The necessity of preheating on home gas oven cooking was checked with French pies which were cooked short time at high temperature in oven with or without preheating and some differences were observed between these pies. Pies cooked in the oven without preheating was a little smaller in size than those cooked with preheating and also it was found that pies prepared in oven with preheating were more uniformly baked than those baked without preheating.
As previously reported, such differences were not observed with baking sponge cake, cream puff crust, bread and cookies (except one special kind cookie).
The reason why this difference would appear was considered as follows: While there is the difference about the baking temperature, that is, for sponge cake and cookies at low temperature and for cream puff crust and bread at high temperature, these are baked relatively long time (about 10-12 minutes), but pies of small and basic types are baked at high temperature for short time (3-6 minutes). This would be the point responsible for this difference.
In the case of the baking of pies in the oven without preheating, by the elongation of the baking period, good quality pies can be obtained.
From this series of studies, it become possible to conclude that the preheating is not always necessary.

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In order to clarify the bacterial contamination and the characteristics of carboxylic acid of commercial soybean curds (Tofu), which were packed in plastic cases, total bacterial counts, coliform organisms, streptococci, pH and carboxylic acid were examined with 30 samples of soaking water in these cases.
The results obtained are summarized as follows:
1. Mean values of total bacterial counts, plate counts of coliform organisms on desoxycholate agar medium, counts of streptccocci on AC medium and pH were 3.1×10⁴/ml,4.4×10/ml,2.9/ml and 5.98, respectively.
2. Bacterial type of coliform organisms isolated from soybean curds was found to be mostly K. aerogenes I type
3. Correlation coefficients between total bactesial counts and coliform organisms and betwen total bacterial counts and pH of soybean curds were 0.68 and -0.71, respectively (P<0.001).
4. Carboxylic acids contained in soybean curds were examined with samples immediately after purchase and glutamic, lactic, acetic, pyruvic, malic, citric and formic acids were identified.
5. By the storage of these for 72 hours at 10°C, the amounts of lactic and acetic acids increased.

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For estimating nutritive conditions of ancient Japanese, the supplies of foods to the employees of Bureau of Sutra Transcript of Todaiji in 762, which appeared in the Archives of Shosoin, were analyzed, together with provisions of ordinary farmers working in kubunden.
Supplied goods for the workers in the Bureau differed according to their ranks (Table 1). Polished rice given to kyoji (senior sutra transcribers) was as much as 1.2kg, whereas only 960g was given to kosei (correctors) and 720g to zatsushi (miscellaneous servers). Unpolished rice (1.2kg) was given to kushi (underservants).
Though they were given a variety of foods, the energy mainly depended on rice (Table 3). While kyoji, kosei and kushi were supplied with large excess of energy per capita per day, the amount of rice furnished to zatsushi (720g,2426kcal) is considered to be feasonable. It is considered that the foodstuffs actually fed at the Bureau were the level somewhere about that for zatsushi and the rest were given in the form of materials as salaries. The amounts of supplied foodstuffs in Table 1 were corrected so that the rice supplies are to match that to zatsushi as the standard (Table 4). The level of nutrients thus corrected is listed in Table 5.
As a result, the intake of phosphorus (mainly from rice) and sodium (from seaweeds and hishiho) were too high, but those of lipids and vitamin A. Bs and C were slightly low as compared with the present standard dietary allowances.
The majority of the nation were farmers who worked in kubunden and could maintain selfsupports from the part of the harvest. However, it is considered that the rice supplies were only to fulfil 60 to 80% of their necessary energy which was obtainable from 720g of rice. They had to make up the nutritional shortage by eating mixed crops and weeds.

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