APPENDIX IV
SUMMARY TABLES ON THE METHODS OF PREPARING AND COOKING VEGETABLES

As already mentioned in the introduction, the Cambridge Nutritional Laboratories (Universities of Cambridge and Medical Research Council) will reproduce the conditions under which housewives prepare and cook the individual vegetables, and will estimate by biochemical methods the allowances to be made for the changes in the nutrients which occur in the preparation and cooking of vegetables.. These cooking methods were grouped together according to all the breakdowns made in the preceding tables in order to show the most important combinations. Certain classifications had to be left out because the figures were too small.

Consequently, classification was limited to the following factors:-

Method of cooking - boiling, as the great majority of housewives boil their vegetables.

Steeping in water - Steep for less than two hours as this was the general practice.

Size of piece - for cabbages and cauliflowers - pieces or shreds; cut in half or quarter; whole sprouts - stalks cut into quarter or half; whole Beans - sliced; whole Potatoes - large, cut in quarter; cut in half; whole Swedes, and Turnips - diced; half or quarter; whole.

Lid or no lid - if the lid was half-on, it was counted as “no lid”.

Hot or cold water - “hot and boiling” were combined as “hot”.

Amount of water - half or more covered; little or quarter covered.

Soda or no soda - no distinction was made for vegetables put into hot water as it seems that soda has no destructive effect below a concentration which would make the vegetables unpalatable. Distinction has been made between “soda” and “no soda” if vegetables were immersed in cold water. Soda includes bicarbonate.

An important factor omitted is “length of time of cooking”. This is to some extent dependent on the cooking processes. The majority of housewives cook for twenty to thirty minutes.