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Coffee is a legendary beverage that has conjured up many wondrous tale and a ton of no nonsense business. This beverage has been a great liquid that has done everything from heal to quench thirsts around the globe. Billions have enjoyed this strong, sometimes bitter drink.

There are endless legends about the beginnings of the coffee plant. One of the most believable ones is the one that comes out of Ethiopia around the time of 500 BC. The drink is reportedly discovered in this country by visitors from Arabia, which is where it got it’s name.

The Renaissance is known as the birth of science and art but it also was the a time when coffee began to known as a heathenish drink. By the end of the 18th century coffee plantations and coffee drinking had spread across the world. We now have grind and brew coffeemakers, but the coffee is still the same.

Over the centuries the health effects of coffee drinking have ranged from good to extraordinary. Even though some of the hype is not true, there are some facts about it’s benefits.

There are studies that say that mammalian sperm swim farther and faster when they have had some coffee because the caffeine stimulate. A Harvard study suggested that caffeine helped to control diabetes in 100,000 subjects that were involved in the 20 year study. Another study showed that coffee was instrumental in helping to reduce cirrhosis of the liver and it helped to reduce the severity of asthma.

The antioxidants in coffee, as well as wine, have been promoted as being able to help keep the heart healthier. Although the debate about these claims is ongoing. Coffee also is a diuretic that increases urination and there are some claims that nerve damage can result from drinking too much caffeine. One of the minor withdrawal symptoms that comes from caffeine is sleeplessness. A benefit that is rarely touted is that caffeine is a natural insecticide.

No matter what the side effect, benefits or uses are, coffee is not going anywhere. The only commodity that surpasses coffee in dollar volume is oil.

Coffee is exchanged in cities around the world and more than 400 billion cups are consumed every year. The drink continues to increase in popularity and even though only 10-20% of coffee drinkers have more than a cup a day, retails sales come in around the 9 billion mark every year.

In addition to the drink there are plenty of accessories that fuel the coffee culture. Raw beans, roasters, brewers and grinders are purchased on a regular basis. These home models often come at a hefty price.

Both commodity and specialty retail prices continue to grow. Starbucks has over 10,000 stores in the world and they are just one of many coffee chains.

Mocha, Cappuccino and Latte are names that most of us are very familiar with. With a few extra ingredients, you can turn a cup of coffee into a mini meal. There are flavored coffees and toppings that you can add to your drink. There are endless varieties to choose from.

Home water purifier systems are becoming increasingly important today, with the growing possibility of compromised drinking water systems and more questions about the safety of our water supply. But it will take more than just a faucet water filter to give you great results. Good home water purifier systems need professional installation and take up a good bit of your under-counter space. This means you must consider cost of the system, cost of installation, and the space it will take up as well as its appropriateness for purifying your water, and compare that with the costs of drinking bottled water or doing nothing. The purification system that works best for your needs is always the best one for you.

Ask lots of questions before selecting between home water purifier systems. How long will it go between filter changes, if it needs changes at all? Some systems don’t use filters, and others require filters to be changed as often as four or five times a year. If you don’t have much space to work with, a filtered system may be more trouble than you want to bother with.

Which contaminants do you need to remove with a home water purifier? Home water purification systems all remove different contaminants and contaminant types, from biological contaminants to heavy metals. You should be absolutely certain that your chosen filter type removes the contaminants that are a problem for your water. The good news: a reverse osmosis system removes almost every type of contaminant, and though it delivers a relatively small quantity of water daily (about 15 gallons) it’s more than enough for your drinking water requirements.

How much does the home water purification system cost? Cheap systems are simple and attach directly to your faucet; they remove contaminants by filtering water through activated carbon, but don’t get much. On the high end, industrial-grade UV systems destroy all biological contaminants, like bacteria and amoeba, far more effectively and safely than chlorine, but can cost over a thousand dollars. Most systems run around $200 or a little more, but installation may cost you more if you need to have a plumber or other professional install it. Offset the cost with an assessment of how much your bottled water is costing you. Also, if you’re examining a shower filter, your filter will save you money in quality shampoos and body soaps; these filters remove drying and damaging chlorine, and will help your expensive bath products work the way they’re supposed to.

There are four basic types of home water purification systems that are available on the general market. Reverse osmosis systems install under the counter, and use a passive filter system (one without pressure) to collect water in a reservoir at a rate of about fifteen gallons a day. UV systems use light technology to kill germs in your water supply, but don’t remove any other contaminants; this makes them great for spring water or other non-municipal supplies that are otherwise fine. Activated carbon filters are commonly used in the faucet filter systems, but are also used in larger systems to provide clean water on a larger scale; they work pretty well, but need frequent filter changes. The KDF-55 filters are generally attached to a showerhead to remove chlorine and soften your water, making your shower water healthier for your skin and enabling your expensive bathing products to work better as well. Know these differences before you buy, and you’ll save yourself money and time.

Your stove is possibly one of the most useful appliances in your home, but it can also be the most dangerous if you arent careful. Its something that most people dont think about much, but your stove can be the scene of many accidents. It pays to be cautious whenever you use your stove to avoid injuries and possible problems.

General Safety Precautions

Whether you have a gas, wood or electric stove, there are certain safety tips that should always be followed to keep your family safe.

When cooking, turn the pots so the handles dont stick out over the edge of the stove where small children can grab them and pull boiling hot food on top of themselves.

Always keep a fire extinguisher handy near the stove, even if there is a sink nearby, grease fires will just spread if you throw water on them, so its better to use an extinguisher.

Only let children cook under adult supervision.

Use oven mitts and potholders to handle hot pans and pots to prevent burns from the high temperature metals.

Dont use metal spoons to stir food on the stove and then leave them in the pot. They heat up quickly and can burn your hand the next time you touch them.

Avoid using loose, flowing clothing or leaving dish towels near hot burners, since these can catch fire.

Gas Stoves

For obvious reasons, gas stoves need extra safety precautions. You want to make sure that there are no gas leaks, so anytime you hear a hissing or smell gas and cant tell where it is coming from, turn off your gas at the source, open all windows and exit the house. Call the fire department to check it out. Here are some other things to keep in mind with gas stoves.

If your stove doesnt have a pilot light, be sure to light it immediately after turning the gas on. You can cause an explosion by waiting more than a second or two. Even minor gas explosions can seriously injure someone who is close to the stove at the time.

Check regularly for gas leaks and if you notice any stove parts getting rusty or old, be sure to replace them.

Gas tends to heat very quickly, so watch your pots carefully to make sure you dont end up with soups boiling over or starting a fire in a pan. If you do end up with a fire, use your fire extinguisher, dont throw water on the flames.

Electric Stoves

Electric stoves are the staple of most kitchens. They heat evenly with coils and electricity tends to be more stable than gas as far as safety goes. However, there are still some precautions specific to electrical stoves.

Clean under the burners regularly to prevent fires. Extra bits of food that fall under the burner into the tray can catch fire if the burner is hot enough.

Since pots are placed directly onto the burner, its pretty easy to accidentally touch the hot element. Be careful when reaching across the stove, even if its turned off, since the element can store heat for a while afterwards.

Take care and use protective equipment to put things in the oven. Electric stoves usually have elements at the top of the oven and this can really be a danger when you reach far into the preheated oven.

Stoves are very useful and can be a great appliance to have, but they do need to be treated with care in order to avoid injury. Cook carefully and follow the safety precautions listed above to get the best, safest use out of your stove.

Cereal is the name given to those seeds used as food (wheat, rye, oats, barley, corn, rice, etc.), which are produced by plants belonging to the vast order known as the grass family. They are used for food both in the unground state and in various forms of mill products.

The grains are pre-eminently nutritious, and when well prepared, easily digested foods. In composition they are all similar, but variations in their constituent elements and the relative amounts of these various elements, give them different degrees of alimentary value. They each contain one or more of the nitrogenous elements, gluten, albumen, caseine, and fibrin, together with starch, dextrine, sugar, and fatty matter, and also mineral elements and woody matter, or cellulose. The combined nutritive value of the grain foods is nearly three times that of beef, mutton, or poultry. As regards the proportion of the food elements necessary to meet the various requirements of the system, grains approach more nearly the proper standard than most other foods; indeed, wheat contains exactly the correct proportion of the food elements.

Being thus in themselves so nearly perfect foods, and when properly prepared, exceedingly palatable and easy of digestion, it is a matter of surprise that they are not more generally used; yet scarcely one family in fifty makes any use of the grains, save in the form of flour, or an occasional dish of rice or oatmeal. This use of grains is far too meager to adequately represent their value as an article of diet. Variety in the use of grains is as necessary as in the use of other food material, and the numerous grain preparations now to be found in market render it quite possible to make this class of foods a staple article of diet, if so desired, without their becoming at all monotonous.

In olden times the grains were largely depended upon as a staple food, and it is a fact well authenticated by history that the highest condition of man has always been associated with wheat-consuming nations. The ancient Spartans, whose powers of endurance are proverbial, were fed on a grain diet, and the Roman soldiers who under Caesar conquered the world, carried each a bag of parched grain in his pocket as his daily ration.

Other nationalities at the present time make extensive use of the various grains. Rice used in connection with some of the leguminous seeds, forms the staple article of diet for a large proportion of the human race. Rice, unlike the other grain foods, is deficient in the nitrogenous elements, and for this reason its use needs to be supplemented by other articles containing an excess of the nitrogenous material. It is for this reason, doubtless, that the Chinese eat peas and beans in connection with rice.

We frequently meet people who say they cannot use the grains, that they do not agree with them. With all deference to the opinion of such people, it may be stated that the difficulty often lies in the fact that the grain was either not properly cooked, not properly eaten, or not properly accompanied. A grain, simply because it is a grain, is by no means warranted to faithfully fulfil its mission unless properly treated. Like many another good thing excellent in itself, if found in bad company, it is prone to create mischief, and in many cases the root of the whole difficulty may be found in the excessive amount of sugar used with the grain.

Sugar is not needed with grains to increase their alimentary value. The starch which constitutes a large proportion of their food elements must itself be converted into sugar by the digestive processes before assimilation, hence the addition of cane sugar only increases the burden of the digestive organs, for the pleasure of the palate. The Asiatics, who subsist largely upon rice, use no sugar upon it, and why should it be considered requisite for the enjoyment of wheat, rye, oatmeal, barley, and other grains, any more than it is for our enjoyment of bread or other articles made from these same grains? Undoubtedly the use of grains would become more universal if they were served with less or no sugar. The continued use of sugar upon grains has a tendency to cloy the appetite, just as the constant use of cake or sweetened bread in the place of ordinary bread would do. Plenty of nice, sweet cream or fruit juice, is a sufficient dressing, and there are few persons who after a short trial would not come to enjoy the grains without sugar, and would then as soon think of dispensing with a meal altogether as to dispense with the grains.

Even when served without sugar, the grains may not prove altogether healthful unless they are properly eaten. Because they are made soft by the process of cooking and on this account do not require masticating to break them up, the first process of digestion or insalivation is usually overlooked. But it must be remembered that grains are largely composed of starch, and that starch must be mixed with the saliva, or it will remain undigested in the stomach, since the gastric juice only digests the nitrogenous elements. For this reason it is desirable to eat the grains in connection with some hard food. Whole-wheat wafers, nicely toasted to make them crisp and tender, toasted rolls, and unfermented zwieback, are excellent for this purpose. Break two or three wafers into rather small pieces over each individual dish before pouring on the cream. In this way, a morsel of the hard food may be taken with each spoonful of the grains. The combination of foods thus secured, is most pleasing. This is a specially advantageous method of serving grains for children, who are so liable to swallow their food without proper mastication.

Cocktails made of a combination of fruits are often served as the first course of a meal, usually a luncheon or a dinner, to precede the soup course. In warm weather, they are an excellent substitute for heavy cocktails made of lobster or crab, and they may even be used to replace the soup course. The fruits used for this purpose should be the more acid ones, for the acids and flavors are intended to serve as an appetizer, or the same purpose for which the hot and highly seasoned soups are taken. Fruit cocktails should always be served ice cold.

Grapefruit cocktail. ——————–

The cocktail here explained may be served in stemmed glasses or in the shells of the grapefruit. If the fruit shells are to be used, the grapefruit should be cut into two parts, half way between the blossom and the stem ends, the fruit removed, and the edges of the shell then notched. This plan of serving a cocktail should be adopted only when small grapefruits are used, for if the shells are large more fruit will have to be used than is agreeable for a cocktail.

2 grapefruits 2 oranges 1 c. diced pineapple, fresh or canned Powdered sugar

Remove the pulp from the grapefruits and oranges. However, if the grapefruit shells are to be used for serving the cocktail, the grapefruit should be cut in half and the pulp then taken out of the skin with a sharp knife. With the sections of pulp removed, cut each one into several pieces. Add the diced pineapple to the other fruits, mix together well and set on ice until thoroughly chilled. Put in cocktail glasses or grapefruit shells, pour a spoonful or two of orange juice over each serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar, garnish with a cherry, and serve ice cold.

Summer cocktail. —————

As strawberries and pineapples can be obtained fresh at the same time during the summer, they are often used together in a cocktail. When sweetened slightly with powdered sugar and allowed to become ice cold, these fruits make a delicious combination.

2 c. diced fresh pineapple 2 c. sliced strawberries Powdered sugar

Prepare a fresh pineapple, and cut each slice into small pieces or dice. Wash and hull the strawberries and slice them into small slices. Mix the two fruits and sprinkle them with powdered sugar. Place in cocktail glasses and allow to stand on ice a short time before serving.

Fruit cocktail. —————

A fruit cocktail proper is made by combining a number of different kinds of fruit, such as bananas, pineapple, oranges, and maraschino cherries. Such a cocktail is served in a stemmed glass set on a small plate. Nothing more delicious than this can be prepared for the first course of a dinner or a luncheon that is to be served daintily. Its advantage is that it can be made at almost any season of the year with these particular fruits.

2 bananas 1 c. canned pineapple 2 oranges 1 doz. maraschino cherries Lemon juice Powdered sugar

Peel the bananas and dice them. Dice the pineapple. Remove the pulp from the oranges in the manner, and cut each section into several pieces. Mix these three fruits. Cut the cherries in half and add to the mixture. Set on ice until thoroughly chilled. To serve, put into cocktail glasses and add to each glass 1 tablespoonful of maraschino juice from the cherries and 1 teaspoonful of lemon juice. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve.

Your bags are all packed, you’ve kissed your mom and dad goodbye, and the car’s waiting for you. It’s time to say goodbye to good old high school and say hello to a new chapter in your life: college.

You’ll be studying in a university. This time, the classes are downright serious, the professors are stricter and assignments and projects are more difficult. It’s an exhausting experience, but after everything you’ve been through, it’ll be worth it.

Even though you’re in a university, you can’t always have your nose in the books, can you? Everyone needs to have fun once in a while. Fortunately for you, you can expect numerous activities on campus, like university parties, that can take your mind off all those excruciating exams and deadlines.

University parties are organized for students so they can enjoy themselves between all their studying. Usually these parties revolve around certain themes, depending on the season, the holiday or the event being celebrated.

The themes for university parties depend on how they are celebrated and the activities and elements involved in them. Some are arranged by the university’s administration itself, while others are planned by fraternities, sororities or university organizations. These can be very grand and formal events, or they can be small and very casual, serving the guests with only munchies and beer.

Here are several popular examples of university theme parties celebrated by many campuses today.

Toga Party. The toga party is one of the best costume parties held in many universities. The students who go to these events try to mimic the practices during the ancient Greek or Roman times by wearing “toga” robes made from bed sheets or long flowing cloths securely wrapped and pinned around their bodies. The venue is decorated with vines, and the tables and chairs are covered with red and purple cloths to make them look regal. Party food usually involves beer and chips, but cheese, meat rolls and pasta are also served.

Homecoming Party. This is a traditional party held in many universities as a sign of respect for former students of the school. During a homecoming party, the alumni and former residents are welcomed back to the campus with a banquet, a parade, and a game of football, ice hockey or basketball. All the students and the faculty join in the festivities that usually last a few days.

Halloween Party. University students love celebrating Halloween as much as children do! Parties are often held during this holiday. The students wear their creepiest costumes, although some girls wear racy and naughty outfits. Just like regular Halloween parties, the party is held in a spooky venue, and the guests dine on “yucky” treats.

Sports Party. Universities always participate in sports competition, and students hold parties either to cheer on their team or to celebrate victory. Usually, these parties center on just one particular sport. Students congregate in a venue that is decorated with their school colors while laughing, drinking and watching their team’s game on TV. Sometimes, the students also play fun games to make the party more enjoyable.

Just because you’re a university student doesn’t mean you can’t have a little fun every now and then! Try going to these university theme parties and celebrate campus life with your schoolmates. Go ahead; eat, drink and be merry!

Barley is stated by historians to be the oldest of all cultivated grains. It seems to have been the principal bread plant among the ancient Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans. The Jews especially held the grain in high esteem, and sacred history usually uses it interchangeably with wheat, when speaking of the fruits of the Earth.

Among the early Greeks and Romans, barley was almost the only food of the common people and the soldiers. The flour was made into gruel, after the following recipe: “Dry, near the fire or in the oven, twenty pounds of barley flour, then parch it. Add three pounds of linseed meal, half a pound of coriander seeds, two ounces of salt, and the water necessary.” If an especially delectable dish was desired, a little millet was also added to give the paste more “cohesion and delicacy.” Barley was also used whole as a food, in which case it was first parched, which is still the manner of preparing it in some parts of Palestine and many districts of India, also in the Canary Islands, where it is known as gofio .

In the time of Charles I, barley meal took the place of wheat almost entirely as the food of the common people in England. In some parts of Europe, India, and other Eastern countries, it is still largely consumed as the ordinary farinaceous food of the peasantry and soldiers. The early settlers of New England also largely used it for bread making.

Barley is less nutritious than wheat, and to many people is less agreeable in flavor. It is likewise somewhat inferior in point of digestibility. Its starch cells being less soluble, they offer more resistance to the gastric juice.

There are several distinct species of barley, but that most commonly cultivated is designated as two-rowed, or two-eared barley. In general structure, the barley grain resembles wheat and oats.

Simply deprived of its outer husk, the grain is termed Scotch milled or pot barley . Subjected still further to the process by which the fibrous outer coat of the grain is removed, it constitutes what is known as pearl barley . Pearl barley ground into flour is known as patent barley . Barley flour, owing to the fact that it contains so small a proportion of gluten, needs to be mixed with wheaten flour for bread-making purposes. When added in small quantity to whole-wheat bread, it has a tendency to keep the loaf moist, and is thought by some to improve the flavor.

The most general use made of this cereal as a food, is in the form of pearl, or Scotch, barley. When well boiled, barley requires about two hours for digestion.

All grains, with the exception of rice, and the various grain meals, require prolonged cooking with gentle and continuous heat, in order to so disintegrate their tissues and change their starch into dextrine as to render them easy of digestion. Even the so-called “steam-cooked” grains, advertised to be ready for use in five or ten minutes, require a much longer cooking to properly fit them for digestion. These so-called quickly prepared grains are simply steamed before grinding, which has the effect to destroy any low organisms contained in the grain. They are then crushed and shredded. Bicarbonate of soda and lime is added to help dissolve the albuminoids, and sometimes diastase to aid the conversion of the starch into sugar; but there is nothing in this preparatory process that so alters the chemical nature of the grain as to make it possible to cook it ready for easy digestion in five or ten minutes. An insufficiently cooked grain, although it may be palatable, is not in a condition to be readily acted upon by the digestive fluids, and is in consequence left undigested to act as a mechanical irritant.

Water is the liquid usually employed for cooking grains, but many of them are richer and finer flavored when milk is mixed with the water, one part to two of water. Especially is this true of rice, hominy, and farina. When water is used, soft water is preferable to hard. No salt is necessary, but if used at all, it is generally added to the water before stirring in the grain or meal.

The quantity of liquid required varies with the different grains, the manner in which they are milled, the method by which they are cooked, and the consistency desired for the cooked grain, more liquid being required for a porridge than for a mush.

All grains should be carefully looked over before being put to cook.

In the cooking of grains, the following points should be observed:

1. Measure both liquid and grain accurately with the same utensil, or with two of equal size.

2. Have the water boiling when the grain is introduced, but do not allow it to boil for a long time previous, until it is considerably evaporated, as that will change the proportion of water and grain sufficiently to alter the consistency of the mush when cooked. Introduce the grain slowly, so as not to stop the sinking to the bottom, and the whole becomes thickened.

3. Stir the grain continuously until it has set, but not at all afterward. Grains are much more appetizing if, while properly softened, they can still be made to retain their original form. Stirring renders the preparation pasty, and destroys its appearance.

In the preparation of all mushes with meal or flour, it is a good plan to make the material into a batter with a portion of the liquid retained from the quantity given, before introducing it into the boiling water. This prevents the tendency to cook in lumps, so frequent when dry meal is scattered into boiling liquid. Care must be taken, however, to add the moistened portion very slowly, stirring vigorously meantime, so that the boiling will not be checked. Use warm water for moistening. The other directions given for the whole or broken grains are applicable to the ground products.

Place the grain, when sufficiently cooked, in the refrigerator or in some place where it will cool quickly (as slow cooling might cause fermentation), to remain overnight.

Rice needs to be thoroughly washed. A good way to do this is to put it into a colander, in a deep pan of water. Rub the rice well with the hands, lifting the colander in and out the water, and changing the water until it is clear; then drain. In this way the grit is deposited in the water, and the rice left thoroughly clean.

The best method of cooking rice is by steaming it. If boiled in much water, it loses a portion of its already small percentage of nitrogenous elements. It requires much less time for cooking than any of the other grains. Like all the dried grains and seeds, rice swells in cooking to several times its original bulk. When cooked, each grain of rice should be separate and distinct, yet perfectly tender.

Steamed rice. ————-

Soak a cup of rice in one and a fourth cups of water for an hour, then add a cup of milk, turn into a dish suitable for serving it from at table, and place in a steam-cooker or a covered steamer over a kettle of boiling water, and steam for an hour. It should be stirred with a fork occasionally, for the first ten or fifteen minutes.

Boiled rice (japanese method). ——————————

Thoroughly cleanse the rice by washing in several waters, and soak it overnight. In the morning, drain it, and put to cook in an equal quantity of boiling water, that is, a pint of water for a pint of rice. For cooking, a stewpan with tightly fitting cover should be used. Heat the water to boiling, then add the rice, and after stirring, put on the cover, which is not again to be removed during the boiling. At first, as the water boils, steam will puff out freely from under the cover, but when the water has nearly evaporated, which will be in eight to ten minutes, according to the age and quality of the rice, only a faint suggestion of steam will be observed, and the stewpan must then be removed from over the fire to some place on the range, where it will not burn, to swell and dry for fifteen or twenty minutes.

Rice to be boiled in the ordinary manner requires two quarts of boiling water to one cupful of rice. It should be boiled rapidly until tender, then drained at once, and set in a moderate oven to become dry. Picking and lifting lightly occasionally with a fork will make it more flaky and dry. Care must be taken, however, not to mash the rice grains.

Rice with fig sauce. ——————–

Steam a cupful of best rice as directed above, and when done, serve with a fig sauce. Dish a spoonful of the fig sauce with each saucer of rice, and serve with plenty of cream. Rice served in this way requires no sugar for dressing, and is a most wholesome breakfast dish.

Orange rice. ———–

Wash and steam the rice. Prepare some oranges by separating into sections and cutting each section in halves, removing the seeds and all the white portion. Sprinkle the oranges lightly with sugar, and let them stand while the rice is cooking. Serve a portion of the orange on each saucerful of rice.

Rice with raisins. ——————-

Carefully wash a cupful of rice, soak it, and cook as directed for Steamed Rice. After the rice has began to swell, but before it has softened, stir into it lightly, using a fork for the purpose, a cupful of raisins. Serve with cream.

Rice with peaches. ——————

Steam the rice and when done, serve with cream and a nicely ripened peach pared and sliced on each individual dish.

Browned rice. ————-

Spread a cupful of rice on a shallow baking tin, and put into a moderately hot oven to brown. It will need to be stirred frequently to prevent burning and to secure a uniformity of color. Each rice kernel, when sufficiently browned, should be of a yellowish brown, about the color of ripened wheat. Steam the same as directed for ordinary rice, using only two cups of water for each cup of browned rice, and omitting the preliminary soaking. When properly cooked, each kernel will be separated, dry, and mealy. Rice prepared in this manner is undoubtedly more digestible than when cooked without browning.

During the period between the birth and maturity of animals, their flesh undergoes very considerable changes. For instance, when the animal is young, the fluids which the tissues of the muscles contain, possess a large proportion of what is called albumen . This albumen, which is also the chief component of the white of eggs, possesses the peculiarity of coagulating or hardening at a certain temperature, like the white of a boiled egg, into a soft, white fluid, no longer soluble, or capable of being dissolved in water. As animals grow older, this peculiar animal matter gradually decreases, in proportion to the other constituents of the juice of the flesh. Thus, the reason why veal, lamb are white, and without gravy when cooked, is, that the large quantity of albumen they contain hardens, or becomes coagulated. On the other hand, the reason why beef and mutton are brown, and have gravy , is, that the proportion of albumen they contain, is small, in comparison with their greater quantity of fluid which is soluble, and not coagulable.

The quality of the flesh of an animal is considerably influenced by the nature of the food on which it has been fed ; for the food supplies the material which produces the flesh. If the food be not suitable and good, the meat cannot be good either. To the experienced in this matter, it is well known that the flesh of animals fed on farinaceous produce, such as corn, pulse, &c., is firm, well-flavoured, and also economical in the cooking; that the flesh of those fed on succulent and pulpy substances, such as roots, possesses these qualities in a somewhat less degree; whilst the flesh of those whose food contains fixed oil, as linseed, is greasy, high coloured, and gross in the fat, and if the food has been used in large quantities, possessed of a rank flavour.

It is indispensable to the good quality of meat, that the animal should be perfectly healthy at the time of its slaughter. However slight the disease in an animal may be, inferiority in the quality of its flesh, as food, is certain to be produced. In most cases, indeed, as the flesh of diseased animals has a tendency to very rapid putrefaction, it becomes not only unwholesome, but absolutely poisonous, on account of the absorption of the virus of the unsound meat into the systems of those who partake of it. The external indications of good and bad meat will be described under its own particular head, but we may here premise that the layer of all wholesome meat, when freshly killed, adheres firmly to the bone.

Another circumstance greatly affecting the quality of meat, is the animal’s treatment before it is slaughtered . This influences its value and wholesomeness in no inconsiderable degree. It will be easy to understand this, when we reflect on those leading principles by which the life of an animal is supported and maintained. These are, the digestion of its food, and the assimilation of that food into its substance. Nature, in effecting this process, first reduces the food in the stomach to a state of pulp, under the name of chyme, which passes into the intestines, and is there divided into two principles, each distinct from the other. One, a milk-white fluid, the nutritive portion, is absorbed by innumerable vessels which open upon the mucous membrane, or inner coat of the intestines. These vessels, or absorbents, discharge the fluid into a common duct, or road, along which it is conveyed to the large veins in the neighbourhood of the heart. Here it is mixed with the venous blood (which is black and impure) returning from every part of the body, and then it supplies the waste which is occasioned in the circulating stream by the arterial (or pure) blood having furnished matter for the substance of the animal. The blood of the animal having completed its course through all parts, and having had its waste recruited by the digested food, is now received into the heart, and by the action of that organ it is urged through the lungs, there to receive its purification from the air which the animal inhales. Again returning to the heart, it is forced through the arteries, and thence distributed, by innumerable ramifications, called capillaries, bestowing to every part of the animal, life and nutriment. The other principle the innutritive portion passes from the intestines, and is thus got rid of. It will now be readily understood how flesh is affected for bad, if an animal is slaughtered when the circulation of its blood has been increased by over-driving, ill-usage, or other causes of excitement, to such a degree of rapidity as to be too great for the capillaries to perform their functions, and causing the blood to be congealed in its minuter vessels. Where this has been the case, the meat will be dark-coloured, and become rapidly putrid; so that self-interest and humanity alike dictate kind and gentle treatment of all animals destined to serve as food for man.