PART V.

CEREAL FOODS.

BARLEY (GENUS _Hordeum_).

In the United States barley is not used to any extent as human food. It has all the nutritive properties of the common cereals and may be considered as a food product, although its chief use is in the making of fermented beverages which will be described in full in the second volume.

Barley is cultivated chiefly in the northern and western portions of the United States and is similar to the oat in this respect, that when the grain is threshed by the ordinary process the first layer of chaff is not separated, and, therefore, it goes into the market unhulled. There are varieties of naked barley which are not much cultivated. The cultivated varieties (_Hordeum sativum_ Pers.) belong practically to one species, although there are very many different varieties grown.

The character of barley best suited to malting will be discussed in the second volume.

_Acreage and Yield of Barley._--The area planted to barley in the United States and other statistical data relating thereto for the year 1906 are as follows:

Acreage, 6,323,757 Yield per acre, 28.3 bushels Total production, 178,916,484 „ Price per bushel, 41.5 cents Value of crop, 74,235,997 dollars

=Composition of a Typical Unhulled Barley.=--From a comparative study of a number of samples of American barley the following numbers are regarded as typical of the composition of the unhulled barley grown in the United States:

Weight of 100 kernels, 4.53 grams Moisture, 10.85 percent Protein, 11.00 „ Ether extract, 2.25 „ Crude fiber, 3.85 „ Ash, 2.50 „ Starch and sugar, etc., 69.55 „

The important points brought out in the above data are that the percentage of fiber in the unhulled barley is less than one-half that of the unhulled oat, as stated further on, while the percentage of ether extract is only about one-half that of the unhulled oat, and the protein is also decidedly less than in the whole oat.

As has been stated, barley is not very generally used in this country for human food, but is used in this and other countries as an ingredient of soup.

=Protein of Barley.=--The following protein compounds are found in barley in proportionate weight to the total weight of the seed:

Leucosin, 0.30 percent Hordein, 4.00 „ Edestin, 1.95 „ Proteose, 1.95 „ Insoluble protein, 4.50 „

As seen from the above table the most important of the soluble proteins is hordein, which in quantity is almost equal to the insoluble protein of the barley grain. The starch granules of barley are recognized by their distinctive shape and size, as revealed by the microscope. A typical microphotographic view of barley starch is shown in Fig. 22.

BUCKWHEAT (_Polygonum fagopyrum_ L.).

=Buckwheat= is usually classed with the cereals, but botanically it does not belong to the order of true grasses to which the cereals belong.

Buckwheat is commonly grown in many parts of the United States, and its seed is highly prized for bread and cake making purposes. The buckwheat is ground and the outer black tough hull separated, and the flour is used chiefly for making hot breakfast cakes which are much prized throughout the country. Properly ground buckwheat flour has a more or less dark tint, due to fine particles of the outer envelope which escape the bolting process.

_Acreage and Yield of Buckwheat._--This crop is not grown in many states. New York, Pennsylvania, and Michigan produce the largest quantities. The statistical data for buckwheat grown in the United States in 1906 are as follows:

Acreage, 789,208 Yield per acre, 18.6 bushels Production, 14,641,937 „ Price per bushel, 59.6 cents Total value, 8,727,443 dollars

=Composition of Buckwheat Flour.=--The composition of finely bolted buckwheat flour is as follows:

Moisture, 11.89 percent Protein, 8.75 „ Ether extract, 1.58 „ Ash, 1.85 „ Fiber, .52 „ Starch and sugar, 75.41 „ Calories per gram, 3,854

The above is the composition of a white flour more finely ground and bolted than is advisable for palatable purposes. In the grinding of the above flour the germ which contains a greater part of ether extract is eliminated and also a large quantity of the bodies rich in protein. The composition of a less highly refined flour and one which is more palatable and more nutritious is given in the following data:

Moisture, 11.19 percent Protein, 9.81 „ Ether extract, 2.33 „ Ash, 1.53 „ Fiber, .73 „ Starch and sugar, 74.41 „ Calories per gram, 3,954

=Milling Process.=--In the preparation of the so-called highest grade of buckwheat flour, that is, that which is most carefully ground and thoroughly bolted, the process employed is as follows: During the process of milling the buckwheat grains pass to a receiving separator which removes all the coarse particles, stones, straws, etc., by means of a series of sieves. At the same time any dust which they contain is blown out by a current of air. The sifted grains pass next to the scouring machines, in which they are thoroughly scoured, cleaned, and polished. From these machines the grains pass to a separator containing magnets, by means of which any pieces of metal, in the form of nails, screws, pieces of wire, etc., are removed.

The grains next pass through a steam dryer for removing the greater portion of the water employed for the scouring. As soon as they are dry they are again treated to a blast of air, which removes any dirt, dust, or light particles which may have been detached during the process of drying. The grains next pass to the shelling rolls, where the greater part of the outer hulls is removed. This process is accomplished by means of an apparatus which is called a sieve scalper. After the separation of the outer hulls the residue of the material passes to a drying chamber, where the moisture is reduced to about 10 percent, thus insuring the keeping qualities of the flour. After drying the grains are ready for the rolls. After entering the rolls the process is practically the same as that which is employed in milling wheat, consisting of a series of breaks and reductions, with the attendant bolting and grading, and this process is prolonged until the flour is practically removed from the feed or middlings. The sifting cloths used in the bolting of buckwheat flour are somewhat coarser than those for wheat, and this allows some of the dark particles of the inner hulls to pass into the flour, which gives it a dark color on baking. It is quite possible to make a buckwheat flour as white as that from wheat, but in this country the public taste requires a darker product, so that the white flour does not readily sell. The requisite degree of darkness is secured by using bolting cloths which will allow a part of the inner hulls (middlings) to pass into the flour. Two grades of flour are generally produced--a whiter one in which finer cloths are used, and a darker flour made by using coarser bolting cloths, allowing larger quantities of middlings to pass through. The outer hulls which are first removed are used for fuel, although from their composition it is seen that they contain a large quantity of carbohydrates and might be very profitably used in connection with some highly nitrogenous food, such as cottonseed meal or flaxseed meal for feeding cattle. The middlings are used principally as cattle food, and especially by dairymen.

The above process, while it makes a white and fine-looking flour, is not to be compared with the meal made in the old-fashioned way of grinding between stones and separating the principal part of the outer hull by bolting. This old-fashioned flour is more nutritious, that is, it contains more fat and protein, has a greater fuel value, or in other words has a greater number of calories and makes a much more palatable cake than the fine modern flour.

=Buckwheat Cakes.=--Buckwheat cakes are prepared from batter made by mixing buckwheat flour into a paste of the proper consistency, seeding it with yeast, and allowing it to remain in a moderately warm place until fermentation takes place. The proteins of buckwheat have some agglutinating power, and thus, when treated as above, make a cake capable of a considerable degree of aeration. Baking powders are often used as a substitute for yeast and permit of preparation in a few minutes instead of waiting for the fermentation above mentioned. The product made in this way cannot be considered so palatable or nutritious as the old-fashioned product. The batter is baked on a smooth hot iron or soapstone, polished and kept bright in order to prevent the sticking of the cake. The proper polishing of the iron is a better means of preventing sticking than greasing. The batter is poured over the smooth iron and is of a consistency to flatten out without help and to form a film over the baking iron, which produces a cake about one-fourth of an inch in thickness. The cake is to be turned as soon as the side in contact with the iron is brown. It is evident that in this baking process there can be no very profound change in the starch granules, but this does not appear to materially interfere with the digestibility of the product. Buckwheat cakes are eaten hot, usually with butter and sirup. Maple sirup, sorghum sirup, or cane sirup in a pure state are highly prized for use with buckwheat cakes. These sirups are both condimental and nutritious. Mixed sirups made of glucose, melted brown sugar, or molasses, or mixtures of all these bodies are more commonly furnished to the consumer than the pure sirup mentioned above. Honey is also used very extensively as a condimental flavor for cakes of this kind.

=Adulterations.=--There is probably no bread or cake making material which is subjected to more extensive adulteration than buckwheat flour. Much of what is sold as buckwheat flour may be regarded as imitations of that substance. Mixtures of rye flour, Indian corn flour, wheat flour, and other ground cereals are used as a substitute for buckwheat. There can be no objection from the hygienic point of view to such substitutes but the use of these mixtures under the name of buckwheat can be regarded in no other light than as an unpardonable fraud.

=Detection of Adulterations.=--There is rarely any mineral adulteration practiced with buckwheat flour and if so it is easily detected by incineration. Any content of ash, unless baking powder has been used, above 2 percent may be regarded with suspicion as indicating an admixture of some mineral substance. The cereal flours used for adulteration are readily detected by the microscope in the hands of an experienced observer. The field of the microscope has only to be compared with the microscopic appearance of genuine buckwheat starch in order to detect the added substance.

=Buckwheat Starch.=--The microscopic appearance of buckwheat starch is shown in the accompanying figure. The granules of buckwheat starch are very characteristic. They consist of chains or groups of more or less angular granules with a well defined nucleus, and without rings or with very faint rings. The contour of buckwheat starch is more angular than that of any other common cereal with exception of maize and rice, and it is this and the relative size which enable the observer to distinguish it from other starches. The size of the granules is quite uniform, varying usually only from 10 to 15 microns[23] in diameter. In so far as the angular appearance is concerned the granules of buckwheat starch have a general resemblance to that of maize and rice and oats, but a comparison under the microscope of the three starches reveals lines of distinction which with a little practice would prevent the observer from drawing a false conclusion.

[23] A micron is one thousandth of a millimeter.

INDIAN CORN (_Zea mays_).

Next to wheat the most important cereal used as a human food in the United States is Indian corn. According to the magnitude of the crop, Indian corn is the leading cereal of the country. Statistical data on the production of Indian corn in the United States during 1906 are given in the following table:

Acreage, 96,737,581 Yield per acre, 30.3 bushels Production, 2,927,416,091 „ Value per bushel, 39.9 cents Total value, 1,166,626,479 dollars

=Indian corn= is universally employed as food throughout all parts of the country, but more especially in the South, where the daily dietary is rarely complete without one or more meals in which Indian corn is served in some form or other. Although it is grown much more extensively in the North than in the South, it is not so generally used as human food. Indian corn grows in all kinds of soil and produces, under favorable conditions, large yields in all parts of the country. It is the most important agricultural crop of many states, namely, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Kansas. It is planted in the late winter and spring in different parts of the country. The planting season varies from January in Florida to June in Maine and Minnesota and the earlier varieties will mature in 120 days.

=Maize= is a crop which requires an abundance of rainfall and a high temperature during the growing season. Maize is planted in rows about three and one-half feet apart and in hills of about the same distance apart, or it may be drilled between the rows so that one stalk grows a distance of about from nine inches to a foot from its fellows. It requires constant cultivation during the early period of its growth and a careful preparation of the seed bed. Good farmers give from four to seven cultivations to the growing crop. The field must be kept free of weeds and in good tilth to secure the best results.

Many hundreds of analyses of the maize kernel have been made, but a combination of them all in the following data may be regarded as typical of the Indian corn grown in this country.

Weight of 100 kernels, 38 grams Moisture, 10.75 percent Ether extract, 4.25 „ Protein, 10.00 „ Fiber, 1.75 „ Ash, 1.50 „ Starch and sugar, etc., 71.75 „

The consideration of the above data shows that Indian corn is a ration in which the protein is rather low. In other words, the ratio of protein to the carbohydrates and fat is rather large. It is a food product which is particularly well suited to furnish heat and energy and support a high degree of muscular exertion. For this reason it is a food product which is particularly well adapted to men engaged in hard manual labor.

=Varieties.=--There are many distinct varieties of Indian corn. Sturtevant has published a description of several hundred. These varieties are classified under various subspecies. The polymorphic species, _Zea mays_, according to Sturtevant, can be divided into a number of groups which, on account of their well defined and persistent characters, may be considered as presenting specific claims and may properly receive specific nomenclature. The grouping adopted is founded upon the internal structure of the kernel for cultivated varieties, and the presence of a husk to the kernel in the assumed aboriginal form. Hence Sturtevant offers the names _Zea tunicata_ for the husk-kernel forms, _Zea everta_ for the popcorn, _Zea indurata_ for the flint corns, _Zea indentata_ for the dent corns, _Zea amylacea_ for the soft corns, and _Zea saccharata_ for the sweet corns.

Argument in favor of the specific claims for these groups is based primarily on the convenience thus attained; secondarily, on the absence or rarity of intermediate or connecting forms, so far as present data extend, and also on the antiquity of the separation. It seems almost certain that in the order of evolution (excluding from consideration the puzzling sweet corn group) progress has been from the pops, through the flints and the dents, to the softs. Certainly the soft corns in some of their varieties present a kernel that is larger, softer, and less fitted to the struggle with natural conditions than is the kernel from any of the other groups. Yet soft corns are the prevailing form in the mummy burials of Peru and of our Southwestern states. The popcorn, on the contrary, has stronger regerminative powers than have the other groups, is better fitted to contend against natural vicissitudes, and is the kind that has been reported as found growing wild in Mexico under the name of Coyote corn, _Zea canina_ Watts.

Some of these subdivisions may not be accepted by botanists, but they are convenient for purposes of description. The principal field varieties which are grown are the flint corn, _Zea indurata_, and the dent corn, _Zea indentata_.

POPCORN.

This variety of maize is used very largely in the United States as a delicacy, and with sugar and cream as a dessert. It is a hard, small-grained variety which has the property, when heated, of exploding with a very great enlargement of the starch grain, producing a soft and very delicate edible material which is highly prized.

In the raw popcorn the starch grains are packed together very closely within the cells. When popping begins there is an expanding of the starch grains, producing a cavity nearly circular in form in each grain. This causes a rupturing of the cell walls, though fragments are plainly visible in the early stages. In the fully expanded or popped kernel the starch grains have expanded until each is about half or two-thirds as large as the original cells of the endosperm. The cell walls in this stage are practically obliterated as far as detecting in a section is concerned. The exploding of the starch grains is influenced by the water content of the kernel. It must not be too wet nor too dry; about 10 or 12 percent is the proper content of moisture. These changes are beautifully shown in the accompanying microphotographs, Figs. 24, 25, and 26, by Mr. Howard, of the Bureau of Chemistry.

SWEET CORN.

This is a variety of maize which develops a high sugar content and is eaten while the starch is yet soft, in other words, in an unripe state. It is a food product of immense importance in the United States, although almost unknown in Europe. The content of sugar varies from 5 to 8 percent in the fresh, soft kernel. The sugar which is present in the kernel rapidly disappears after the husking or removal from the stalk. In order to secure the maximum sweetness the corn should be cooked and eaten as soon as possible after removal from the stalk. Where it is not possible to do this it should be placed in cold storage after removal from the stalk and remain unhusked until it is ready for cooking. Green corn is universally eaten hot. It is usually cooked by boiling in water, although it may also be roasted before the fire. It has a high food value, and the composition of the grains of fresh, soft, green corn is shown in the following table:

_Composition of Fresh Green Indian Corn_:

Moisture, 73.00 percent Starch, 13.50 „ Sugars, 6.00 „ Protein, 5.00 „ Crude fiber, 1.20 „ Ash, .70 „ Fat, .60 „

=Maize Proteins.=--The proteins of maize are composed principally of two zeins. The two forms are differentiated by their behavior toward alcohol. The first form constitutes the zein soluble in alcohol and the second the zein insoluble in alcohol. There are two other proteins in maize existing in small quantities which have been named myosin and vitellin, respectively. There is also a third unnamed variety and small quantities of albumin.

=Variation in Maize, under Different Climatic Conditions.=--It is possible that most of the varieties and subvarieties of maize are simply the existing standard varieties modified by changing environments. There are certain conditions of climate, soil, and distribution of rainfall which tend to produce a large, starchy, soft grain, while other conditions tend to produce a small, hard grain richer in protein. The variations of importance are those of the carbohydrates and the protein, which are complementary, since as the protein rises the carbohydrates fall in relative proportion. There is also a marked variation in the carbohydrates, due to variety and climatic conditions combined. It is, for instance, the increase of the sugar at the expense of the starch that produces the body known as sweet maize eaten in the green state, as already described. Even in the sweet variety the relative proportion of sugar varies in different localities and under different conditions of growth.

=Early Varieties.=--There are certain varieties of maize which are of especial value on account of their early maturation. This is a property extremely valuable in the sweet variety of maize or that eaten in the green state, since it is important to get these varieties into the market as early as possible and to continue them as long as possible. This is secured by planting the early variety at as early date as possible and planting later maturing varieties at intervals thereafter. By the selection of varieties of different periods of maturing it is possible in the climate of Washington to offer green corn from neighboring fields on the market from July until the advent of a killing frost which is usually the last of October or first of November. This gives a period of nearly four months during which the green corn may be delivered to the local market. Further south the period of supply is longer.

=Canned Corn.=--Immense quantities of green corn are grown for the purpose of canning in order to supply the market during the closed season. The canning industry for green corn is located chiefly in the north. In the eastern states the industry is of great importance, from Maryland to Maine. The northern-grown corns are often preferred as they are supposed to be sweeter and more palatable. In the central western states, northern Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, northern Illinois, and Iowa are the principal centers of the canning industry, although it is practised to a greater or less extent in almost all parts of the country.

=Adulterations of Canned Corn.=--Unfortunately in the canning process of corn additions have been made to the product which are of an objectionable nature. Chief among these is the use of bleaching agents such as sulfur in the form of burnt sulfur or of sulfite or bisulfite of soda or potash. These bleaching agents impart to the corn a white color which some consumers prefer, but at the expense of introducing a substance which must be regarded as deleterious to health. Still more objectionable is the practice of using saccharin instead of sugar as a sweetening agent. Saccharin is a coal tar product which has an intense, sweet taste, very persistent, and when used alone becomes disagreeable. A very small quantity of it is sufficient to impart a very sweet taste to the canned corn at a much less expense than could be secured by using the pure sugar. This form of adulteration is extremely reprehensible both because it deceives the consumer and adds a substance which by most hygienists is regarded as prejudicial to health. The bleaching agent and the artificial sweetener are wholly unnecessary. The manufacturers of sweet corn are expected to use the best and freshest and sweetest materials and cannot be excused for tampering with them in any way which either produces deception or injury to health.

Sugar added to make an ordinary corn taste like sweet corn is to be regarded as an adulteration unless its use is noted on the label.

Maize starch is also often added to sweet corn at the time of canning and this practice can only be regarded as an adulteration.

=Detection of Adulterations in Sweet Corn.=--_Test for Sulfurous Acid._--To about 25 grams of the sample (with the addition of water, if necessary) placed in a 200-c.c. Erlenmeyer flask, add some pure zinc and several cubic centimeters of hydrochloric acid. In the presence of sulfites, hydrogen sulfid will be generated and may be tested for with lead paper. Traces of metallic sulfids are occasionally present in vegetables, and by the above test will indicate sulfites. Hence positive results obtained by this method should be verified by the distillation method.[24] It is always advisable to make the quantitative determination of sulfites, owing to the danger that the test may be due to traces of sulfids. A trace is not to be considered sufficient as indicating either a bleaching agent or a preservative.

[24] U. S. Dept. Agr. Bureau of Chemistry, Circular No. 28, pp. 11-12.

_Detection of Saccharin._[25]--Add from 25 to 40 c.c. of water to about 20 grams of the sample; macerate and strain through muslin; acidify with 2 c.c. of sulfuric acid (1 to 3) and extract with ether. Separate the ether layer, allow the ether to evaporate spontaneously, and take up the residue with water. If saccharin be present its presence will be indicated by the sweet taste imparted to the water. To confirm this test add from one to two grams of sodium hydroxid, and place the dish in an oil bath. Maintain the temperature of the oil at 250° C. for 20 minutes, when the saccharin will be converted into salicylic acid. After cooling and acidifying with sulfuric acid, extract in the usual way and test for salicylic acid. This test, of course, presupposes the absence of salicylic acid in the original sample. If salicylic acid is present in the original sample it must be removed before making the test for saccharin.

[25] _Ibid._, Bul. 65, p. 51.

=Starch of Indian Corn.=--Maize starch has characteristics which enable it to be easily detected by the microscope. The granules of this starch are of a more uniform size than those of wheat and vary from 20 to 30 microns in diameter. Occasionally very much smaller granules occur which probably are more of the original size and which have been arrested in growth by the ripening of the grain. The granules of maize starch are more or less polyhedral in form with round angles. The only common cereal starch which they can be mistaken for is rice, but they are generally larger than the granules of rice. Under the microscope with ordinary light they give only the faintest sign of rings but show in most cases a well developed hilum, which is at times star-shaped or like an irregular cross, while at other times it has the appearance of a circular depression. The maize starch granular is a type of the angular, as the wheat is of the sphere or spheroid form. The characteristic appearance of maize starch kernels is shown in the accompanying Fig. 27. Viewed with polarized light the starch grains of Indian corn present deep, well marked crosses, which divide each grain into four distinct parts as shown in Fig. 28. It is interesting to note that the angularity of maize starch is greatly influenced by the hardness of the kernels from which the grains are taken. The hard varieties, such as popcorn, have very angular grains while those from soft varieties have a great many almost spherical forms.

=Maize Flour= (_Corn Meal_).--Formerly the maize kernel was ground between stones, bolted to remove the bran, and the maize flour or corn meal thus produced used directly as a human food. Modern milling operations have changed the method of producing maize flour so that not only is the outer bran removed but also, to a large extent, the germ itself, thus diminishing the quantity of fat in the prepared meal. This is notably true of the maize flour which is prepared for exportation. Leaving in the flour such a large quantity of fat tends to produce rancidity during shipment. To avoid any change of a deleterious nature which the flour may undergo during shipment, it is also frequently kiln-dried before being sent to foreign shores and even when intended for domestic consumption at points remote from the mill.

While this preparation of maize flour is doubtless important for transportation purposes, it impairs the palatability and nutritive value of the product. It is advisable to continue to have the maize flour prepared in the old-fashioned way and sent directly into consumption.

=Method of Preparation.=--One method of preparing the maize flour is as follows: The grains are broken into large pieces and dried with steam heat at a temperature of from 105° to 110° C. (221°-239° F.). The mass while still hot passes into a mill composed of two stones which revolve rapidly in opposite directions. The smaller portions of the meal, which have been reduced to a kind of gum by the high temperature, are separated by this process from the covering or the bran of the kernel. A small mass of the starchy matter leaves the mill in the form of small noodles, which are freed from any particles of bran by sifting. In this manner a mass is obtained which is quite free from fiber and fat.

The composition of maize meal prepared by the above process is as follows:

Moisture, 9.70 percent Protein, 12.68 „ Ether extract, 1.19 „ Ash, .60 „ Fiber, .35 „ Starch, sugar, and dextrin, 71.48 „

This method of preparing maize meal is not used to any extent in this country, but is said to be commonly employed in Germany.

=Composition of Maize Flour.=--The color of maize flour depends upon the color of the corn from which it is produced,--it may be white or yellow. The starch granules when heated in water to 62.5° C. swell up and become deformed, except a few, usually the small ones, which resist the action of water at that temperature. The starch granules of maize flour under polarized light present a black cross, very marked and very distinct when the field is obscured. When viewed under polarized light with a selenite plate the starch grains of maize are colored red with a green cross or reciprocally, and this coloration is very brilliant.

As has already been said, the composition of Indian corn meal made by the old-fashioned method of grinding and removing only the bran is practically that of the whole grain itself.

The composition of degerminated maize meal (Indian corn flour) is shown by the following average data:

Moisture, 12.57 percent Protein, 7.13 „ Ether extract, 1.33 „ Ash, .61 „ Fiber, .87 „ Starch and sugar, 78.36 „ Calories calculated on the moist meal, 3,837

The above data show that the refined Indian corn meal has lost more than three-fourths of its fat, a large portion of its mineral matter, and also a very considerable proportion of its protein, due to the separation of the bran which is extremely rich in protein and the germ which is rich both in oil and protein. A mere glance at the data shows that this refined Indian corn meal is much less nutritious than the natural meal in so far as its content of tissue-forming bodies and its faculty to furnish heat and energy are concerned. In other words, the calories are very much lower than in the natural corn meal. This is another reason for urging our people to return to the consumption of the old-fashioned material.

=The Adulteration of Indian Corn Meal.=--Owing to the cheapness of Indian corn in so far as is known there is no adulteration practiced. The refined Indian corn flour itself is sometimes used as an adulteration for buckwheat flour, wheat flour, and other cereal flours, but has not itself been subjected to adulteration.

=Corn Bread= (_Indian Corn Bread_).--Corn bread is a very common diet among all classes of people in the southern states and also to a considerable extent in the north.

Owing to the lack of agglutinating powers of the nitrogenous constituents of Indian corn flour, corn bread cannot be aerated or raised, as is the case with wheat bread. It is often eaten in an unleavened state. It may be partially leavened by the usual agent, namely, yeast or a chemical baking powder. Two varieties of bread are very commonly used, namely, that made of white flour or meal and that made of yellow. There is apparently no difference in the nutritive values of these two kinds. Some consumers prefer the white loaf and some the yellow.

=Composition of Indian Corn Bread.=--The composition of bread depends upon whether the whole grain flour is used from which only the coarse bran has been removed by bolting or whether the decorticated and degerminated meal is used. In the first case bread is made richer in fat and protein and in the second case richer in starch. In the bread will also be found the materials used in its preparation, namely, salt, lard or other fats, milk, yeast, or baking powder residues. The best bread is made from the freshly ground flour of the whole grain from which only the outer covering, namely, the coarse bran has been removed. As offered at many of our hotels and some private houses, corn bread has been so manipulated as to lose a large part of its palatability, without any compensating improvement of its nutritive properties.

OATS (GENUS _Avena_).

This cereal is an important food product, being used very largely in Europe, especially in Scotland, and also very extensively in this country as human food. The chief use of oats is for cattle food, especially for horses. It is extraordinarily rich in its nutritive constituents and, therefore, is prized highly as a food in the building and restoration of nitrogen tissues, such as the muscles. The variety in common cultivation is _Avena sativa_ L.

Oats are grown in almost every part of the United States, but chiefly in the northern and western portions. In the southern states the crop is planted in the late autumn or early winter. In the northern states it is chiefly a spring crop, being sown early in the spring as soon as the ground is in fair condition. The oat crop is one which requires a rather abundant and well-distributed rainfall. A spring drought is very detrimental to the growth of oats, much more so than wheat or rye. It is a crop which is well suited to be grown under irrigation.

There are many varieties of oats in cultivation, but in general characteristics they all correspond to one description. The husk adheres firmly to the grain, and when threshed the grain of a common variety of oat carries the first layer of husk or chaff with it. Oats, as bought in the market, therefore, consist not only of the kernel or grain but also of this outer, chaffy envelope. The magnitude of the crop in the United States is very great, but only an inconsiderable proportion of the whole is used for human food, and this chiefly in some form of oatmeal. The statistics of the crop grown in the United States during 1906 are given in the following table:

Acreage, 30,958,768 Yield per acre, bushels, 31.2 Total yield, bushels, 964,904,522 Price per bushel, cents, 31.7 Total value at farm, $306,292,978

=Ratio of Kernel to Hull.=--Numerous examinations of unhulled oats show that the average percentage of kernel to hull for 100 parts is as 73 to 27. In the oats grown in the western states the proportion of kernel is relatively higher and in the southern states lower.

In the analytical process if the hull or chaff is ground with the grain the proportion of fiber or crude cellulose is very considerably higher than in the class of cereals ground without the chaff. The mean composition of unhulled kernels of oats of American growth is represented by the following table:

Weight of 100 unhulled grains, 2.92 grams Moisture, 10.06 percent Protein, 12.15 „ Ether extract, 4.33 „ Crude fiber, 12.07 „ Ash, 3.46 „ Starch and sugar, 57.93 „

A study of the above data shows that the flour of unhulled oats is rich in fat, fiber, and ash. The large percentage of fiber and ash is due to a great degree to the composition of the hulls or chaff. The fat or oil comes chiefly from the germ.

=Composition of Hulled Oats.=--Inasmuch as the chaff is always separated from the oat flour when the latter is to be used for human food, the composition of the oat in the hulled state is of greater importance to the present purpose than in the unhulled condition. The means of 179 analyses show the hulled oats to have the following compositions:

Moisture, 6.93 percent Protein, 14.31 „ Ether extract, 8.14 „ Crude fiber, 1.38 „ Ash, 2.15 „ Starch and sugar, 67.09 „

The removal of the hulls, as is seen, and the partially dried condition of the grain in the above analysis increases the percentage of other ingredients. The protein and fat are especially large in quantity. Oatmeals may be regarded as the richest of the cereal flours, both in protein and in oil.

=The Protein of Oat Kernels.=--There are three principal products in the oat kernels characterized by their different degrees of solubility, namely, protein soluble in alcohol, protein soluble in dilute salt solution, and protein soluble in alkali. The protein soluble in alcohol constitutes about 1.25 percent of the whole grain, the protein soluble in dilute salt solution about 1.5 percent, and the protein soluble in alkali the remainder, viz., 11.25 percent. The protein of oats has very little agglutinating power and, therefore, oat flour is not suitable for making bread, or rather it is very little used for that purpose.

=Oat Products.=--As has been intimated before, the principal oat products, as far as food is concerned, are the various forms of oatmeal commonly classed as breakfast foods. These products are prepared in various forms of agglutination and physical texture but if made from genuine oats, as there is little cause for doubt, they have essentially the same composition and nutritive power. It is doubtful if there is any preparation of oatmeal any more nutritious or palatable than the plain oat grain properly cooked. The forms in which the oat products are offered to the public are perhaps more convenient for use and in some cases by reason of heating and preparation require less trouble, but otherwise they apparently have no advantage over the simple product.

The mean composition of a number of oat flour products is shown in the following table:

Moisture, 7.66 percent Protein, 15.48 „ Ether extract, 7.46 „ Crude fiber, 1.20 „ Ash, 1.29 „ Starch and sugar, 67.61 „

In the dry substance:

Protein, 16.77 percent Ether extract, 8.08 „ Crude fiber, 1.38 „ Ash, 1.94 „ Starch and sugar, 73.20 „ Calories, 4,875

It is evident from the above average analysis that the products examined are made from the whole kernel without the removal of the germ but with a very careful removal of the hull and bran. The composition of these products compares very favorably with the typical composition of the kernel itself. These data show the high nutritive value of these oat products, both in respect of fat and protein.

=Adulterations.=--There are very few adulterations of oatmeal. Fortunately the price of this cereal is such that the admixture of other cereals would not be profitable. Doubtless such admixtures have often been made but evidently, from the examination of the products upon the open market, they are not very frequent. The characteristic appearance of oat starch is shown in Fig. 29.

Oat starch grains average about 10 microns in diameter. There are usually present some grains of somewhat oval shape, which assist in identifying oat products when present. The starch granules also have a tendency to agglutinate into masses of varying size, as shown in the photograph.

=Detection of Adulterations.=--The adulteration of oatmeal with the flour of other cereals can easily be detected by the use of the microscope. Oat starch when highly magnified presents a peculiar cellular structure of pentagonal character which might be compared to the effect produced by grinding a large number of faces upon a precious stone. This peculiar appearance is caused by the tendency of the starch granules in oats to become compacted in large masses. The appearance of the separate granules and also the compact aggregate are shown in the figure on the preceding page. The large aggregated masses are of different sizes, ranging from .02 to 1.2 millimeters in length. These masses are usually broken up by grinding or pressure and, therefore, are not found in very great abundance in the commercial oatmeal. When separated into single granules these are found to be irregular in outline, due to the compression to which they have been subjected, more or less pentagonal in structure, and from .015 to .02 millimeter in diameter. The starch granules do not show any very marked characteristics under polarized light and have neither lines nor hilum. The above statements can easily be verified by any one who can operate an ordinary microscope, but before attempting to detect adulteration a careful examination of starch granules, prepared by the investigator himself, should be made.

RICE (_Oryza sativa_).

Rice is one of the most important food cereals. It furnishes a large part of the food of the inhabitants of China and Japan. It is a food rich in starch and poor in protein, and furnishes, therefore, heat and energy, and is well adapted for the nourishment of those engaged in hard labor or who undergo extreme physical exertion. The cultivation of rice is rapidly extending in the United States, especially in Louisiana and Texas. The statistical data relating to the rice crop for 1906 are as follows:

Acreage, 575,014 acres Production, 17,854,768 bushels Yield per acre, 31.1 „ Price per bushel, 90.3 cents Total value, 16,121,298 dollars

The adulteration of rice is confined to coating it with talc, paraffin, and glucose. The object of this treatment is to give a better appearance to the grain and to protect it from the ravages of insects. The use of indigestible substances such as talc and paraffin is scarcely justifiable. The starch granules of rice have distinctive properties which enable them to be readily recognized under the microscope, as shown in Fig. 30.

The rice starch grains are polygonal in form and have sharp angles. The grains vary in size from 2 to 10 microns, though the latter size is seldom reached, the most of the grains being about 6 microns. The hilum is seldom visible. The grains occur in the rice kernels mostly in groups of a considerable number of the individual grains forming starch masses of ovoid or angular form.

RYE.

This is the source of the principal supply of bread in many European countries, but is not extensively used in the United States except among our citizens of foreign birth. It is also extensively used for making whisky. Rye belongs to the genus _Secale_. Only one species (_Secale cereale_ L.) is commonly cultivated, but this species has a great many different varieties or races. According to the time of sowing there are two great classes of rye, namely, that planted in the autumn or early winter and that planted in the early spring, generally known respectively as winter and spring rye. This is one of the hardiest of cereals, and grows well in all locations where wheat and other common cereals flourish. The area planted in rye in the United States in 1906 and the quantity harvested are given in the following table:

Acreage, 2,001,904 Yield per acre, 16.7 bushels Production, 33,374,833 „ Price per bushel, 58.9 cents Total value, 19,671,243 dollars

=Composition of Rye.=--From a study of many hundreds of analyses of rye of American origin the following table may be given as approximating the composition of a typical American rye:

Weight of 100 kernels, 2.50 grams Moisture, 10.50 percent Ether extract, 1.50 „ Protein, 12.25 „ Fiber, 2.10 „ Starch and sugar, 71.75 „ Ash, 1.90 „

The percentage of moisture in American grown rye is usually less than that of European origin. The American rye, also, has smaller kernels as a rule than that of foreign growth. In the content of protein the American samples of rye are fully equivalent to those of foreign origin, and in their mean composition, except as noted above, do not differ greatly from that of standard varieties collected abroad.

=Protein of Rye.=--As is the case with other cereals more than one nitrogenous constituent exists in the rye. Three of the principal ones have been separated and named as follows: leucosin, gliadin, and edestin. Other proteins belonging to the globulin, albumin, and proteose family are also found in small proportions. The gliadin of rye resembles in its chemical and physical properties the gliadin of wheat. There is, however, in the rye no protein compound corresponding to the glutenin of wheat, and, therefore, rye flour does not form a gluten similar in quality to that of wheat, although it comes more nearly doing so than any other cereal. The gliadin of rye is soluble in alcohol, the leucosin of rye is soluble in water, and the edestin is soluble in a salt solution.

In a typical sample of American rye there will be found about 5.16 percent of gliadin, 2.27 percent of edestin and proteose, 0.55 percent of leucosin, and 3.14 percent of protein soluble in salt solution.

=Adulteration of Rye Flour.=--Rye flour is frequently adulterated by the admixture of flours of other cereals. Real rye flour is distinguished by the character of the starch granules, as shown in Fig. 31.

Rye starch grains are lenticular in form, and the largest grains are of about 50 microns diameter. They average somewhat larger than wheat starch grains and are characterized by many of the large grains having a fissure in the form of a slit, cross, or star, which is rare in wheat and barley. The rings and hilum are indistinctly seen in some of the grains.

=Rye Bread.=--This bread may be made leavened or unleavened, since the analogy in the property of its protein to that of wheat renders the leavening of rye bread somewhat more easy of accomplishment than that of the other cereals, with the exception of wheat.

Rye bread made of pure rye flour has a dark color, sometimes almost black. It is often baked long in advance of the time of eating and keeps well, is highly nutritious, and is the staple bread of many European countries.

A partial rye flour bread is made by mixing rye flour with other flours, such as wheat, barley, Indian corn, etc., and this is the kind which is commonly used in this country and in many portions of Europe where the light-colored breads are preferred to the dark.

The large consumption of bread made from rye and Indian corn indicates that even if the supply of wheat should become limited there is no reason to fear a famine of bread. It would be easy to substitute bread made wholly or in part of Indian corn and rye for that made wholly of wheat and thus to supply practically any demand for bread which the increasing population of the earth may make.

WHEAT (GENUS _Triticum_).

In respect of human nutrition wheat is the most important of the cereals. It is grown in the temperate regions of almost every country, but does not flourish in tropical or subtropical countries.

In the United States the wheat is divided in respect of the period of its growth into two great classes, namely, winter or fall planted wheat and spring or spring planted wheat. Winter wheat is usually planted from September to November and spring wheat from the last of March to the last of April.

In this country wheat is not cultivated, that is, there is no cultivation of the soil after seeding. The soil is, however, plowed and harrowed before planting. In the winter wheat regions the harvesting is in the month of June, though in the southern localities it comes somewhat earlier and in the more northern localities may extend into July. In the spring wheat regions the harvesting is from the last of July to the middle or end of August. The statistics of wheat grown in the United States during 1906 are as follows:

WINTER. SPRING. Acreage, 29,599,961 17,705,868 Yield per acre (bushels), 16.7 13.7 Total yield (bushels), 492,888,004 242,372,966 Total value at farm, $336,435,081 $153,897,679 Price per bushel (cents), 68.3 63.5

All the different varieties of wheat which are now known are cultivated. The simplest form, namely, the one grain wheat is the only one which grows wild, and the origin of the other varieties of wheat is unknown.

Botanists recognize three species, namely--Species 1, one grain wheat (_Triticum monococcum_ Lam.); species 2, Polish wheat (_Triticum polonicum_ L.); species 3, common wheat (_Triticum sativum_ Lam.). All of these species are distinct, especially the third one, of which the most valuable variety is the common wheat, _Triticum vulgare_ Vill.

The quality and properties of wheat depend more upon the environment in which it is grown than upon the species to which it belongs. There is perhaps no other field crop in which the environment, namely, condition of the soil, temperature, precipitation, etc., makes a greater difference than in wheat. In general, the environment and the species together produce two kinds of wheat as far as milling and bread making are concerned, namely, the soft or starchy wheat and the hard or glutinous wheat. In the first variety there is a larger percentage of starch in relation to the content or protein matter than in the second. Taking the wheat as a whole its average composition is shown in the following table:

Weight of 100 kernels, 3.85 grams Moisture, 10.60 percent Protein, 12.25 „ Ether extract, 1.75 „ Crude fiber, 2.40 „ Ash, 1.75 „ Carbohydrates other than crude fiber, 71.25 „ Dry gluten, 10.25 „ Moist gluten, 26.50 „

In regard to protein American wheat, as a rule, is quite equal to that of foreign origin. This is an important characteristic when it is remembered that both the milling and food value of a wheat depend largely upon the nitrogenous matter which is present. It must not be forgotten, however, that merely a good percentage of protein is not of itself a sure indication of the milling value of a wheat. The ratio of gluten to the other protein constituents in a wheat is not always constant, but it is the gluten content of a flour on which the bread making qualities chiefly depend.

=Gluten.=--The principal part of the protein in wheat is known as gluten. Gluten as such does not exist in the wheat but is formed when the pulverized wheat, that is, the wheat flour, is mixed with water by the union of two elements in the wheat, namely, gliadin, which is soluble in dilute alcohol and forms nearly half of the whole protein matter of the wheat kernel, and glutenin, a compound insoluble in water, dilute salt solutions, and dilute alcohol and which is quite as abundant as gliadin in the wheat kernel. In fact, the gliadin and the glutenin together make the whole of the protein, except a little over one per cent.

There are three other forms of protein, as pointed out by Osborne, in the wheat kernel, making altogether nearly 1¹⁄₂ percent of total protein content. The average quantity of these compounds in the protein of wheat is as follows.

Constituents:

Globulin, 0.70 percent Albumin, 0.40 „ Proteose, 0.30 „ Gliadin, 4.25 „ Glutenin, 4.35 „ ----- 10.00

=Starch in the Wheat Kernel.=--The most abundant constituent of the wheat kernel is the starch. The appearance of wheat starch is shown in the figure. Wheat starch grains ordinarily show the rings and hilum in a few cases only under the most favorable conditions, though there are sometimes cases where the striations are quite distinct. The granules of starch vary greatly in size, being from 5 to 10 microns in diameter. There are, in fact, two kinds of granules in wheat starch, one having the appearance under the microscope of irregularly rounded particles in sections like a circular disk, and the other of elongated particles with a distinct hilum, as shown in Fig. 32. The appearance of the granules under polarized light is shown in Fig. 33.

Wheat starch is not very commonly used for commercial purposes but is highly prized for some things, especially in the sizing of textile fabrics. The germ in wheat is particularly rich in oil and the bran or outside covering in protein. The common idea that the bran is composed mostly of silicious matter is wholly erroneous. On the contrary the bran is a highly nutritious food, and the objection to it for human food is mostly of a mechanical nature.

=Adulterations.=--Wheat grains are never adulterated but they may sometimes contain dirt and foreign seeds, due to the growth of some body in connection with the wheat itself.

=Standards.=--Wheat, commercially, is sold under three standards, namely, one, two, three. The difference is an arbitrary one and not founded upon any chemical data but wholly upon the physical appearance, degree of moisture, and freedom from extraneous admixtures.

=Wheat Products.=--The principal product of wheat is flour. The milling process for wheat is highly interesting both from a chemical and technical point of view, but cannot be described in full in this manual. The old-fashioned milling of wheat, namely, pressing between stones and separation of the flour by bolting has been almost entirely superseded by the modern milling with metal rollers.

Altogether nearly a hundred different products are made incident or final to the milling of wheat. Only those products, however, which are used for human food interest us at the present time.

=Chief Varieties of Flour.=--The highest grade of wheat flour is known usually by the term “patent”; a lower grade is known as “bakers’ flour” and a third as low grade flour. A barrel of flour weighs 196 pounds and requires about 258 pounds of wheat for its manufacture. The whole product from the 258.35 pounds of wheat is shown in the appended table.

In general it may be said that about 75 percent of the weight of the wheat is obtained as merchantable flour of some kind, about 60 to 70 percent being good grade or straight flour. About 24 percent of the weight of the wheat is obtained as cattle food and about 1 percent is lost during the process of manufacture.

PRODUCT. POUNDS. PERCENTAGE. Patent flour, 149.37 57.82 Bakers’ flour, 29.13 11.28 Low grade flour, 17.50 6.77 ------ ------ Total flour, 196.00 75.87 Bran, 45.56 17.64 Shorts, 9.80 3.79 Screenings, 4.99 1.93 Waste, 2.00 0.77 ------ ------ Total weight, 258.35 100.00

=Special Names of Flour.=--In addition to the classification above mentioned other names are used in many commercial senses for flour. These additional names are “family,” “red dog,” “blended,” gluten, etc. Many flours are also named after the name of the mill or locality or bear simply fanciful names.

_Graham Flour._--This term was originally applied to the coarse, unbolted flour which was made by grinding the whole wheat. The name, therefore, should be applied to all flour made from well grained wheat, ground, and unbolted. Most of the flours however, which are sold nowadays as graham flours are produced by a more or less perfect bolting process. From the above it is seen that true graham flour will contain practically the same constituents as the wheat kernel itself and in the same proportion and have the same composition as wheat.

_Entire Wheat Flour._--This name would naturally carry the idea of a flour corresponding to the graham flour above mentioned. It is, however, a misnamed trade-mark for a flour produced in a special manner which consists in the removal of the outer or purely branny covering of the grain. “Entire wheat” flour, therefore, contains all the ingredients of wheat grains, save those which are found in the outer branny covering.

_Gluten Flour._--This is a name applied to a flour which is produced by removing the greater part of the starch from ordinary flour. It is especially recommended for the use of diabetic patients. Unfortunately, the name is very commonly applied to flours made from wheat containing a little higher percentage of protein than the ordinary and sometimes even to an ordinary wheat flour. Its use with such a product is purely fraudulent.

_Mixed Flour._--The act of Congress of June 13, 1898, defines mixed flour and imposes a tax upon the manufacture, sale, importation, and exportation of that article. The maximum tax laid upon mixed flour is 4 cents on a barrel of 196 pounds. The total number of barrels of mixed flour returned for taxation for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1905, was 362; half barrels, 59,443; quarter barrels, 6,265; eighth barrels, 24,974. The total quantity of mixed flour returned for taxation during the year is 5,495,937 pounds. The above data show that the amount of mixed flour offered for sale is a very small part of the total flour manufactured in the United States. It may be that there is a great deal of flour mixed and sold in violation of the law since it is quite impossible in the inspection of the stores to supervise all the transactions of business deals in flour; especially is it believed that rye flour and buckwheat flour are often adulterated by mixing with them the flour of other cereals. This adulteration is not one which is at all injurious to health but is simply practiced for the purpose of making a rye or buckwheat flour look whiter or because the added flours are cheaper than the real rye or buckwheat.

=Properties Affecting the Commercial Value of Flour.=--Aside from its nutritive properties wheat flour has a commercial value depending upon its color and texture and upon the gluten which it contains. The character of gluten also varies largely in different varieties of wheat and in wheat grown in different localities. A chemical examination will not always tell the bread making properties of a flour, and the character of the bread itself depends often quite as much upon the skill of the baker as upon the flour which is used.

In cases where loaves are sold by weight, a flour with a high percentage of tenacious gluten is often preferred, since it permits of the forming of loaves containing a maximum percentage of water. With a flour rich in gluten it is not difficult to make a palatable loaf which does not bear any evidence of an excess of water, containing as much as 40 percent of moisture. The baking of bread is an art which is most successfully practiced by professionals, and the American method of home bread making does not always lead to the happiest results.

The ideal flour for bread making is one which contains a sufficient quantity of gluten to make a porous and spongy loaf, but not one which permits an excessive quantity of moisture to be incorporated in the loaf itself.

=Average Composition of Different Varieties of Flour.=--Analyses of a great number of samples of different varieties of flours lead to the following data, which may be accepted as a very close approximation of the average variety of different grades of flour offered upon the American market:

-------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ | | PRO- | PRO- | | | | TEIDS | TEIDS | | | MOIS- | N × | N × | MOIST | NAME OF FLOUR. | TURE. | 6.25. | 5.70. | GLUTEN.| -------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ |_Perct._|_Perct._|_Perct._|_Perct._| Patent flour, | 12.77 | 10.55 | 9.62 | 25.97 | Bakers’ and family flour,| 11.69 | 12.28 | 11.20 | 34.70 | Common market flour, | 12.28 | 10.18 | 9.28 | 24.55 | Miscellaneous flour, | 12.73 | 10.45 | 9.52 | 26.80 | Self-raising flour, | 11.45 | 9.75 | 8.89 | 26.97 | Gluten flour, | 12.99 | 13.30 | 12.13 | 39.68 | -------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+

-------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ | | | | STARCH | | | | | N × | | DRY | | | 6.25. | NAME OF FLOUR. | GLUTEN.| OIL. | ASH. | [26] | -------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+ |_Perct._|_Perct._|_Perct._|_Perct._| Patent flour, | 9.99 | 1.02 | 0.44 | 74.76 | Bakers’ and family flour,| 13.07 | 1.30 | 0.57 | 73.87 | Common market flour, | 9.21 | 1.30 | 0.61 | 75.63 | Miscellaneous flour, | 10.22 | 1.08 | 0.49 | 75.23 | Self-raising flour, | 9.65 | 0.70 | 4.45 | 73.66 | Gluten flour, | 14.84 | 1.05 | 0.55 | 72.11 | -------------------------+--------+--------+--------+--------+

-------------------------+--------+--------+------- | STARCH | | | N × | | | 5.70. | CRUDE | CALO- NAME OF FLOUR. | [26] | FIBER. | RIES. -------------------------+--------+--------+------- |_Perct._|_Perct._| Patent flour, | 76.14 | 0.21 |3,858.0 Bakers’ and family flour,| 74.98 | 0.22 |3,929.6 Common market flour, | 76.53 | 0.28 |3,882.5 Miscellaneous flour, | 76.15 | 0.25 |3,846.3 Self-raising flour, | 74.51 | 0.21 |3,719.3 Gluten flour, | 73.28 | 0.32 |3,891.1 -------------------------+--------+--------+-------

[26] In the first of these columns the starch is calculated by difference, assuming the protein to be the quantity of nitrogen present multiplied by 6.25, and in the second column the figure is obtained in the same way, using 5.70 as the protein factor.

=Separation of Gluten.=--The character of a wheat flour, as has already been intimated, is measured largely by the quantity of gluten which it may contain. The separation of gluten may be accomplished by any one, even without a chemical training, by a little practice. It is, therefore, one of the tests for the value of a wheat flour which can be easily and generally applied. The principle of separation of the gluten rests upon the fact that when wheat flour is moistened and kneaded into a sticky mass it may be washed with pure water with constant kneading until nearly all the starch has been removed from the mass. Meanwhile only that portion of the protein is removed which is soluble in the water and the gluten which is formed by the process of kneading remains as a sticky mass. When this moist mass is kneaded and rolled until all the moisture is taken out of it that can be removed in this way, it may be weighed and the proportion of moist gluten in the sample determined. It may then be placed in an oven and dried, and then the proportion of dry gluten secured. The following method is one which is easily applied. Place 10 grams of the sample in a porcelain dish and moisten with from 6 to 7 cubic centimeters of water, knead, and allow to stand for an hour. Work into a ball, being careful that none of the material adheres to the dish. Holding the mass in the hand knead it in a slow stream of cold water until the starch and all soluble matter are washed out. Place the ball of gluten thus formed in cold water and allow to stand for one hour; remove from water, press as dry as possible between the hands, roll into a ball, and weigh in a flat-bottomed dish. After weighing, place the ball of moist gluten in the drying oven for twenty hours; cool and weigh.

=Gluten Tester.=--A simple test for determining the approximate percentage of gluten in flour may be used, based upon the principle that the viscosity of dough is a measure of its practical gluten content. The name applied to a gluten tester is farinometer.

A convenient form of farinometer devised by Kedzie is shown in the accompanying figure. It is patterned somewhat upon the plan of Jago’s viscometer. The instrument is shown in parts in Fig. 34. The instrument as in use is exhibited in Fig. 35. Parts shown in Fig. 34 are as follows: No. 1 is the stand or support of the parts. No. 2 is the cap of No. 1, and discloses the half-inch opening (half closed by the slide) through which the dough is forced by the pressure of the rod No. 4. The slide by which this opening is closed is plainly shown; also the socket for holding No. 3. No. 3 is a brass tube 3 inches high and 1 inch internal diameter, with a small knob to fit into the notched opening in the side of the socket seen in No. 2, to hold No. 3 firmly in place. No. 4 is a steel rod ¹⁵⁄₁₆ inch in diameter and 12 inches long, with a thin brass cap 1 inch in diameter, beveled slightly so that the front edge fills the barrel of No. 3 without friction, and is yet dough-tight. Near the top the rod is marked into inch spaces.

In using the farinometer two points are considered:

1. The water-absorbing power of a flour, or the percentage of water it will take up to form a dough of a certain consistency.

2. The viscosity of such dough, or its resistance to change of form under a uniform force; _e. g._, the length of time in seconds required to force a cylinder of dough 1 inch high through a hole one-half inch in diameter under the pressure of a vertical steel rod 13 inches long and weighing 2¹⁄₂ pounds avoirdupois.

=Bleaching of Flour.=--At the present time flour is extensively bleached for the purpose of making an inferior article resemble a superior one. By this means a greater percentage of the flour produced can be rated as of first quality. Ozone and oxids of nitrogen developed by electrical discharges are the principal bleaching agents employed. Bleached flour should bear a label indicating to the purchaser the character of the manipulation to which it has been subjected.

=Adulterations of Flour.=--The adulteration of wheat flour is not practiced to any extent in this country. The most common adulteration arises from grinding with wheat foreign seeds and other foreign matter, rust, smut, etc., which may be present in the grain. Other adulterations are the mixture with wheat flour of the starch or flour of maize and other cereals. The adulteration with any form of terra alba or white powdered earthy substance is exceedingly rare. Although some attempts have been made to introduce such adulterations in this country they have not reached any commercial success. The adulterations, with the exception of those with white earthy powders, are most readily ascertained by microscopic examination for foreign matters and other varieties of starch than grow naturally in the wheat.

=Standard.=--The United States standard for flour is as follows:

=Flour= is the fine, sound product made by bolting wheat meal and contains not more than thirteen and one-half (13.5) percent of moisture, not less than one and twenty-five hundredths (1.25) percent of nitrogen, not more than one (1.0) percent of ash, and not more than fifty hundredths (0.50) percent of fiber.

=Graham flour= is unbolted wheat meal.

=Whole wheat flour=, entire =wheat= flour, improperly so called, is fine wheat meal from which a part of the bran has been removed.

=Gluten flour= is the product made from flour by the removal of starch, and contains not less than five and six-tenths (5.6) percent of nitrogen and not more than ten (10) percent of moisture.

=Age of Flour.=--The freshly ground flour is most highly esteemed by many consumers on account of palatability and freedom from all danger of mold and ferments. Older flours are likely to lose flavor, become moldy and infested with weavil and other insect pests. The last-named evils are avoided by the use of wheat containing no fungus, none of the eggs of the weavil, nor of other insects, and enclosing the freshly ground flour in packages not accessible to infection. Even then it is advisable to consume the flour as soon as convenient after the milling process. Many manufacturers and experts contend that flour is improved by keeping for a certain length of time, and this contention is based on the assumption that the flour assumes a lighter color and improves in flavor on keeping. There is of course a certain limit to improvements of this kind.

=Substitutes for Flour.=--Wholesome ingredients are used in part instead of flour in bread making, and when that fact is clearly made known the admixture of these substances with flour is not considered an adulteration. Bread which is made of an admixture of Indian corn meal with flour or rye flour with flour or other cereal products is well liked by many people. Potatoes are also used very often in bread making. Acorns, buckwheat, and other farinacious and oily substances are also employed. The admixture of inert substances with flour merely to increase the bulk and weight of the loaf, even if notified, cannot be regarded as other than an adulteration.

In times of famine such admixtures are sometimes made in order to increase the size and weight of the loaf. Such substances are known in times of famine as “hunger bread.” Finely ground straw, bark, the hulls of nuts, etc., are often used for this purpose. These bodies practically have no nutritive value and serve no useful purpose except to deceive the eater respecting the quantity of bread he consumes.

BREAD.

The term “Bread” when used alone is understood in this country to apply to bread made from wheat flour or some form of wheat. If made from other cereals a prefix is used to distinguish this fact, as Indian corn bread, rye bread, etc. The term bread includes also the materials which are used necessarily therewith in the ordinary process of baking. Thus, the term bread would apply to a loaf which contains not only the wheat flour as the base and chief part of its mass but also the yeast or other leavening agent employed, together with salt, lard, or butter used in its preparation. The presence of these bodies, used in the sense above described, is not regarded as an adulteration. The term “bread,” however, is not to be used to include those other forms of nutriment made from wheat flour in which condimental substances, especially sugar, are used to such an extent as to give the dominant taste of the condiment or condiments employed. Thus, the ordinary cake of all descriptions, tarts, puddings, and other edible substances made largely from wheat flour, but to which the condiment or condiments impart a distinct taste, are not included under the term bread.

In the generic sense the term bread may be used in the largest signification to signify food in general.

=Varieties of Bread.=--In general all forms of bread may be divided into two great classes, leavened and unleavened. By far, the greater quantity of bread consumed belongs to the former class. Unleavened bread is used chiefly for certain religious festivals, in the form of biscuits or in certain varieties of Indian corn bread such as hoe cake, johnnie cake, etc. Of the leavened bread there are two distinct classes, namely, bread which is baked and eaten cold and bread which is consumed hot from the oven. Bread intended to be consumed cold is generally eaten within twenty-four or forty-eight hours from the time of making though some varieties may be kept for an indefinite period. The use of hot bread is not commended by hygienists though it is difficult to see why, when properly made, the consumption of a good hot roll can be regarded as injurious. The apparent injury which may result therefrom is probably due to the larger quantity eaten on account of greater palatability than is the case with cold bread. That variety of bread which is baked so as to present a maximum of crust and made of flour which gives a tough consistency to the loaf is most highly regarded both for palatability and nutritive purposes. This form of bread is improperly called French or Vienna rolls in this country.

Unleavened bread is particularly advisable for use in emergency rations for marching soldiers, in logging camps, etc. This bread is compact, comparatively free of moisture and has a high nutritive value. The leavened bread may be divided into distinct classes in respect of the leavening agent employed.

Class 1 is bread in which the leavening agent is yeast. Class 2 is bread in which the natural ferments residing in the flour or wheat are utilized for the leavening agent as in the making of that variety known as salt rising bread. Class 3 includes that form of bread in which the leavening is secured by chemical reagents mixed with the dough. Class 4 includes that variety in which a leavening reagent such as carbon dioxid or air is mechanically incorporated with the dough during the kneading process.

Unleavened bread is also divided into several technical forms. The first class includes the biscuit of commerce, sometimes incorrectly called crackers, and intended to be used soon after preparation. The second class includes biscuits which are intended for long storage and transportation. The third class includes wafers and other delicate forms of unleavened bread for special use. Class 4 is the unleavened loaves which are made most frequently from Indian corn meal and intended to be eaten while still hot. Class 5 includes any miscellaneous unleavened loaves or cakes made in various ways and for different purposes.

In nearly all forms of unleavened bread made from wheat flour the dough is thoroughly beaten, and mechanically mixed or kneaded, in order to make it lighter in color and more crisp and hard after baking.

=Yeast.=--Bakers’ yeast is one form of the ordinary yeast ferments or a mixture thereof producing alcoholic fermentation under proper conditions. All flour contains a certain quantity of sugar which is easily fermented. By the action of the yeast upon this sugar carbon dioxid and alcohol are formed. The particles of carbon dioxid become entangled in the gluten of the wheat flour when it is mixed into a dough and thus make the mass spongy and light. When placed in the oven to be baked these minute particles of carbon dioxid expand still more and produce additional lightness and sponginess of the loaf. The yeast may be propagated from one mass of dough to another, may be used in a moist state or, as is very commonly the case, manufactured in large quantities, and sold either moist or more commonly in a partially dried and pressed cake.

=Spontaneous Ferments.=--All cereals contain ferments of a character to produce alcoholic fermentation spontaneously under proper conditions. It is possible even to ferment dough by seed from one loaf to another or by developing a spontaneous fermentation. This method is quite a common one in the rural districts, and all bread made in this way is known as salt rising bread. It may be made according to the following receipt:

A quarter of a pint of fresh whole milk is slowly heated to near the boiling point, but not allowed to boil. This process will sterilize the milk and prevent the development of a too rapid lactic fermentation in the subsequent processes. The heated milk is added to a quantity of maize meal sufficient to make with the milk a stiff batter, and the whole is thoroughly mixed. The vessel containing the batter is wrapped with paper and then with a heavy flannel cloth, and kept in a warm place at a uniform temperature of about blood heat for several hours, until fermentation is fully established and the batter assumes a definite sour odor. At this point a teaspoonful of salt is stirred into a pint of blood-warm water and into this a sufficient quantity of high-grade wheat flour is stirred to make a moderately stiff batter. This is thoroughly mixed with the sour mass obtained by the previous fermentation and the mixture exposed for from three-fourths to one hour to a blood heat as before. If the fermentation has been well conducted the mass will now be in a sufficiently active state to secure a proper porosity of the loaf. The salt rising thus prepared is mixed with a wheat flour dough made with warm water in sufficient quantities to make from four to six loaves, the whole mass well kneaded, molded into loaves and put aside at a temperature of blood heat until the fermentation has proceeded far enough to make the loaf light and spongy. The loaf is then baked in the ordinary way.

=Chemical Aerating Agents.=--In this country a very common method of aerating bread is practiced, based upon the use of certain chemical reagents which when mixed in the dough set free carbon dioxid. These reagents are known as baking or yeast powders and are especially prized by reason of the fact that it is possible with their aid to prepare in a few moments a light spongy loaf or roll which would require from 10 to 24 hours to make by the ordinary fermenting with yeast. The principal objection to the use of baking powder lies in the fact that the residues arising from the chemical reaction are necessarily left in the loaf. While these residues may not have any specific or poisonous properties they increase the quantity of mineral matter in the bread, and this mineral matter is in the inorganic state and as such does not take any part in the process of nutrition. It can only be regarded as a waste product, burdening, to that extent, the excretory organs of the body.

=Constituents of Baking Powder.=--The essential constituents of baking powder are a carbonate of some kind and an acid reagent capable of decomposing this carbonate and setting the carbon dioxid free. The common carbonate of a baking powder is bicarbonate of soda. The classification of baking powders rests upon the acid elements which they contain. They may be classified as follows: (1) Cream of tartar baking powder, in which the acid constituent is cream of tartar which is known chemically as acid potassium tartrate. Other forms of tartaric acid may be used in baking powders of this class but they are not common. (2) Phosphate powders, in which the acid constituent is phosphoric acid usually in the form of the acid phosphate of lime. (3) Alum powders in which the acid constituent is alum or some form of aluminium sulfate, usually the basic sulfate of alumina.

The acid and basic constituents of these powders may be kept in separate containers and mixed together at the time of making the dough. A more common form is to use them in such a way that until they mix with the dough they do not exert any notable effect upon each other. For instance, perfectly dry bicarbonate of soda and perfectly dry acid potassium tartrate may be mixed together and kept for quite a while without any notable decomposition of the bicarbonate taking place.

In order to render any such possible action minimum in its effect it is customary to add to the mixture a small quantity of starch, milk sugar, or some other diluent. These materials tend to keep apart the particles of acid and base and render it possible to make a mixture of them which may be kept for a long while without any notable loss of leavening power. When a cream of tartar baking powder is mixed with dough the moisture of the dough gradually dissolves the two ingredients and in this state a chemical reaction occurs between them. The carbon dioxid is set free as a gas, commonly known as carbonic acid. The mineral substance which results is a tartrate of sodium and potassium that is a union of tartaric acid with potash and soda. This compound is commonly known under the term of Rochelle salts. If there be a sufficient quantity of water in the bread to allow the Rochelle salts to crystallize in the usual way a portion of the water becomes incorporated with the salt. Two teaspoonsful of a tartrate baking powder leave a residue of about 11 grams (165 grains) of crystallized Rochelle salts in the loaf.

=Phosphate Powders.=--As has already been said, the acid constituent of phosphate powder is chiefly acid phosphate of lime. In this case the acid phosphate of lime decomposes the bicarbonate of soda with the production of carbon dioxid and leaves a residue consisting of a mixture of sodium and lime phosphate. If in two teaspoonsful of phosphate powder there are approximately 16 grams (250 grains) there is formed a crystallized residue, about an equal weight of phosphate of soda and lime, which is left in the loaf.

=Alum Powders.=--Perhaps by far the largest part of baking powders used contain alum in some form as the acid constituent. Formerly the common substance known as alum or burnt alum was employed but in late years an aluminium basic salt known as basic sulfate of aluminium has largely succeeded the old form of alum. When the reaction takes place in the dough between these two constituents of alum baking powder there is formed an equivalent quantity of sulfate of soda and hydroxid of alumina if the acid constituent be basic aluminium sulfate.

The quantity of residue left in the loaf if two teaspoonsful of baking powder be used is about 11 grams (165 grains).

=Harmfulness of Baking Powder Residues.=--The question of the harmfulness of the residues left by the various forms of baking powder is one which has been of much interest to the hygienist and physician. It is not claimed in any case that these residues are beneficial. The principal question which has been discussed is which of them is the least harmful. This is a question which it is not proper to enter into in this manual. It might, however, not be out of place to say that the use of chemical reagents for leavening bread is not as advisable as the use of the ordinary fermentation. It would be better, evidently, if all people used more yeast bread and less baking powder rolls. At the same time the utility and convenience of baking powder cannot be denied, and this is a factor which must be taken into consideration in the general discussion and final resolution of the question.

=Character of Alum Residues.=--Every one is agreed that the substance known as alum, namely, the sulfate of alumina in conjunction with another mineral or base, such as soda, potash, or ammonia, is not a desirable constituent of food products. In the manufacture of baking powders containing alum an effort is made to so balance the constituents that when the reaction is completed no undecomposed alum remains. If this condition is secured in every instance the materials which remain in the bread are not alum but the residues above mentioned, consisting of aluminium hydrate, and sulfates of soda, potash, or ammonia.

The residue of chief importance is the hydroxid or hydrate of alumina, which is the form in which the alumina itself should appear when a complete reaction like that defined above takes place. When the hydroxid of alumina is dried and especially when ignited it is converted into an oxid of alumina which is highly insoluble in water and only slightly soluble in a very dilute acid solution. The claim is made by the manufacturer of alum powders that the aluminium residue which is formed is insoluble in the digestive juices and therefore cannot produce any effect usually ascribed to the soluble salts of aluminium. It is important that the conditions which are found in the baking of a loaf are such as to produce this highly desirable result. The temperature of the interior of the loaf during baking does not rise much above that of boiling water, although the exterior temperature, which is sufficient to produce the browning of the crust, is very much above that temperature. It is evident that as long as any considerable proportion of water remains in the loaf it will be difficult to raise the interior of the loaf to the temperature just mentioned, and if this were done the caramelization would take place throughout the whole loaf. Unfortunately, from a scientific point of view the investigation of this subject has not been always undertaken under conditions which are wholly beyond criticism. Many of the investigations have been in the interest of rival baking powder companies, and it is very desirable that this matter should be undertaken in a wholly unbiased way and conducted in such a manner as to lead to results which all will accept. Chemical and physiological investigations, which have even as a remote object the promotion of the sale of one compound and the repression of the sale of another, lose at the outset much of that claim upon the public confidence which such investigations made from a purely scientific point of view should have.

_General Statement._--In respect of the use of chemical leavening agents in general it may be said that they introduce an extraneous product into the bread which is not likely to promote the health and which, therefore, on general principles should be excluded. On the other hand, large experience has shown that the consumption of bread made by these leavening agents does not produce any general effect upon the public health which is noticeable. This, it is understood, is not any valid argument in favor of the process. It must also be acknowledged that a fermentation of a bread with yeast also introduces extraneous matter into the food, viz., alcohol and congeneric products of fermentation, and hence this process may be open to a certain extent to the same objection as the one above. It is too early yet to formulate definite principles either of inclusion or exclusion of these products, and the purpose of this manual is secured when the general character and effects thereof are briefly outlined.

=Composition of Bread.=--Because of the many different methods of bread making which are practised it is not possible to give in a chemical form an analysis which would do more than represent in general the character of the bread in common use. For instance, the quantity of water which is found in bread varies greatly and the nature of bread itself must be influenced by the character of the flour from which it is made. The flour depends upon the quality of the wheat used in its manufacture. Hence the same brand of bread prepared in the same way and baked in the same manner must necessarily vary in composition from season to season and even from day to day. It must be understood also that it is a very common custom in the United States to use milk in the mixing of dough, and thus a food product is introduced which of itself is not of constant character. Some bakers use whole milk, others skimmed, and others sour milk.

A very good formula for mixing dough for bread making consists in using the following proportions of ingredients mentioned:

Flour, 2,000 grams Whole milk, 500 „ Water, 650 „ Salt, 25 „ Yeast cake, 10 „

When properly leavened and kneaded and baked these quantities of materials will make a loaf of bread weighing 2750 grams.

_Average Composition of Bread._--In the following tables are given the average composition of bread of different classes. Class 1 is composed of loaves of the so-called Vienna or French type; Class 2 consists of what is known as home made bread or bread baked at the home and not in the bakery; Class 3 consists of bread made from graham flour; Class 4 consists of bread made largely of rye flour; Class 5 is a second collection of home made bread which may be very properly compared with Class 2; Class 6 consists of bread of miscellaneous origin bought on the open market. The data given represent the mean composition of numbers of samples (Bull. 13, Bureau of Chemistry):

MOIS- ETHER TURE. PROTEIN. EXTRACT. FIBER. _Perct._ _Perct._ _Perct._ _Perct._ CLASS 1. 38.71 8.09 1.06 .62 In the dry substance, .. 13.23 1.73 .97

CLASS 2. 33.02 7.24 1.95 .24 In the dry substance, .. 10.80 2.91 .36

CLASS 3. 34.80 8.15 2.03 1.13 In the dry substance, .. 12.51 3.13 1.74

CLASS 4. 33.42 7.88 .66 .62 In the dry substance, .. 11.86 1.02 .95

CLASS 5. 36.16 7.10 1.14 .26 In the dry substance, .. 11.17 1.75 .41

CLASS 6. 34.41 6.93 1.48 .30 In the dry substance, .. 10.59 2.21 .46

STARCH AND CALO- ASH. SUGAR. SALT. RIES. _Perct._ _Perct._ _Perct._ CLASS 1. 1.19 53.72 .57 .. In the dry substance, 1.95 83.10 .93 4458

CLASS 2. 1.05 56.75 .56 .. In the dry substance, 1.55 84.75 .84 4497

CLASS 3. 1.59 53.40 .69 .. In the dry substance, 2.29 82.06 1.07 4434

CLASS 4. 1.84 56.21 1.00 .. In the dry substance, 2.79 84.36 1.50 4395

CLASS 5. 1.06 54.53 .58 .. In the dry substance, 1.68 85.41 .92 4395

CLASS 6. 1.00 56.18 .49 .. In the dry substance, 1.53 85.66 .76 4401

_A Typical American High-grade Yeast Bread._--In conjunction with the actual analyses given above it is of interest to combine as many analytical data as can be conveniently secured for the purpose of determining what the average composition of a high-grade typical yeast bread is. This comparison leads to the following composition:

Moisture, 35.00 percent Protein, 8.00 „ Ether extract, .75 „ Starch and sugar, 54.45 „ Fiber, .30 „ Ash, 1.50 „

Of the ash mentioned in the above analysis .50 percent may be ascribed to the natural mineral ingredient of flour and 1 percent to added salt.

The chief variations from the typical composition of bread made from high-grade flour are found in the moisture and ether extract. The moisture may rise above 40 percent in breads made of flour rich in gluten or sink to 30 percent or under when flour of an inferior gluten content is employed. The quantity of ether extract depends chiefly upon the amount of milk which is used in the making of bread and the amount of fat employed either in the bread itself or in greasing the pan in which it is baked. There is great difficulty in extracting a fatty body which has been mixed with a glutinous material like flour. The analytical data, therefore, do not represent in the ether extract all the fat naturally present in the flour plus that added in the making of dough or in baking.

The quantity of moisture in bread may also be determined largely by the time of baking and the temperature of the oven. A bread baked for a long while at a low temperature will be much drier than a bread baked quickly at a high temperature. The high temperature solidifies the exterior of the loaf so as to make it difficult for the interior moisture to escape. By quickly baking the bread the temperature of the interior does not reach so high a temperature as in an oven with a low temperature and a long-continued heat.

_Standard for Moisture._--The quantity of moisture in bread of standard quality in the District of Columbia may not exceed 31 percent.

The average temperature of the baking oven is about 240° C. (464° F.).

=Quantity of Sugar in Bread.=--The quantity of sugar found in fermented bread is always less than that present in the flour, added in milk, or otherwise introduced in the preparation of the dough. The sugar disappears largely under the influence of the fermentation due to the yeast.

=Quantity of Ash.=--The quantity of ash in bread is uniformly higher than the content of mineral matter in the flour. This is due to the addition of common salt which is uniformly employed in all bread, and in the case of bread made from baking powder the retention of the mineral residues in the loaf increases to that extent the content of ash. With the exception of the ash, the ether extract or fat, the sugar, and the dry material of bread correspond in quantity to the same materials in the flour from which it is made, except the loss due to the caramelization of the crust.

_Acidity of Bread._--The development of the lactic acid ferments is important in regard to hygienic conditions and to palatability. Flour contains practically no acid in a free state, and the acidity of bread is itself due to the changes which take place in its preparation under the influence of the ferments therein. Bread baked in the usual manner after the yeast ferments have exerted their activity shows the presence of acetic acid, lactic acid, and other acids and salts. The acidity of bread adds to its palatability and also, doubtless, to its digestibility. Bread, containing, as it does, a large percentage of protein, is digested in an acid medium. The natural acidity of bread, therefore, must be regarded as beneficial.

=Comparative Nutritive Properties of Indian Corn Bread and Wheat Bread.=--There is a widespread opinion that the products of Indian corn are less digestible and less nutritious than those of wheat. This opinion amounts to a conviction in most European countries, where the products obtained by the milling of Indian corn are not regarded as fit for human food in an unmixed state. The above opinion, it appears, has no justification either from the chemical composition of the two bodies or from recorded digestive and nutritive experiments.

A study of the analytical data of the whole grain shows that in so far as actual nutrition is concerned the maize is fully as nutritious as wheat. In respect of its content of fat Indian corn and its direct products easily take precedence of all the other cereals, with the exception of hulled oats. In round numbers Indian corn flour or bread made therefrom contains twice as much fat or oil as wheat, three times as much as rye, twice as much as barley, and nearly as much as hulled oats. In regard to digestible carbohydrates, that is digestible starch, sugar, dextrin, and fiber, Indian corn flour possesses a higher content than hulled oats and almost the same content as wheat. In regard to digestible protein Indian corn has nearly the same quantity as the other leading cereals, except oats. What it lacks, however, in its quantity of protein in so far as nutrition is concerned is more than made up in its excess of fat.

=Comparative Digestibility and Nutrition of Wheat and Indian Corn from Experiments Made in South Dakota Station, Bulletin 38.=--Pigs were fed with Indian corn and wheat, or rather the ground Indian corn and ground wheat, and it was found that pound for pound there was a greater gain in the case of Indian corn flour than wheat. For 100 pounds of flour fed the average gain with Indian corn was 21.83 pounds and where wheat flour was used 20.79 pounds. These experimental data show that in regard to nutritive properties Indian corn flour cannot be considered inferior to wheat flour. Indian corn bread is particularly well suited for persons engaged in hard manual labor. A ration which is composed largely of Indian corn products and oatmeal is found to be particularly valuable for those engaged in lumbering, harvesting sugar-cane, etc.

_Indian Corn Flour Pudding._--Various forms of pudding are prepared from Indian corn flour. Among the most important is that known in the New England States as hasty pudding and in the west and south as mush. A simple method of preparing Indian corn pudding, hasty pudding, or mush is to stir into water, very slowly, the Indian corn flour in such a way as to avoid the formation of lumps. The flour should be sifted into the water either cold or at boiling temperature and the mixture vigorously stirred meanwhile. By this means a thin, uniform paste is secured which is allowed to cook slowly until quite thick in consistence and until all the starch granules are thoroughly disintegrated. The product is improved by allowing to stand for several hours at near the boiling point after the cooking is finished, provided precautions are taken not to allow the mass to become too solid. This product is eaten hot with butter, milk, or cream, or is much prized when allowed to cool, cut into thin slices and fried. A very important dish for the children of working people and farmers of the south and west is mush and milk, namely the product above mentioned eaten with skim milk. This mixture forms a palatable and wholesome diet. Various other forms of pudding are made into which Indian corn enters to a greater or less degree.

=Composition of Biscuits.=--The composition of a biscuit or dry unleavened bread does not differ essentially from that of the ordinary bread except in the content of moisture. The biscuits are usually baked in thin cakes or loaves which become heated throughout and sometimes caramelize throughout a large part of their substance. This favors the expulsion of the greater part of the moisture which the dough originally contained. The average composition of biscuits is shown in the following data:

Moisture, 7.13 percent Protein, 9.43 „ Ether extract, 8.67 „ Fiber, .47 „ Ash, 1.57 „ Salt, .99 „ Starch and sugar, 73.77 „

In the dry substance:

Protein, 10.18 percent Ether extract, 9.33 „ Fiber, .53 „ Ash, 1.70 „ Salt, 1.08 „ Starch and sugar, 78.79 „ Calories, 4,755

The above data show that biscuits vary in composition from bread chiefly in their content of moisture and fat or oil. The moisture, as is noted, is very low, while the quantity of fat which the biscuit contains is from 8 to 10 times as great as that contained in flour from which they are made. The salt content and the mineral ingredients of the biscuit are often higher than in bread or flour. Inasmuch as a large quantity of fat and salt are used commonly in the manufacture of biscuits the presence of these bodies cannot in any sense be regarded as an adulteration. In forty-eight samples examined only four were free of notable quantities of added fat. In one case over 16 percent of fat was found, and as it has been shown that all the fat which is added is not extracted by ether it is evident that in this case an amount of fat equal to 20 percent of the weight of the flour may have been used.

It appears, from a study of the composition of biscuits, that it is advisable to use them as a relish or delicacy for eating with cheese, etc., in ordinary daily life, while they become almost a necessity in some form or other in the preparation of emergency rations for marching armies, on shipboard, in logging camps, etc. It is not advisable to employ them in the daily diet to the exclusion of bread. Their nutrient contents have, in comparison with bread, a lower coefficient of digestibility, due largely to the added fat.

=Amount of Sugar Lost in Fermentation.=--The total quantity of sugar and other carbohydrates lost in fermentation amounts to about 2 percent of the weight of flour used. Sometimes it is much greater and sometimes less than this. The nutritive value of the product is diminished in proportion to the extent of the loss of sugar. The carbon dioxid produced during fermentation has no food value, and the alcohol is largely lost in the form of vapor during the process of baking. About half the loss is due to carbon dioxid and half to alcohol. The alcohol, although lost mostly during the baking, serves a useful purpose,--in the expansion of the vapor it aids the carbon dioxid in making the bread more porous. The hydrolysis which takes place in baking converts some of the starch to dextrinoid or saccharoid conditions. It is evident that from 6 to 8 percent of total starch present in the flour is changed during the fermentation and baking into more or less soluble forms.

=Texture and Size of Loaves Made from Different Kinds Of Flour.=--The variations in bread and size of loaves made from different kinds of flour when the conditions of fermentation and baking are the same depends upon the texture and quantity of the gluten material in the flour. The difference in the appearance and size of loaves is shown by a photograph of the cross-sections of three loaves of bread in Fig. 36.

It is seen that the loaves made from graham flour and entire wheat flour are somewhat coarser in structure and are less in size than those made from the same quantity of standard patent flour.

MACARONI.

The preparation of wheat flour of a high glutenous character and molded into various forms, usually tubes, cylindroids, or fine shreds, is known in the trade under various names such as noodles, spaghetti, and macaroni. An examination of a number of these bodies shows them to have the following average composition:

Moisture, 9.66 percent Protein, 12.02 „ Ether extract, .42 „ Crude fiber, .56 „ Ash, .78 „ Starch and sugar, 77.12 „

In the dry substance:

Protein, 13.33 percent Ether extract, .47 „ Crude fiber, .62 „ Ash, .86 „ Starch and sugar, 85.34 „ Calories, 4,428

These bodies, it is seen, do not have a composition very different from that of a first-class bread except in their content of moisture and protein. They are made from various kinds of wheat, especially hard wheat which forms a tenacious gluten product well suited to molding into the different forms which these bodies have. Their nutritive value is practically the same as that of good wheat bread of the same moisture content.

=Domestic Macaroni.=--The introduction of varieties of wheat with the properties suitable for making macaroni has been thoroughly exploited by the Department of Agriculture. The macaroni wheat grown as a subvariety is known botanically as _Triticum durum_. The durum wheats are not regarded as of equal value to the ordinary wheats for general milling purposes and command a lower price. The French name is Blé dur and the German name is Hartweizen. The wheat of this subspecies grows rather tall, having broad, smooth leaves of a whitish green color and a very hard cuticle. The heads are comparatively slight in most varieties, compactly formed, and occasionally very short. All the durum wheat is bearded and the beards are exceptionally long. The kernels are hard and glassy, often partly translucent. They are generally yellowish white in color, occasionally inclined to red, and the grains are generally rather large. In other aspects this wheat resembles barley and for this reason in Germany it is often called Gerstenweizen. The general appearance of these wheats both in the field and in the individual heads is shown in the accompanying figures.

Macaroni wheats are well adapted to semi-arid regions; in fact it may be said that they are the product of such an environment rather than adapted to it. For this reason they are wheats which are able to resist continued dry weather and high temperature. These wheats do not grow well in acid soils but flourish best in an alkaline soil of fine texture and well supplied with humus and the necessary plant foods. The largest quantity of macaroni wheat is grown in east and south Russia. These wheats have given very good results in the semi-arid regions of the United States. The appearance of the wheat as it grows in the field is shown in the accompanying plate.

The domestic macaroni is now made in many factories in the United States and there is a continually increasing demand for the domestic article. The hardiest varieties of wheat are used in the manufacture of this article in the United States, especially the hard Kansas winter wheat.

_Composition of Domestic Macaroni._--In the table below is given the mean composition of twenty samples of macaroni of domestic origin, made from domestic wheat. In the second column is given the mean composition of five samples of imported macaroni.

DOMESTIC FOREIGN PRODUCT. PRODUCT. Moisture, 10.27 10.32 Fat or ether extract, .40 .35 Crude fiber, .49 .53 Protein, 11.61 12.27 Starch and sugar, 76.52 76.10

_Preparation of Flour for Macaroni._--The term Semolina or Semola (Italian) or Semoule (French) is usually applied to the flour used in the manufacture of macaroni. In the United States the flour which is used is obtained by selecting the hardest wheat and preparing the flour in the usual manner. In France and Italy the preparation of semolina is accomplished in separate mills. The devices for grinding are essentially the same as those for producing the best grade flour, the main difference being that the wheat is moistened slightly before grinding and the flour is less fine than ordinary baking flour.

Evidently very slight changes in the method of milling would enable the ordinary mill to produce a fine grade of macaroni flour either from the macaroni wheat or from any very hard glutinous wheat grown in the United States.

=Manufacture of Macaroni.=--As practiced in the best districts of Italy, macaroni is manufactured according to the following method:[27]

[27] Fairchild, U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Plant Industry, Bulletin 25.

The durum wheat is ground into semola and sieved to remove the starchy part of the grains and leave the clear, light amber, or glutinous part. Three or four grades of quality are made, and these depend on the size of the sieve meshes.

The semola is put into a special iron mixer, shaped like an old-fashioned artillery mortar, except that it is square instead of cylindrical, and furnished in the bottom with special screw-shaped fans with which to stir the paste or dough. Boiling water is added to the semola and the dough is mixed for about seven minutes. The mass is then put on a flat, circular kneading board and kneaded by two sharp-edged parallel beams which rise and fall as the table turns and press into the dough as they descend. A few minutes of kneading are sufficient and the homogeneous dough is then put into the cylinder and the piston descends upon the mass, forcing it in strings slowly through the perforated plate at the bottom. Fifteen minutes are required to convert the gallons of dough into thousands of feet of yellow macaroni. The yellow color is produced by the use of saffron or of a coal tar dye of which a very small quantity is put into each batch of dough. This is a reprehensible practice.

As soon as the strings of fresh paste which issue continually from the die are of the proper length they are cut and thrown over a reed pole and carried into the sunlight, if the weather is fair, or into sheltered terraces, protected by curtains from the rain, if the weather is unfavorable. On bright days the strings of macaroni are exposed to the sunlight only two hours. They must be dried out only slightly before being cellared for the night in dungeon-like underground vaults similar to the Bavarian beer cellars.

For twelve hours or more the poles of macaroni are kept in these damp places, until the dough has become moist and pliable again and the strings have lost the brittleness that the exposure to the sunlight has given them. From the cellars the poles are carried to shaded storehouses open on all sides to the air but not lighted from above. Here, in great masses of millions of strings, they hang for several days, from eight to twenty being required, depending upon the dryness of the atmosphere. According to the statements of a manager of a factory this process of drying is necessary to give to the brittle paste a horn-like toughness and fit it to withstand the rough handling to which it will be subjected without breaking into small pieces.

In all this simple process the one point at which bacteria might have a chance to play a rôle is in the first drying, cellaring, and subsequent slow drying in the shade. The theory that the water is responsible for the flavor must rest, it seems to the writer, on other than bacterial grounds, for from the appearance of the tank which supplied the hot water the inference is easy that the water is chalybeate, for the tank was incrusted with iron.

ROLLS.

The term rolls is given to bread usually leavened with yeast or baking powder, and usually eaten warm, or hot. The term biscuit is generally but improperly used in this country for hot bread made with baking powder. The composition of rolls varies greatly with their method of preparation. Those made with yeast have practically the same composition as ordinary fermented bread, while those made with a baking powder or with exceptionally large additions of milk, butter, or lard vary in composition accordingly. In the making of hot rolls with baking powder, lard or butter is commonly used to a very large extent as “shortening.” These fatty bodies render the gluten less tenacious, and the roll is thus easily broken and is without toughness or elasticity. Owing to this irregular use of shortening and of mineral matter, including salt, the composition of rolls of commerce is extremely variable. In eleven samples of rolls analyzed, for instance, the content of moisture varied from 7 to 34. Evidently the sample sold as a roll which contained only 7 percent of moisture was in point of fact a biscuit and not a roll. The percentage of ether extract in these samples varied from .43 to 7.55. The average composition of the eleven samples is as follows:

Moisture, 27.98 percent Protein, 7.48 „ Ether extract, 3.41 „ Crude fiber, .60 „ Ash, 1.31 „ Salt, .69 „ Starch and sugar, 59.82 „

In the dry substance:

Protein, 10.46 percent Ether extract, 4.74 „ Crude fiber, .77 „ Ash, 1.81 „ Salt, .81 „ Starch and sugar, 82.99 „ Calories, 4,538

CAKES.

Wheat flour is one of the principal constituents of that class of sweetened bread known generally as cake. The kind and character of cake vary so greatly that no general statement of any very great value can be made respecting the average composition. In addition to the sugar and flour which are used in the manufacture of cake various flavoring ingredients or essences are employed, and usually excessive quantities of butter or lard for shortening purposes. In addition to this, other forms of cake are cooked in oil after the dough is made, thus adding an additional quantity of fatty matter to the material. Eggs are also a common constituent of cakes and these introduce into their composition additional quantities of protein and fat. Baking powder is very generally used in this country instead of yeast for the leavening of the cake and thus an additional quantity of mineral matter is introduced into their composition.

In the manufacture of sweetened cakes the flour is mixed with eggs and sugar and butter or lard to the proper consistency with or without the use of milk or cream. The cakes are baked in all kinds of sizes and shapes and may be eaten plain or in layers separated by a jelly, marmalade, or some other preserve. The exterior of the cake is often frosted with a mixture consisting of the white of egg beaten up with white sugar. The methods of mixing the ingredients of these cakes as well as the method of frosting are so various that it would not be possible to undertake any minute description of them.

For flavoring various materials are employed, either the real article or the imitation thereof, such as artificial strawberry, vanilla, etc. The cake or sweet cake is a very common dainty which is served at dessert. The ordinary cane sugar of commerce is the common sweetening matter usually employed in the refined state although sometimes yellow sugar is used. Honey is not so commonly used as a sweetening agent in this country as it is in European countries.

In the manufacture of one of the common varieties known as ginger cake sugar-cane sirup or molasses is a common ingredient.

An examination of a large number of samples of cake shows the following average composition:

Moisture, 11.65 percent Protein, 6.29 „ Ether extract, 9.81 „ Crude fiber, 0.50 „ Ash, 1.17 „ Salt, 0.39 „ Sugar, 24.57 „ Starch, 46.01 „

In the dry substance:

Protein, 7.29 percent Ether extract, 11.41 „ Crude fiber, 0.57 „ Ash, 1.30 „ Salt, 0.44 „ Sugar, 27.84 „ Starch, 51.59 „ Calories, 4,805

A study of the individual data shows extremely wide variations from the mean. The ether extract in the moisture samples in some cases amounted to over 19 percent and in the dry substance to over 24 percent. The moisture in one case was over 64 percent while in the dry cake of biscuit character it sinks below 5 percent and in one case below 4 percent. The average data, therefore, are to be considered only as a representative of this class of bodies and not as a type of any particular variety.

=Adulterations.=--It is difficult to speak of adulterations of a substance of the composition of cake. Any wholesome flavoring or sweetening ingredient or other wholesome ingredient may be used in the manufacture of a cake of this kind without being an adulterant. From this class of bodies, however, there is excluded artificial colors and artificial flavoring essences bearing the name of genuine. A yellow cake which does not owe its color to the eggs or other normal ingredients employed must be regarded as an adulterated article, especially if the dye used in producing the yellow is one of the coal dyes or coal tar derivatives such as naphthol yellow. The use of imitation fruit flavors such as the so-called strawberry, blackberry, raspberry, vanilla, etc., is also to be regarded as an adulteration. The adulteration of cakes may be regarded as confined particularly to these two classes of article assuming that all the other ingredients are wholesome and without injurious effects upon the digestion. The eggs used in cake making should be fresh and palatable. Too often passé storage eggs and eggs broken and preserved with borax or formaldehyde and unfit for consumption have been used by the bakers of cakes.

Mineral coloring matters have sometimes been found in cakes and these are more objectionable by far than the artificial colors above mentioned. Where molasses from sugar-cane factories is used in the manufacture of cake a considerable trace of chlorid of tin or of zinc salts may be found therein, derived from the wash used in the centrifugal when drying sugar crystals or from the process of bleaching the molasses. This must be regarded as a very serious adulteration and molasses of this kind should never be used in the manufacture of cake nor for edible purposes upon the table. Sulfurous acid may also be absorbed during the process of bleaching the sugar-cane juices.

It is needless to add that cake with its complex character should be eaten as a relish rather than a diet. There is no hygienic or dietetic objection to the mixture of sugar with the flour in the making of ordinary sweetened bread. Such bread must be regarded as highly nutritious and as differing from ordinary bread only in a disturbance of the natural food content of the loaf caused by the addition of a carbohydrate to the bread. Many of the cakes which are sold contain so small a quantity of sugar that they ought not to be classed with the sweet cake. Out of the whole number of samples used in the making up of the above average only four contained so little sugar as to be ineligible to bear the name of sweet cake or sweetened bread.

=Breakfast Foods.=--A very large variety of cereal preparations are on the market under the general name of breakfast foods. These preparations are made directly from the cereals more or less completely ground by subjecting them to certain manipulations of a fermentative or culinary character by means of which the preparations are made ready for immediate consumption or at least with only a moderate degree of additional cooking. The changes which take place in the preparation of cereals for breakfast foods are of two general characters, namely, those produced by fermentative action with malt, yeast, or other ferments, and, second, changes produced by heating, either in the moist or dry state. Often both sets of changes are produced in the same product. The general difference, therefore, between a so-called breakfast food and the raw material from which it is made is found in the conversion of more or less starch into sugar and the change in the composition of the material produced by moist heat or dry heat. In the latter case the temperature may be raised to the state of considerable caramelization.

Breakfast foods may also contain added condimental substances, such as salt, sugar, etc., sometimes used in their preparation. Nearly all the cereals or mixtures of cereals are represented in these prepared foods. Oats probably occupy the first rank and the preparations of oatmeal have to a large extent in the United States taken the place of home-prepared oatmeal for the breakfast table. Wheat, barley, and Indian corn are not far behind oats in their contributions to the numerous varieties of breakfast foods.

The particular methods of preparation are usually trade secrets and at any rate the description of the extensive technical processes would be improper in this manual. The secrets, however, are merely methods of manipulation, since it is certain that the changes of a chemical nature which take place are of the general character or class described above.

Breakfast foods are usually sold under trade-mark names which may or may not give an indication of their origin or character. Sometimes, in fact, the trade name gives a false indication and the use of such trade names must be considered as entirely reprehensible. Whenever a name used is descriptive it should be used in a practical sense and not for the purpose of misleading or deceiving. Breakfast foods may represent practically the whole grain or the grain with a removal of a proportion of the outer covering or they may represent the refined flour from which all or a considerable proportion of the germ and some of the rich nitrogenous ingredients have been removed.

The attempt to give a list of the names which have been applied to breakfast foods would consume many pages and be of little value.

=Composition of Breakfast Foods.=--In so far as possible the breakfast foods noted in the following tables have been arranged in accordance with the raw material from which they have been produced and the data given represent the average composition of breakfast foods of the classes mentioned. Individual variations from the average are often very great.

Class I.--Breakfast foods made from Indian corn products. Class II.--Breakfast foods made from wheat products. Class III.--Breakfast foods made from oat products. Class IV.--Breakfast foods made from starch and tapioca. Class V.--Breakfast foods made from noodles, spaghetti, and macaroni. Class VI.--Breakfast foods made from barley. Class VII.--Breakfast foods of miscellaneous origin, that is consisting of those compounds of raw material not specified.

COMPOSITION OF BREAKFAST FOODS.[28]

ETHER MOIS- PRO- EX- TURE. TEIDS. TRACT. FIBER. CLASS I, _Indian Corn Products:_ _Perct._ _Perct._ _Perct._ _Perct._ In the original substance, 12.33 7.92 0.58 0.67 In the dry substance, .. 9.02 0.66 0.76

CLASS II, _Wheat Products:_ In the original substance, 10.08 12.01 1.80 1.48 In the dry substance, .. 13.36 2.01 1.65

CLASS III, _Oat Products:_ In the original substance, 7.66 15.32 7.46 1.20 In the dry substance, .. 16.60 8.08 1.38

CLASS IV, _Starch and Tapioca Products:_ In the original substance, 11.29 .39 .03 .13 In the dry substance, .. .43 .04 .15

CLASS V, _Noodles, Spaghetti and Macaroni:_ In the original substance, 9.66 12.02 .42 .56 In the dry substance, .. 13.33 .47 .62

CLASS VI, _Barley Products:_ In the original substance, 10.92 7.50 .89 .67 In the dry substance, .. 8.42 1.00 .75

CLASS VII, _Miscellaneous Products:_ In the original substance, 6.41 12.81 1.05 .99 In the dry substance, .. 13.68 1.12 1.04

STARCH AND CALORIES. ASH. SUGAR. Per Gram. CLASS I, _Indian Corn Products:_ _Perct._ _Perct._ In the original substance, 0.66 78.51 .. In the dry substance, 0.75 98.57 4385

CLASS II, _Wheat Products:_ In the original substance, 1.55 75.62 .. In the dry substance, 16.73 84.08 4462

CLASS III, _Oat Products:_ In the original substance, 1.79 67.61 .. In the dry substance, 1.94 73.20 4875

CLASS IV, _Starch and Tapioca Products:_ In the original substance, .14 88.15 .. In the dry substance, .16 99.37 4193

CLASS V, _Noodles, Spaghetti and Macaroni:_ In the original substance, .78 77.12 .. In the dry substance, .86 85.34 4428

CLASS VI, _Barley Products:_ In the original substance, .86 80.35 .. In the dry substance, .97 90.19 4344

CLASS VII, _Miscellaneous Products:_ In the original substance, 1.06 78.68 .. In the dry substance, 1.13 84.07 4449

[28] U. S. Dept. Agr., Bureau of Chemistry, Bull. 13, Part IX, p. 1345.

=Remarks on Table of Analyses.=--

_Class I, Indian Corn Products._--The analytical data show that in the breakfast foods made from Indian corn products the germ has been quite uniformly removed. The quantity of fiber also shows that the maize flour produced has been very carefully bolted. The ash is almost normal, showing only a small addition, probably of salt. The mean quantity of protein is that which would be predicted of an Indian corn product ground by the most approved milling process in order to make as white a flour as possible. These methods of preparing the flour, although so common, are not to be preferred either by reason of palatability or nutritive properties of the products. The old-fashioned milling process makes a more palatable and more nutritious diet and affords a higher degree of heat and energy.

The analysis of the Indian corn products show that they are very much lower in protein than would be expected from an analysis of the whole kernels. The low content of fat in the products is doubtless due to the complete degermination of the grain during the milling and to the further fact that the baking and other preparation of the material tend to occlude the fat particles, making their extraction quite difficult.

_Class II, Wheat Products._--The study of wheat products used as breakfast foods shows that the wheat germ is not removed to any very great extent during the preparation of the raw material. In fact the quantity of ether extract appears somewhat greater than would be expected in pure wheat products, and this leads to the supposition that oatmeal or Indian corn must be mixed with the food product in small quantities, since the ether extract in the case of wheat products is more than three times as great as in the case of Indian corn products of a similar character. This is an indication either of the use of mechanical methods as stated above or else to the admixture of other bodies without mention. There does not appear to have been any notable quantity of mineral substance, common salt or otherwise, added during the process of preparation. The quantity of protein in the product is that which would be predicted from the composition of wheat flour from which the samples are supposed to be made.

_Class III, Oat Products._--The oat products have evidently been made without any extensive degermination, as is shown by the high content of fat or oil. The average composition of oat products shows that genuine oatmeal is used in their preparation and the probability is that little adulteration is practiced. The high content of oil and protein produces a corresponding depression in the quantity of carbohydrates. The high nutritive value of the product, both in respect of fat and of proteins, is fully illustrated by the analytical data obtained. The calories, as will be noticed, are very much higher than in the corresponding product from Indian corn, wheat, or in fact of any other of the breakfast foods.

_Class IV, Products made of starch and tapioca_ show, in the analytical data, that very high-grade starch materials are employed in the preparation of these bodies. The protein, ether extract, fiber, and ash almost disappear. As shown in the data for the dry substance, more than 99 percent of the whole material consists of carbohydrates, chiefly starch. The calories are correspondingly diminished since starch and sugar have the least heat value of any class of food products, except those of a mineral character. Foods of this kind are highly unbalanced, that is, contain a large excess of starch and sugar, and are often very prejudicial to the health of persons whose ability to digest starch and sugar has been lessened by disease.

_Class V, Noodles, spaghetti, and macaroni_ are often used as breakfast foods, though not by any means so universally as many others in this category. The analytical data show that these bodies correspond very well to the material, that is to the flour, rich in gluten, from which they are supposed to be made. The protein content is high,--the ether extract, fiber, and ash low, and the calories correspond to the chemical composition of the material.

_Class VI, Barley Products._--Barley products are not very commonly used as breakfast foods, but the malt used in the preparation of other breakfast foods is usually made of barley, since the barley malt has the highest diastatic value of any of the cereals.

_Class VII, Miscellaneous breakfast foods_ are so called because the character of the materials of which they are made is not known or no statement is made by the manufacturer or dealer concerning them. The analytical data, of course, do not lead to any decision regarding the nature of the raw material employed. The percentage of protein, however, taken in conjunction with the rather low ether extract, indicates that they are probably made chiefly from wheat products.

Much may be said in favor of the use of prepared breakfast foods, for, in so far as I know, they are usually palatable, wholesome, and nutritious. There are many points which may be urged against their general use, chief of which is in regard to their cost. There is no cereal now in general use for edible purposes which is worth as much as two cents per pound in the markets of this country, yet breakfast foods, which are only prepared cereals, are often sold for 10 or 15 cents per pound. This is a high price in comparison with the cost of the raw material, but it must not be forgotten that the cost of manufacture is to be considered. In the second place the cereal foods are undoubtedly best at the moment they are prepared. Unless carefully packed, they may become infected with insects of various kinds, which certainly add nothing to their value and detract very much from their desirability. In moist climates they become infested with mould and even with bacterial growths. Inasmuch as necessarily a large proportion of the prepared cereals remain for an indefinite time unsold, the consumer is liable at any time to come into possession of one of these deteriorated packages. In the third place there is no reason to believe that a prepared breakfast food is any more digestible, nutritious, or favorable to the health of the healthy individual than the broken cereal itself properly cooked. Further than this it may be stated that there is no preparation of cereals better than those which are freshly made from the freshly broken or ground grain. If, therefore, one has the time to properly prepare the fresh grains of the cereals they will be more palatable and more nutritious and equally as digestible as any of the prepared articles. On the other hand, there are cases of diseased or disordered digestion in which the prepared cereals will be more digestible, but this is certainly not the case in a state of health. There is reason to believe, therefore, that the demand for prepared cereals will continue, but the old-fashioned method of preparation of the cereal from the grain will still have its advocates.

I think it may be said with certainty that the proper home preparation of a cereal as a breakfast food will not cost any more than the original cereal itself, and hence the price of this food ought not to be much more than 4 cents per pound without counting the added water in its preparation.

I believe, therefore, that our people of limited means can be safely advised on the score of economy, palatability, and nutrition to prepare their own cereals for ordinary breakfast purposes.