Although water does not supply energy to the body, it plays an important part in nutrition. As building material, it constitutes about two thirds of the body weight, and as a regulator of body processes it serves as a solvent and carrier of nutritive material and waste, keeps the blood and digestive fluids of proper concentration, and helps to regulate the temperature of the body. It is contained in nearly all food materials and is the basis of all beverages.

Water as a beverage.—Water is being given off all the time from the body through the lungs, skin, and kidneys. The exact amount depends partly upon atmospheric conditions and the amount of exercise, which affect the loss through the lungs and skin, and partly on the amount taken in, for water passes through the body rather quickly. We can endure lack of food for weeks, but can exist only a few days without water.

A drink of water taken the first thing in the morning tends to clean out the digestive tract and put one in good condition for breakfast. Water with meals aids digestion, provided it is not used to wash down food but is taken when the mouth is empty. It should not be extremely cold nor hot. Two glasses at a single meal are usually all that are desirable. When there is much water in the food, as in soups, milk, fruits, and some vegetables, or when other beverages are taken, less will be taken as plain water. When one feels hungry and uncomfortable between meals a drink of water will often relieve the sensation.

Water is either soft or hard. Rain water is perfectly soft, but as it passes through the earth after falling, it sometimes becomes laden with mineral substances, that affect its cleansing properties, and that may affect its physiological action. Such water is called hard.

Temporary hardness is caused by a soluble lime compound which is precipitated by boiling. If the teakettle is incrusted inside by a layer of lime, the hardness is of this character. Such water should be boiled and cooled for drinking. Permanent hardness is due to other compounds of lime and magnesia which are not precipitated by boiling, but which can be counteracted for cleansing purposes by the addition of some substance like ammonia, borax, or soda. If the excess of salts has some undesirable physiological effect, this water should be distilled, or bottled water for drinking brought from elsewhere.

Of much greater importance is the question of the freedom of the water supply from harmful bacteria and organic matter. Never use a well without having the water tested by an expert. This will sometimes be done by the local or state Board of Health or Experiment Station. All water sources should be guarded from contamination. (See “Shelter and Clothing,” Chapter V.) Filters may be used, and are effective in straining out sediment, but the home filter is seldom to be relied upon to remove actual bacterial contamination. If used at all, the filter should be frequently cleaned and sterilized in boiling water. In case the supply is suspected, the water for drinking should be boiled for at least ten minutes, allowed to settle, if necessary, and poured off into bottles for cooling. This is a practice to be commended after a heavy rainfall, and especially in the autumn. These bottles may be placed on the ice.

Ice must be used with caution always in drinking water, and it is the safer way to cool the water beside the ice. The freezing of water in pond and river does not purify or sterilize it. Natural ice is usually questionable. Artificial ice, if properly manufactured, is much safer.

Always have a supply of water in covered pitcher or water bottle, with clean glasses at hand, where it may be taken freely when wanted. Remember that the individual cup or glass is an absolute necessity. The dipper or glass in common must not be countenanced. In a large family of many children it would save labor to use paper cups between meals.

Water should be swallowed slowly, and ice-cold water should not be taken when one is overheated. When one is overthirsty, control must be exercised in regard to quantity and rapidity of drinking.

Water in cooking.—Water is necessary to the softening of fiber, and the cooking of starch. It acts as a solvent for sugar and salt and for gelatin, and is the basis of meat soups, certain substances in the meat dissolving in the water. The flavors of tea and coffee are extracted by water.

As a medium in cooking it supplies heat in the steaming, boiling, and stewing processes, and in the form of melting ice with salt it acts as a freezing medium.

It is not necessary to lift the cover of a kettle to see if the water boils, if one is familiar with the action of water nearing and at the boiling point. A simple experiment with the boiling of water in a Florence flask is always interesting, and from it one gains practical knowledge.

Boiling at high altitudes.—When the air pressure upon the surface of the water is lessened, the water boils at a lower temperature. As the altitude increases, the air pressure decreases, as many a mountain traveler knows to his cost. The boiling temperature of water is so much lowered that the dwellers in high regions of several thousand feet find it difficult to cook starchy vegetables well. A heavy iron pot is made with clamps for fastening down a tight cover, which increases the temperature somewhat. Experiments D and E indicate a method that can be used to a small extent. The baking process should be largely used, and boiling avoided. For meat, eggs, and fish the lower temperature is not undesirable. (See the chapters relating to these foods.)

The uses of ice.—Water freezes and ice melts at the same point, 32° F., or 0° C. If ice is mixed with salt, the temperature is reduced far below the freezing point, nearly to 0° F. This process reduces any watery substance which it surrounds to its freezing point, the heat being used in the melting of the ice. This is an interesting topic to discuss in the Physics class.

Ice at its ordinary temperature of 32° F. is used for cooling food agreeably. Its most important function in the refrigerator is as preserver of food for a short time at least. For this it is invaluable, and cheap ice is really necessary in summer to the health of a great city.

Ice substitutes.—Where the supply fails or the price is exorbitant, one property of water makes it a partial aid. The rapid evaporation of water will absorb heat so rapidly as to reduce the temperature of adjacent bodies. In the tropics when ice is lacking, water is hung in porous jars in the breeze, and the temperature of the water in the jar is reduced.

To keep milk and butter cool wrap a wet cloth about the containing jar, and set the jar upon the window sill, keeping one end of the towel in a vessel of water; or the cloth may be wrapped directly around the butter. This method is surprisingly effective.

Fruit beverages.—Fruit juices with water and sugar make refreshing beverages and have nutritive value as well. (See the next chapter.)

Cocoa and chocolate, coffee, and tea.—These are the three most important non-alcoholic beverages used by man. They are used because of the agreeable flavor given them by volatile oils, and also because they have a stimulating effect. The stimulating property is due to an alkaloid, a crystallizable substance known in cocoa as theobromine, in coffee as caffeine, and in tea as theine. Chemical investigation indicates that caffeine and theine are the same and theobromine is a closely related substance. These substances have a recognized stimulating effect upon the nervous system, and the beverages containing them should therefore be used with caution by all. In the opinion of the writers, tea and coffee should not be taken by young people under twenty-five years of age. Tea and coffee also contain tannin, an astringent substance giving a disagreeable flavor to coffee and tea when these are improperly made, and having an undesirable effect upon digestion. Chocolate contains a non-volatile fat (cocoa butter) in large amount, and should be classed as a food as well as a beverage.

The plants from which cocoa, coffee, and tea are derived are natives of semi-tropical or tropical Africa, Asia, and America, having been introduced to Europe by early travelers in these lands.

Cocoa and chocolate.—Cocoa and chocolate are manufactured from the seed of a tree, Theobroma cacao, grown in tropical America. The seeds, when removed from the containing pod, are fermented to improve the flavor, dried, cleaned, roasted, and finally ground. The outer husk is loosened in the roasting, and is then removed, and sold as “cocoa shells.” It is the basis of a cheap beverage with an agreeable flavor. The first crushing of the seeds gives cocoa “nibs,” and these are further ground in a mill, and finally molded into the cake of plain chocolate. The addition of sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and sometimes other spices gives a variety of sweet chocolates. Powdered cocoa is prepared by the removal of the fat, which is a valuable product in itself, sugar and flavorings are added and sometimes a starch. The Dutch manufacturers use alkalies for removing the crude fiber and improving the color, and the consequent loss of flavor is balanced by the use of other flavoring matter. The adulterations of cocoa are largely starch in excess. The French and American cocoas are flavored with vanilla, the Dutch manufacturers using cinnamon as well.

The so-called soluble cocoas are very finely ground, and therefore mix readily with water, remaining in suspension for some time, but the cocoa itself is not dissolved. Powdered cocoa is bought in tin cans, is cheap, and is even more economical if bought in large cans than in small. Chocolate is more expensive always than the cocoa, and may be bought in cakes in pound packages, or in powdered form for immediate use.

Coffee is the inner seed of a berry from a tree, Coffea arabica, the process of manufacture consisting of the removal of the outer pulp, fermentation, washing, drying, and roasting. The first stages of the process are carried on at the coffee plantation, the raw berries being imported, and roasted shortly before using. The roasting in cocoa, coffee, and tea is necessary for desirable flavors, the heat developing volatile, aromatic principles, caramelizing the sugar, and causing other chemical changes. The differences in the flavor of coffees are due to the variety, the soil and climate, and methods of production and manufacture. No coffee grown in the western hemisphere has excelled, and scarcely has any equaled, the original Mocha and Java coffees, and these have long been trade names for coffee from other places, because of the popular liking for these brands. Brazil is now the great coffee producing country of the world, and from South and Central America and the West Indies we obtain coffee of excellent flavor.

The adulterations of coffee should be noted, although these are of the kind that gives the buyer something cheaper in place of coffee, rather than a substance that is injurious. Ground chicory root is sometimes mixed with coffee, but cannot be classed strictly as an adulterant, because many people, notably the French, add it openly, preferring its flavor. Among adulterants are rye meal, bran, beans and peas, cocoa shells, and even sawdust. Artificial beans have been made of bran, molasses, and water, sometimes with the addition of chicory and coloring matter. If ground coffee is put into a glass of cold water, it floats on the top and remains hard, while several of the adulterants named soften and sink to the bottom of the glass. Highly roasted coffee, however, will sometimes sink. Coffee beans from which coffee extract has been made are sometimes mixed with other coffee.

Coffee extracts and crystallized coffee are manufactured to simplify the coffee-making process, but the flavor is not equal to that of coffee infusion made directly from the bean. A preparation of coffee is also offered with the caffeine removed by some chemical process, but it is expensive in this country.

Buy coffee in the bean, and see that it is freshly roasted. Coffee, whole or ground, is sold extensively by the pound in tin cans, with a fancy label and name, and in this form it is usually expensive. Good coffee may be bought for twenty-five cents a pound of many reliable dealers, and may be purchased in five or ten pound packages, or bought in bulk to be kept in a tightly closed can.

Tea is the dried leaf of a shrub, Camellia thea, growing in the comparatively high lands of Japan, China, India, and Ceylon. A tea plantation exists in South Carolina, U.S.A., and furnishes a very pleasing grade of tea, somewhat resembling Japan tea in flavor. We are familiar with the fact that there are many kinds and grades of tea, the tea shrub varying as does the coffee tree, and the methods of curing affecting both color and flavor. The teas from the countries named have characteristic flavors, and each country has different varieties and grades. Russian tea is not grown in Russia, but is Chinese tea carried across the continent of Asia.

In general, tea may be classed as green or black, this difference in color depending upon the age of the leaf, and largely upon differences in the curing process. Green tea is made from the young leaf, and after picking is dried immediately by artificial heat, being constantly stirred for about an hour, in which time the leaves twist and curl. For black tea the leaves are allowed to wilt and ferment, before they are rolled and heated; and sometimes the heating is repeated. These details of the process vary in different localities. The leaves are finally sorted and graded for packing.

Both black and green teas are made in China. “Bohea” is one of the famous black Chinese teas. “English Breakfast Tea” is known as such only in America, and is a blend of black teas. Black tea is not so successfully made in Japan as in China. “Oolong,” from the island of Formosa, has the appearance of a black tea, with the flavor of a green. In Japan and China old-time methods prevail, with much handling of the tea leaves, but in Ceylon and India modern machinery makes the process a much more cleanly one.

Another classification of tea is that depending upon the age and size of the leaf, the young leaf making the finer grade tea. For example, in the black teas of India “flowery pekoe” is made from the youngest leaf, “orange pekoe” from the second, “pekoe” from the third, and “souchong” and “congou” come from the larger leaves.

The adulterations of tea are usually the leaves of other plants, but as a matter of fact very little adulterated tea is imported. The first grades of teas, however, and those most highly prized by the Chinese and Japanese, seldom find their way to America.

Other beverages.—Several very acceptable coffee substitutes are on the market, made from roasted and ground grain, and they give an agreeable hot drink for breakfast when served with cream or milk. In some cases they seem to have a laxative effect, which is well for some people and not for others. A pleasant hot drink of the same nature may be made from the browned crusts of bread.

The substitutes for tea are not usually satisfactory. The Indians of the western coast of the United States make a tea from a plant which they call “Buona Yerba,” but for us it has a strong resemblance to the medicinal herb teas formerly used for curative purposes, such as sage, catnip, motherwort, and the like.

GENERAL METHODS AND RECIPES

EXERCISES

1. What are the functions of water in the body?

2. What cautions should be exercised when drinking water?

3. Explain the likenesses and differences of cocoa and chocolate, coffee and tea.

4. Why is it better to serve whipped cream with cocoa, rather than with chocolate?

5. Explain the principles in making each beverage.

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Teacher’s Note.—The beverages are treated in one chapter for convenience, but need not of necessity come at the beginning of the course. A fruit beverage, or cocoa, may make a convenient first lesson, when the pupils are becoming acquainted with the school kitchen. Coffee and tea may be made during the baking lessons.

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