A large number of vegetables, particularly those low in food
value, such as greens, celery, etc., are very valuable for their mineral
salts. In reality, this substance and the cellulose they contain are the
things that recommend the use of these vegetables in the diet. Minerals
of all kinds are found in solution in the water contained in vegetables,
but chief among them are calcium, sodium, iron, phosphorus, and sulphur.
Greens and salad vegetables are particularly high in iron, the element
that assists in keeping the blood in good condition. These minerals are
easily lost if the method of cookery is not planned to retain them.
16. CELLULOSE IN VEGETABLES.--The special use of cellulose, as has
already been learned, is to serve as bulk in the food containing it. In
vegetables, the cellulose varies greatly as to quantity, as well as to
texture and the amount that can be digested. In young vegetables, it is
very soft and perhaps digestible to a certain extent, but as they grow
older it hardens and they become tough. This fact is clearly
demonstrated in the case of beets. Those which are pulled from the
garden in the summer and cooked are tender and soft, but those which are
allowed to mature in the ground and are then put away for winter are,
when cooked in the late winter or early spring, so hard and tough that
it is almost impossible to make them soft. The quantity of cellulose
that vegetables contain therefore depends largely on their age and
condition.
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