7-1/3 ounces hind leg of lamb.

12 ounces breast of veal.”

+335. Digestibility of cheese.+--Although it has been a staple food with many races for uncounted years, there is a widespread belief that cheese is suitable for use chiefly in small quant.i.ties as an accessory to the diet, and that in large quant.i.ties it is likely to produce physiological disturbances. The question of digestibility was made the subject of a special investigation by the United States Department of Agriculture.[147] Calorimeter experiments[148] were made to test the digestibility of several varieties of cheese and some of these varieties at various stages of ripening. All forms of cheese were found to be digested as completely as most of the usual forms of food. Approximately 90 per cent of the nitrogenous portion (casein) was retained in the body. Unripe cheese in these experiments was apparently digested as completely as the ripened forms. These experiments make clear the possibility of making cheese a more prominent article in the regular dietary than is usual in America. They especially point to the desirability of the use of the skim and partially skim cheeses, which as cheap sources of protein when properly combined with other foods, may be made to replace meats as a less costly source of proteins. Cheese is then to be cla.s.sed with meat and eggs, not with condiments. An ounce of Cheddar[149] cheese roughly is equivalent to one egg, to a gla.s.s of milk, or to two ounces of meat. It is properly to be combined with bread, potatoes and other starchy foods, lacking in the fat in which the cheese is rich. These experiments included Roquefort, fresh-made and ripe Cheddar, Swiss, Camembert and Cottage cheese.

+336. Cheese flavor.+--”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.