The Chemistry of Cookery

I observed many years ago in some gruel that was partly eaten one night and left standing until next morning, when I thought it tasted sweeter; but to be assured of this I had it warmed again two nights afterwards, so that it might be tasted under the same conditions of temperature, palate, &c., as at first. The sweetness was still more distinct, but the experiment was carried no further. I have lately learned that my ensilage notion is not absolutely new. A friend who read my Cantor Lectures tells me that he has long been accustomed to have his porridge made some days before eating it, then having it warmed up when required. He finds the result more digestible than newly-made porridge. The classical nine days’ old pease-pudding is a similar anticipation, and I find, rather curiously, that nine days is about the limit to which it may be practically kept in a cool place before mildew—mouldiness—is sufficiently established to spoil the pudding. I have not yet tried a barrel full of pease-pudding or moistened pease-meal, closely covered and powerfully pressed down, but hope to do so. Besides these we have a notable example of ensilage in sour-kraut—a foreign luxury that John Bull, with his usual blindness, denounces, as a matter of course. ‘Horrid stuff!’ ‘beastly mess!’ and such-like expressions I hear whenever I name it to certain persons. Who are these persons? Simply English men and English women who have never seen, never tasted, and know nothing whatever of what they denounce so violently, in spite of the fact that it is a staple article of food among millions of highly-intelligent people. Common sense (to say nothing of that highest result of true scientific training, the faculty of suspending judgment until the arrival of knowledge) should suggest that some degree of investigation should precede the denunciation. In the cases of the sour-kraut and the ripening pear there is acid at work upon the fibre, which, as I have before stated, assists in the conversion of this indigestible constituent into soluble and digestible dextrin and sugar. The demand for