[Changes in weight of fresh and dried vegetables on cooking]

The present study represents part of a more important work relative to normal food refuse and change of weight of varied food according to different ways of cooking. The study has been realized on vegetables and some fruits of frequent utilization in the population. It was accomplished by 25 voluntary housekeepers from Paris and Marseille during a whole year according to precise instructions about the method of weighings, every vegetable having to be weighed, three times at different intervals, during the year; 3203 weighings were mode corresponding to 2 399 kg of divers types of vegetables. The results have pointed out important variations according to the kinds of vegetables and methods of cooking. At boiling, the most utilized method, the variations of weight according to the weight before cooking are very important extending from + 10 p. 100, for Brussel sprouts and fresh flageolets at--25 p. 100 and--36 p. 100 for lettuce and endive, the last of weight being the highest for fine leaves vegetables, lesser for roots and tubers, and around zero for artichokes, french beans, cauliflower, aubergines. Other methods of cooking, through concerning a more limited number of kinds of vegetables have pointed out that "sauté" brings a higher loss for the vegetables studied; Similar observations can be made for braising and stewing, frying leads to the highest loss reaching--48 p. 100 for chips. However the weight of fresh pulses varies slightly at boiling and stewing, it is the same for potatoes. As for dry beans, the increase of weight is less important than the percentage curently utilized for the calculation of surveys, the loss of weight according to cooked fruits pears and apples is not high (about 10 p. 100). These results should be taken into consideration for the exploitation of food surveys, especially norvadays when surveys are made more often at home and at the hospital and concern the individual consumption either by weighing the food consumed at table in dining-room or on the tray of the patient, and also when surveys are realized by interrogatory, the food being then, cooked, without refuse. From this point of view the last two tables present the results for a practical utilization. The first one gives the different kinds of vegetables studied with every way of cooking observed, the numbers of weighings effected the weight corresponding to 100 g raw and the weight corresponding to 100 g cooked, the other one presents the kinds of vegetables classified according to importance of the variations of weight for different ways of cooking in connection with the weight before cooking.