SALEP, Salop, or Saloop, a nutritious article of diet, much valued in the 1: Last for its supposed general stimulant properties, but which is justly esteemed as bland and nutritious, and well suited to children and convalescents. Salep consists of the tubers of different species of Oreliidetc, which have been known in medicine from very early times by the name Orchis. All the European saleps are far inferior to and considered only as indifferent substitutes for that brought by commerce from Africa. Salep is highly valued in India, and forms an article of commerce from Cabul and Cashmere to the north-western provinces of India, where it is sold, at the Hurdwar fair held in April, star high price. This is very similar in form and appearance to Turkey salep, though the tubers are twice as large as the best procurable in London.
All the plants that yield salep have two tubers, charged with nutri tious matter ; while one is nourishing the flower-stein and seeds of the current year, by which it is robbed of its store, the other serves as a reservoir for the flower-stem of the succeeding year. This last alone is fit for use. Both are dug up together, but the solid one only is retained. It is dipped in warm water, after which the fine brown skin is easily removed by means of a coarse cloth or brush. The tubers, being thus peeled, are arranged on a tin plate, and placed within an oven heated as for baking bread; here they remain for seven or ten minutes,in which time they exchange their opaque and milky whiteness for a semi-transparent horn-like appearance and a yellowish colour, retaining their original bulk. Being then withdrawn from the oven, they are exposed during some days to dry and harden in the air ; or, by the employment of a very gentle heat, they may be brought to the same state in the course of a few hours. All that is then required to
adapt the salep for food is to boil it in water (or milk) to the required consistency. In Armenia, the tubers, while yet soft, are strung together on threads, and suspended in the sun to dry without artificial heat. The chemical composition of salep varies according to the period of growth when the tubers are taken up. Though salep is regarded as a variety of starch, there is very little pure starch present, the chief constituent being that form of gum termed bassorine. With cold water salep very slowly swells and forms a mucilage ; but one part of salep-powder with forty-eight parts of water boiled or heated forma a thick mucilage, which has very peculiar qualities, inasmuch as with either calcined magnesia, bisulphate of quinnia, or biborate of soda, it thickens into a solid glue-like substance. The chief use of salep is as a mild and digestible article of food; and as the orchis abounds in our meadows, a large supply of nourishment might be obtained by digging up the tubers and drying them, as above stated, and as was recom mended in the last century by Dr. Percival (' On the Preparation, Culture, and Use of the Orehia-root,' 1773).
Salop is composed chiefly of bassorine, some soluble gum, and a little starch ; by sonic it is considered as containing the largest portion of nutritious matter in the smallest space. Its presence in small quan tity in milk retards the tendency of that fluid to become sour. It is a harmless and useful ingredient in the preparation of bread, and is free from the objections to potato-starch, which is too often used by bakers in the place of wheaten flour.