Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

CONCENTRATED FOODSi6iparts of the meat, thirty-two parts of the bread,and one part of common salt, all by weight, arethoroughly mixed in such small quantities as to beThe bread and meat may be eaten dry, or be-entirely homogeneous and compressed into fourouncecakes. Three of these go into the day's ration.stirred in cold water and eaten ; or one cake may beboiled for five minutes in three pints of water, andseasoned [as soup] ; or one cake may be boiled for fiveminutes in one pint of w^ater to make a thick porridgeand be eaten hot or cold. When cold it may bef:liced, and, if fat is available, may be fried. Threefourthsof an ounce of salt and one gramme of pepperare in the can for seasoning."At first glance it might seem that the bread andmeat components of this ration were essentially thesame as the pinole and jerked venison of our Indiansand white frontiersmen—and it is quite likelythat the inventors had those primitive foods inmind, seeking only to condense them still furtherwithout impairing their famous nutritive values.Practically, however, there is little resemblance.Jerky retains much of the meat juice, which givesit its pleasant flavor. Desiccated meat contains nojuice, and its taste is altogether different. Pulverized,parched wheat is a sort of pinole, but in thiscase it was first cooked, then parched, and the flavorwas inferior.Finally the meat powder and grain powder weremixed and sifted into a homogeneous mass, compressed,and sealed up in an air-tight tin. One neednot even taste such a product to know that it couldnot possibly satisfy the palate like the old-timepreparations.The emergency ration gave satisfaction for a time,but eventually there were many complaints that itwas indigestible, or otherwise unwholesome. Scientistsreported that it was lacking in nutrition. Thetroops did not like its taste, and their officers warnedthem to husband their hard bread and bacon as longas they could, since a very limited amount of either