ANC - 1

6th Part

Selection of Sugar, Jaggery and other Sweetening Agents -

 Smaller crystal sugars are easy to adulterate particularly the powdery ones with semolina (suji). The bigger crystal sugars are purer although they take longer to dissolve. It is better to buy large crystal sugars. Jaggery should be clean, dust-free and kept at a hygienic place. It is a traditional product made from cane juice, coconut palm, date palm, toddy palm as well as sago palm. All these are very similar in calorie content. The main contribution of jaggery, however, is energy. 

SELECTION OF BODY-BUILDING FOODS

Pulses, milk and milk products and flesh foods belong to the body-building food group, which are the main contributors of proteins in our diet. Plant sources of protein include dals, grams, nuts and oilseeds. Animal sources of protein include milk, egg, fish, poultry and meat.

Selection of Pulses

Pulses are the chief source of proteins for the vast majority of our vegetarian population. All pulse proteins are rich in amino acids lysine but poor in methionine and cereals like rice, wheat, bajra, jowar and ragi are rich in methionine plus cystine, although lacking in lysine. Therefore, when we consume pulses along with cereals we get adequate quantity of these two essential amino acids and the quality of the total protein improves. Pulses also provide us with B-complex vitamins, iron and calcium. 

       ( It is important to mention at this point that there is a little problem with the use of pulses as food and it concerns the carbohydrates present in the pulses. Carbohydrates consisting of starch, or Sugars (like sucrose, fructose, maltose or galactose) can be easily broken down to glucose by the digestive enzymes. Pulses contain three sugars which are not easily digested. These sugars find their way into the large intestine, where the microorganisms present ferment them to give rise to gases which can cause discomfort and even pain. Green gram dal produces the least gas. That is why it is preferred for feeding children. Bengal gram dal produces the most gas. Next, come red gram and black gram dals. Sprouting for 48 to 72 hours reduces these sugars and so does fermentation, as in idli and dosa making.)

Selection of Milk and Milk Products

 Standardizing and the other is Pasteurization.

Standardizing:  In the standardization of milk, the cream is either added to the milk or a bit of it is removed to ensure that the milk supplied would be of identical composition every day.

Pasteurisation: Pasteurization is a process in which milk is firstly heated to a certain temperature for a definite time period to ensure the destruction of pathogenic bacteria, which are likely to be present. It is a very important step in processing milk. Immediately after heating, milk is quickly chilled at 5 degrees C or lower. This process not only makes the milk safe but gives it a longer lease of life. Thereafter it can be transported (in chilled condition) through rail or road in tankers to cities even 300 kilometres away for distribution. To make doubly sure it is again pasteurised after reaching such a distant city before distribution to the customers.

Food products derived from milk - The most commonly used milk products are cream,

butter, ghee, curds, paneer and khoa.

1  When buying cream make sure it is fresh and free from a sour taste or smell.    

2   The commercial butter has a yellow colour and salt added to it. When you buy this butter  ensure that it is available in a hygienic package. It should be firm and have a fresh flavour.   

3  Total dependence on ghee as a medium of cooking is harmful to health as it doesn’t contain the essential fatty acids required by the body. These and present in vegetable oils.  

4  When buying paneer make sure it is moist and free from fungus or any unnatural smell. It should be almost white in colour.           

5   Purchase khoa from local dairies present in most big towns. This is safer than buying from the general markets where you often find flies sitting on the product. When buying khoa make sure it is firm and free from any unpleasant odour.            

6  Purchase pasteurised milk than other milk as it is safe and pure.

7. Ghee should have its naturally delicate flavour

8  Purchase curd which is fresh and contains delicate sour flavour. Make sure it is not very sour and pungent.

9  Preferably make curd at home it is more hygienic and cheaper than purchasing from the market.  

Selection of Flesh Foods (meat, poultry, eggs, fish and other seafoods)

Mutton - Meat from a young goat is pinkish in colour and has almost no fat unlike meat from an older goat which is dark red in colour and has deposits of fat. The former cooks faster than the latter although the latter has more flavour.

Beef - Meat from. a mature cow or buffalo is called beef and that from a young animal is called veal. Beef is darker in colour than veal which is more on the pinkish side. Veal cooks easily as compared to beef and is milder in flavour.

Poultry - When buying country chicken we need to refrain from buying larger birds because they are older-and the meat is tougher. A properly raised broiler, however, should be tender even if it is large in size. In fact, it is economical to buy large broilers because the wastage in terms of bones on a weight basis is less. In general, while buying chicken ensure that the skin of the chicken is soft and tear easily.

Fish - Fish is an excellent source of protein. It also provides good amounts of calcium, phosphorus and iron. Sea fishes are an excellent source of iodine as well. Fish also supply Vitamin A among the B Vitamins particularly niacin. On the whole, they are

nutritionally very rich and the flesh is easy to cook and digest.

         Most of the fish available in our market. are whole, uncleaned and uncut. You must carefully inspect for freshness before buying. In fish of good quality, the colour-and skin is bright and the scales adhere well to the body.  Unless you have facilities to freeze food, fish should be bought on the day you plan to use it. 

Eggs - Eggs should be purchased fresh and, if possible, kept in the refrigerator. If you do not have refrigerator facilities you should buy the eggs for only 2 or 3 days at a time during the winters, and a day at a time during the summer and the monsoon. Eggs should be washed well before storage and use. One of the ways to tell a stale and spoilt egg from a good one is to float them in a basin of water. The good ones will settle down firmly at the bottom while the spoilt or stale ones will either float to the surface or stand on end in the water. You will also notice that a very fresh egg, when broken in a plate, stands up in a rounded form. A stale egg has a tendency to spread on the plate and sometimes it is not possible to separate the egg white from the yolk.

12  Unless you have facilities to freeze food, fish should be bought on the day you plan to use it.

13  Eggs should be purchased fresh and, if possible, kept in the refrigerator. If you do not have refrigerator facilities you should buy the eggs for only 2 or 3 days at a time during the winters, and a day at a time during the summer and the monsoon.

Selection of Nuts - 

 Nuts are one of the few plant foods which contain proteins of high quality. Most nuts are not high in their carbohydrate content but all are high in fat content, and therefore also provide a lot of energy. All the nuts we use contain on average 50 per cent of fat. They are a concentrated source of energy as well as of good quality proteins.

        While buying nuts, it is important to see that they are not spoilt. Any change in smell or taste will mean that these are stale. The appearance of the nuts is also important. Shrivelled nuts are to be avoided. Being dried seeds, nuts have a fairly good shelf life but their high-fat content does give them certain drawbacks. They become rancid, particularly in warm climates. If you want to store for a long time, say six months or a year, you should store them in well-sealed packets in the refrigerator or even freeze them, if the facilities are there. 

True or False 

#  Nutritionally all varieties of wheat are equal. (True/False)

A  True

#  Rice contains a unique protein called gluten. (True/False)     

A  False; wheat contains gluten which is a unique protein

#  Ragi contains much more calories than other cereals do. (TrueIFalse)   

A  False; ragi provides the same amount of calories as other cereals but it is an excellent source of calcium.       

#  Rice is para boiled to prolong its life. (True/False)  

A   False; rice is parboiled to retain its nutritive value.

#  Cereal proteins are well utilized by the body. (True/False)

A   False; cereal proteins in combination with pulse protein are well utilized by the body.

Match the following

Ragi     ---------------- Calcium

Wheat    ---------------------------- Gluten

Cereals   --------------------------------- Cheapest source of energy

Para boiled rice -------------------  Thiamine

True or False 

#  Ghee is good for health and should be used for all cooking if you have the money to buy it. (True/False)

A  False; vegetable oils are good for health and should be used for all cooking as far as possible.

#  Oils have less calories than ghee. (T+/False)

A  False; both oil and fats provide the same amount of calories.

#  Hydrogenation makes fat liquid at room temperature. (T/F)

A  False; hydrogenation makes oils solid at room temperature.

#  Oils provide us with unsaturated fatty acids that are essential for our health. (True/False)

A  True

#  Ghee and vanaspati are low in poly-unsaturated fatty acids.'(True/False)

A   True

#  The process of refining an oil adds flavour and colour to the oil. (TrueIFalse)

A  False; the process of refining an oil removes the flavour and colour of the oil.

#  Mustard and coconut oil cannot be refined. (True/False)

A  False; all oils can be refined, but generally, mustard and coconut oils are not refined but used as such.

#  All fats provide 4 calories per gram. (True/False)

A  False; all fats provide 9 Kcal/gm.

#  Fats are a good source of proteins. (True/False)

A  False; fats are a good source of energy.

#   Potatoes are a good substitute for pulses. (True/False)

A   False; potatoes are a good substitute for cereals.

Q  What is brown sugar?

A   Brown sugar is crystallized molasses.

Q  How is the brown sugar generally available in Indian markets made?

A   By colouring white sugar with caramel or molasses.

Q  How is liquid sugar made?  

A  Liquid sugar is made by breaking down sucrose into glucose plus fructose with the help of an enzyme.

Q  What is icing or castor sugar?

A  Castor sugar is finely powdered ordinary sugar with about 5 per cent starch added to it.

Q  It is generally observed that dairies standardise milk. What is standardising?

A   In standardizing milk the dairies either add cream to milk or take a bit of the cream out of the milk to get uniform quality.

Q  Why do dairies tone milk?

A    Dairies tone milk to stretch the supply of milk so that it can reach more people.

Q  What is pasteurisation of milk?

A   Pasteurisation involves heating the milk to a certain temperature in order to destroy the microorganisms present in it and then cooling it down fast. Heating of milk at 62.8*C for 30 minutes.

Fill in the blanks

#  Dal proteins are rich in ( lysine

#  Wheat, rice have proteins that contain the adequate level of  (methionine, & cystine)

#.(Bengal gram). dal produces the most gas in our body.

#  .(pulses). is the chief source of proteins for most in India.

#  When fat is removed from the milk, the resultant milk is called .(skimmed) milk.

SELECTION OF PROTECTIVE/REGULATORY FOODS 

Fruits and vegetables as protective/regulatory food groups make an important contribution of vitamins and minerals as well as fibre in our diet.

Selection of Vegetables -

Vegetables are rich sources of carotene and vitamin C. They also provide high proportions of cellulose (fibre) to the diet and help alleviate constipation. From the point of nutritional contribution to the diet, vegetables are classified into two categories: (a) the leafy vegetables; and (b) other vegetables which include all those that are neither leaves nor roots or tubers.

a) Leafy Vegetables: - They are a good source of Vitamin A and Vitamin C. Leafy vegetables also make a very significant contribution in terms of minerals. As a rule, they are valuable sources of both iron and calcium. While buying leafy vegetables make sure they are tender, firm, crisp, and of good green colour. Do not buy wilted or insect eaten ones or the ones with white insect eggs-on the leaves. Look for them on the underside of the leaves.

b) Other Vegetables: There are many vegetables in India that do not classify as either leafy vegetables or roots and tubers. Tomatoes, brinjals, ladies fingers, beans of different varieties, carrots and cucumbers are some of the common ones eaten in India.

Waste in Vegetables - Frequently poor quality means a high percentage of waste, for example, poor quality ladies fingers which have been sitting on the shelf for 2 to 3 days, are likely to have a higher number of hard and fibrous ones which cannot be eaten and, therefore, must be discarded; limp and thin-skinned capsicum is likely to get spoiled faster even .in the refrigerator than the dark green, fleshy and firm ones. Size, as mentioned above, also makes a difference - in small onions, carrots or ladies fingers, the wastage in terms of tops and ends, or in terms of the peels is much more than in the case of larger sizes.  

Fruits -

Bananas - A banana should be just ripe and yellow in colour. It should not be over-ripe with

too many dark spots or dark brown skin or under-ripe with greenish skin and hard and pronounced ridges. Before a banana ripens the carbohydrate in it, is present in the

Form of starch. As it ripens it changes into sugar making the banana sweet.

Oranges - Fully ripe oranges, no matter what the variety is, have a pleasant odour. They should be firm and heavy with no soft or moulded spots.

Lime - Look for yellow lines with thin and shiny skin. They are juicier than the ones with thick skin.

Custard apple: - When you are buying custard apple either buy ready to eat ripe ones. These must be firm but pliable to the touch with yellowish-green skin with the crevices between the eyes white in colour. There should be no brown discolouration on the outside and the skin must not be brittle and hard. You cannot keep these for more than 24 hours as they deteriorate very fast.

Pineapples: - Plump, square fruits are better to buy than those that are long and tapering. There should be no mould at the base. Pineapples picked too green are not good to buy.

Papaya: A common fruit in our country, it is a rich source of carotenes. Unripe papaya is a rich source of the enzyme papain which digests proteins. It is used to soften meat or dals in cooking. A ready to eat papaya should be firm and turning yellow in colour.