BEEF EXTRACTS

appear upon the market in both liquid and semi-solid form ard also as bouillon cubes. Beef extract was first produced on a commercial scale by Baron Liebig, in the year 1865, and since that date many similar products have appeared on the market. They are prepared by chopping fresh meat, heating under pre ure with 2 little water, filtering the extract and concentrating by evaporation. According to Liebig’s calculations, 34 lbs. of beef should be required for 1 Ib. of extract, which should be sufficient to make 70 pints of ‘beef tea.’ This gave rise to the mistaken idea that a pint of beef tea is equal in nourishment to 14 Ib. of beef. As a matter of fact, the nourishment in beef extracts in any form is almost negligible. They are, however, valuable stimulants, and are also useful as appetizers, but they should not be given to invalids except under a doctor’s advice. A good grade of semi-solid extract contains about 20 per cent. water, 3 per cent. salt, 18 per cent. mineral matter, 1 per cent. fat and 68 per cent. meat extractives. These extractives contain a little albumen and peptone, creatin, xanthin, carnine and carnic acid. The last four are neither ti ue builders nor energy producers, and therefore cannot be regarded as foods. Bouillon cubes contain from 50 per cent. to 75 per cent. salt, and the fluid extracts are more or le dilute solution of semi-solid extracts. They contain about 50 per cent. of water.