Beef Tea
Sources:
Papers On Health
It is well to bear in mind that there is scarcely any
nourishment even in home-made beef juice (the best form of any extract
of meat).
Home-made beef juice is prepared by scraping the meat into shreds,
placing in a jar, and leaving the water to soak into the meat for about
half-an-hour. Then place in a saucepan on the fire for an hour, during
which time it must not boil. After being then brought to the bo
l, it
should be removed immediately, and the lump of meat removed.
Some idea may be obtained of the relatively small amount of nourishment
even in this form of extract when it is remembered that the thin flaky
matter which sinks to the bottom in the bowl is practically the only
nutritive portion in the dish.
All extracts and such-like preparations are inferior to home-made beef
tea in value. We do not deny, then, the value of beef extracts as
stimulants in certain diseased conditions, but we do not recognise them
as a useful food. Further, the stimulating effect upon the heart is
largely due to the hot water they are made with (see Bone Diseased).