Page:800 proved pecan recipes- their place in the menu (IA 0519PECA).pdf/13

 FOREWORD

Since this is the first large recipe book known which is devoted exclusively to pecan recipes, the questions naturally arise, "Why issue such a book? How were these pecan recipes evolved?"

It is the aim of the first two chapters to answer those questions simply and clearly, and of the last chapter in this book to give typical menus for the various seasons, showing how the food values found in the recipes may best be distributed.

It is strange that nuts—a staple food of the primitive man—are only in recent years receiving the recognition they merit as a prime source of those health-giving food elements required by the human system. The most recent researches in nutrition and in medicine emphasize the value of the low protein diet, and this advanced knowledge directing attention anew to the value of nuts, draws particular attention to the pecan. For the pecan, while lower in total protein, is especially high in those choicest proteins essential to growth. The pecan, moreover, is highest among all nuts in fats and carbohydrates, the heat and energy elements; and has both mineral and vitamin content of exceptional desirability.

Even before the researches of nutritional experts had established the reasons why pecans were so advantageous as a source of all 'round staple diet, there were many who by experience had learned the advantages of pecans in their own homes. The demand for a comprehensive group of the best pecan recipes resulted, despite the fact that the limited supply of these nuts had restricted their use in many homes to eating raw, and in a few desserts and salads. The Keystone Pecan Company secured over 21,000 recipes in response to an announcement calling on women to send in their favorite proved pecan recipes. They were all checked and tested in the Keystone Pecan Research Laboratory, by graduate dietitions, care-