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CONCENTRATED FOODS 163in extremity when reserve rations have run out andsupply trains cannot connect with the troops. Yetthis is the very time when men are likely tobe exhausted and famished. It is the very timewhen their s^^stems demand food that tastes good andthat assimilates easily.Again, an emergency ration should containsome component that digests rather slowly, or it soonwill leave a feeling of emptiness in the stomach—itwill not "stick to the ribs" like one that takesseveral hours to become assimilated. Moreover, thestomach craves bulk as well as nutriment—thereshould be something to swell up and distend it.This is important, for, if condensation be carried toofar, it defeats its own purpose. If we could concentratea thousand calories of food energy into asingle tablet, a man would not feel that he had eatenanything after taking it.Bread Substitutes.—The main difficulty incompounding a good emergency ration is in gettinga concentrated substitute for bread. The Germanshave experimented with flour or grits made frompeanuts. It is claimed that a pound of peanut flourcontains as much nutritive material as three poundsof beef or two of peas. It can be made into por^ridge or into biscuits.Its flavor is pleasant in eithera cooked or a raw state. Whether its nutrients areeasily and completely utilized by the system has not,so far as I know, been proven.As for meal made from beans or peas, it is noteasily digested, and it tends to putrify in the alimentarycanal. (A method of desiccating bakedbeans is given in Vol. I, p. 368).Hardtack may be considered a proper componentof an emergency ration, because it is a concentratedbread that does not spoil. The best way to use it,when facilities permit, is to break it up and add itto hot soup or coffee, or pour hot water over it,pepper and salt, and eat with bacon grease.Plasmon biscuit (see Vol. I., p. 192) are morfpalatable than hardtack and more nutritious, but