If one’s work calls for extreme muscular exertion, the cerea_Foods; nutrition and digestion

eaten freely, but if one’s habits are sedentary, and the cereals are

used in excess, there is danger of clogging the system with too much

glycogen, or converted starch. Indeed, for one whose occupation is

indoors and requires little muscular activity, a very little cereal

food will suffice; the carbohydrates will be supplied, in sufficient

quantity, in vegetables. Mineral matter is supplied in sufficient

quantity in almost all classes of foods.

The power of the system to throw off food, over and above the needs of

the body, is a wise provision of Nature, because where foods are not

supplied in the proper proportions, a more liberal diet enables the

system to select such foods as it needs from the abundance.

Cereals and legumes supply nutrients cheaper than any class of foods;

therefore a vegetarian diet involves less expense than the mixed diet.

Meat, eggs and milk, which usually supply the proteins, are the most

expensive foods, and where these are eliminated, a large proportion of

proteins should be supplied by the legumes.

* * * * *

=Wheat.= Perhaps no food is as commonly used as wheat, in its various

forms. It is composed of:

First—The nitrogenous or protein compound, chiefly represented in the

cerealin and the gluten of the bran.

Second—The carbon extracts,—the largest contributor to the flour.

Third—The fats, occurring chiefly in the germ of the grain.

Fourth—The phosphorous compounds, iron and lime, found in the bran.

The kernel of wheat consists of the bran or covering, which surrounds

the white, pulpy mass of starch within. In the lower end of the kernel

is the germ.

_Flour._ In the old time process of making flour the wheat was crushed

between stones and then sifted, first, through a sieve, which separated

the outer shell of the bran; then through bolting cloth, which

separated the white pulp from the inner bran coating. It was not ground

as fine as in the present process, thus the gluten, phosphorous, and

iron (valuable foods) were, in the old process, nearly all left out of

the white flour. The second bran coating, left by the second sifting,

was not so coarse as the outer shell but coarser than the inner. Care

was not formerly observed in having the grain clean before grinding,

the bran containing chaff and dirt, so that it was not used as food but

was considered valuable for stock and was called “middlings.”

The modern process of crushing the wheat between steel rollers, crushes

it so fine that the white flour of to-day contains more of the protein

from the inner coat of the bran than the white flour of the old

process; hence, it is more nutritious.

_Bran._ Objection is sometimes made to bran because the cellulose shell

is not digested, but bran contains much protein and mineral matter

and, even though it is crude fiber, as stated above, this fiber has

a value as a cleanser for the lining of stomach and intestines, and

for increasing peristalsis, thus encouraging the flow of digestive

juices and the elimination of waste. In bread or breakfast foods, it is

desirable to retain it for its laxative effect.

The bran has three coats,—the tough, glossy outside, within this a coat

containing most of the coloring matter, and a third coat, containing

a special kind of protein, known as cerealin. The two outer layers

contain phosphorous compounds, lime, and iron. All three coats contain

gluten.

Of course there is more waste in bread made with bran and in

consequence, there is a smaller _proportion_ of the nutrition in graham

bread. It is held by some, however, that more of the nutrition is

digested than in white bread.

_Gluten flour_ is made of the gluten of wheat. It is a valuable, easily

digested food, containing a large proportion of protein.

_Whole wheat_ flour does not contain the whole of the wheat, as the

name implies; it, however, does contain all the proteins of the

endosperm and the gluten and oil of the germ, together with all of

the starch. As a flour, therefore, it is more valuable than the white

flour, containing more nitrogenous elements.

_Graham flour_ is the entire wheat kernel; with the exception of

the outermost scale of the bran. It contains the starch, gluten,

phosphorous compounds, iron and lime. It is the most desirable of

the flours because, containing the bran, it assists in digestion and

elimination, and the phosphorous, iron and lime are valuable for body

building.

_Nutri meal_ is much the same as Graham flour, the chief difference

being that the bran is ground finer. The wheat is ground between

hot rollers, the heat bringing out the nutty flavor of the bran. It

contains all of the nutrition of the wheat.

_Bread._ As must be implied from the above, the “whole wheat,” nutri

meal, or graham flours are necessary if bread is to be a complete food.

There is perhaps no form of prepared food which has been longer in

vogue. It has been known since history began. It probably maintains and

supports life and strength better than any single food. The ease with

which it is digested depends very largely upon its porous condition.

When full of pores, it is more readily mixed with the digestive juices.

The pores in bread are produced by the effort of the gas, released

by the yeast, to escape. When mixed with water, the flour forms a

tenacious body which, when warm, expands under the pressure of the

gas from the yeast, until the dough is full of gas-filled holes. The

walls of the gluten do not allow the gas to escape, and thus the dough

is made light and porous. The more gluten the flour holds, the more

water it will take up in the dough, and the greater will be the yield

of bread; hence, the more gluten, the more valuable the flour. If the

bread is not porous, the fermentation is not complete, and the bread is

heavy.

Yeast is a plant fungus. In its feeding, the plant consumes sugar,

changing it into alcohol and carbonic acid gas. If the bread contains

no sugar the yeast plant will change the starch in the flour into sugar

for its feeding. Many housewives, realizing that the bread begins to

“rise” quicker if it contains sugar, put a little into the sponge.

Unless a large quantity of sugar is put in, the yeast will consume it

and the bread will not have an unduly sweet taste.

As the yeast causes fermentation, alcohol forms in the dough. This

is driven off in the baking. If the bread is not thoroughly done,

the alcohol continues to ferment and the bread turns sour. Bread is

not thoroughly baked until fermentation ceases. It is claimed that

fermentation does not entirely cease with once baking; this is the

basis of the theory, held by some, that bread should be twice baked.

The average housekeeper bakes an ordinary loaf one hour.

Time must be given for the products of fermentation to evaporate, in

the cooling of the bread, before it is eaten and it is not ready to eat

for eight to ten hours after baking. Hot or insufficiently cooked bread

is difficult of digestion, because it becomes more or less soggy upon

entering the mouth and the stomach, and the saliva and gastric juices

cannot so readily mix with it.

The best flour for bread is that made from the spring wheat, grown in

cooler climates, because it is richer in gluten than the winter wheat.

The winter wheat flour is used more for cakes and pastries.

Bread made from milk, is, of course, richer and more nutritious than

that made from water and bread made from potato water contains more

starch; both of these retain their moisture longer than bread made with

water.

Mould, which sometimes forms upon bread, is, like the yeast, a minute

plant. It is floating about everywhere in the air, ready to settle down

wherever it finds a suitable home. Moisture and heat favor its growth,

hence bread should be thoroughly cooled before it is put into a jar or

bread box and the bread box should be kept in a cool place.

_Rye bread_ contains a little more starch and less protein than wheat

bread. It contains more water and holds its moisture longer.

_Biscuits._ The objection to eating hot bread, does not hold for baking

powder or soda biscuits, if well cooked, because these cool more

rapidly and they do not contain the yeast plant; hence, they do not

ferment as does the bread.

Baking powder is made from bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) and cream

of tartar. When these are brought in contact with moisture, carbon

dioxid is formed, and, in the effort to escape, it causes the dough to

expand and become light. The reason that the cook attempts to bake her

biscuits, or anything made with baking powder as quickly as possible,

after the baking powder comes in contact with the moisture, is that the

dough may have the full effect of the expansion of the gas. If the room

in which she mixes her dough is cool, or if her biscuit dough is left

in a cool place, this is not important, as heat and moisture are both

required for full combustion.

_Macaroni and spaghetti_ are made from a special wheat flour rich

in gluten known as Durum. They contain about seventy-seven per cent

starch, little fat and little protein. They may take the place of

bread, rice or potato at a meal.

* * * * *

=Rice= is a staple cereal in all tropical and temperate climates. It

requires special machinery to remove the husk and the dark, outer skin

of the kernel. It is seldom eaten within three months after harvesting

and it is considered even better after two or three years. It requires

thorough cooking.

Unhusked rice is called paddy.

_Wild rice_ is used by the North American Indians. The seeds are

longer, thinner and darker, than the tame rice. It is coming into favor

as a side dish, but it is served more particularly at hotels in soup

and with game.

As previously stated, rice contains a larger proportion of starch than

any other cereal and the smallest proportion of protein. Next to rice,

in starches, comes wheat flour; yet whole wheat or graham flour contain

half as much again of protein.

Because of the quantity of starch in flour, potatoes and rice, it is

obvious that one should not eat freely of more than one of these at the

same meal, else the digestive organs will be overworked in converting

the starch into sugar and the liver overworked in converting the

sugar into glycogen and back again into sugar; and the liver will be

overloaded in storing it up. By far the best plan is to eat but one

cereal at a meal.

Rice contains no gluten, hence it cannot be raised in bread.

* * * * *

=Corn= (maize) is a native of America and has been one of the most

extensively used cereals. Corn bread and corn meal mush were important

foods with the early settlers, partly because they are nutritious and

partly because the corn meal was easily prepared at the mill and was

cheap. The germ of the corn is larger in proportion than the germs

of other grains, and it contains much fat; therefore it is heating.

For this reason, it is strange that corn bread is so largely used by

inhabitants of the southern states. It is a more appropriate food for

winter in cold climates.

Because of the fat in the germ, cornmeal readily turns rancid, and,

on this account, the germ is separated and omitted from many cornmeal

preparations.

_Hulled corn_, sometimes called lye hominy, is one of the old-fashioned

ways of using corn. In its preparation, the skin is loosened by

steeping the corn in a weak solution of lye, which gives it a peculiar

flavor, pleasing to many.

_Cornmeal mush_ is a valuable breakfast food.

_Pop corn._ The bursting of the shell in popping corn is due to the

expansion of the moisture in the starch, occasioned by the heat.

_Green sweet corn_ does not contain the same proportion of starch as

cornmeal, it being, in its tender state, mostly water. It is laxative,

because it is eaten with the coarse hull, which causes more rapid

peristalsis of the intestines.

* * * * *

[Sidenote: Breakfast Foods]

The claims made for various advertised breakfast foods would be

amusing if they were not intended to mislead. Nearly all of them have

sufficient merit to sell them, if the advertiser confines himself

strictly to the truth, but the ever pertinent desire to excel, which is

one great incentive to progress, leads to exaggeration. For example:

Claim is sometimes made that they contain more nutriment than the

same quantity of beef. Reference to above table does not bear out

such statement; they contain more starch but less protein. It is

also claimed by some advertisers that breakfast foods are brain and

nerve foods. The idea that certain foods are brain and nerve foods is

erroneous, excepting that any tissue building food (protein) builds

nerve and brain tissue as it builds any other tissue. There is a

prevalent idea that fish and celery are brain food, but there is no

scientific basis for the theory.

The grains commonly used for breakfast foods are corn, oats, rice, and

wheat. Barley, and wild rice, millet and buckwheat are used in some

sections but not enough to warrant discussion here. Barley is used

chiefly for making malt and pearled barley for soups.

The following table, from one of the bulletins published by the United

States Department of Agriculture, is interesting from an economical

standpoint.

Table VI.

_Comparative cost of digestible nutrients and available energy in

different cereal breakfast foods._

————————————————————+—————+———————+———————+——————————————————————————————

| |Cost of|Cost of| Amount for 10 cents

|Price| one |1,000 +———————+————+————+——————+—————

————————————————————+—————+———————+———————+———————+————+————+——————+—————

Oatmeal, raw | 3 | 0.24 | 1.7 | 3.33 |0.42|0.22|2.18 |5,884

Do | 4 | .32 | 2.3 | 2.50 | .31| .16|1.64 |4,418

steam cooked | 6 | .48 | 3.4 | 1.67 | .21| .11|1.08 |2,938

Flour, Graham | 4 | .40 | 2.6 | 2.50 | .25| .01|1.61 |3,790

entire-wheat | 5 | .46 | 3.1 | 2.00 | .22| .03|1.36 |3,188

Flour, patent | 3.5| .35 | 2.1 | 2.86 | .29| .03|2.10 |4,700

Farina | 10 | 1.12 | 6.2 | 1.00 | .09| .01| .73 |1,609

Flaked | 15 | 1.69 | 9.3 | .67 | .06| .01| .46 |1,005

Shredded | 12.5| 1.62 | 8.2 | .80 | .06| .01| .57 |1,217

ground | 7.5| .88 | 4.9 | 1.33 | .11| .02| .94 |2,050

and crushed | 13 | 1.43 | 8.5 | .77 | .07| .01| .53 |1,175

malted | 11 | 1.21 | 7.2 | .91 | .08| .01| .62 |1,389

Pearled barley | 7 | 1.06 | 4.6 | 1.43 | .09| .01|1.04 |2,165

cooked | 15 | 1.83 | 9.6 | .67 | .05| | .50 |1,051

granular | 3 | .44 | 1.8 | 3.33 | .23| .06|2.48 |5,534

Hominy | 4 | .62 | 2.4 | 2.50 | .16| .01|1.97 |4,178

Samp | 5 | .78 | 3.0 | 2.00 | .13| .01|1.57 |3,342

parched | 13 | 1.73 | 7.5 | .77 | .06| .01| .60 |1,335

Rice, polished | 8 | 1.48 | 4.7 | 1.25 | .07| | .94 |1,855

cooked | 15 | 2.31 | 9.8 | .67 | .04| | .51 |1,026

Bread, white | 6 | .74 | 5.0 | 1.67 | .14| .02| .87 |2,009

Do | 5 | .62 | 4.2 | 2.00 | .16| .02|1.04 |2,406

Crackers | 10 | 1.10 | 5.3 | 1.00 | .09| .08| .71 |1,905

Macaroni | 12.5| 1.08 | 7.5 | .80 | .09| .01| .58 |1,328

Beans, dried | 5 | .28 | 3.5 | 2.00 | .35| .03|1.16 |2,868

Peas, dried | 5 | .26 | 3.4 | 2.00 | .38| .02|1.20 |2,974

Milk | 3 | .94 | 9.7 | 3.33 | .11| .13| .17 |1,030

Do | 3.5| 1.09 | 11.3 | 2.86 | .09| .11| .14 | 885

Sugar | 5 | | 2.8 | 2.00 | | |2.00 |3,515

Do | 6 | | 3.4 | 1.67 | | |1.67 |2,940

The less expensive breakfast foods, such as oatmeal and cornmeal,

are as economical as flour, and, as they supply heat and energy in

abundance, as shown by above table, they should be supplied in the diet

in proportion to the energy required. They are easily prepared for

porridge, requiring simply to be boiled in water, with a little salt.

For invalids, children and old people, breakfast foods prepared in

gruels and porridges are valuable as they are easily digested. All

should be thoroughly cooked so as to break the cells enclosing the

starch granules.

* * * * *

=Predigested Foods.= Some foods are claimed to be partly digested and

thus valuable for those with weak stomachs, but breakfast foods are

largely starch and the gastric juices are not active in the digestion

of starch. It is digested by saliva and the ferment diastase in the

intestines. (Diastase is a ferment of saliva and pancreatic juice,

which changes starch into dextrin and maltose, in which form it is more

easily acted upon by the intestinal juices.)

Experiments with “predigested” foods do not show a larger proportion

of dextrin, however, than would naturally be produced by the

heating of the starch, as these foods are being cooked at home. The

natural cooking at home makes starch more or less soluble, or at

least gelatinized. As a result of these experiments, therefore the

“predigested” argument is not given much weight.

Predigested foods, excepting in cases so weak as to be under the

direction of a physician, are not desirable. Nature requires every

organ to do the work intended for it, in order to keep up its

strength, just as she requires exercise for the arms or legs to keep

them strong. If an organ is weak, the _cause_ must be found and

corrected,—perhaps the stomach or intestines need more blood which

should be supplied through exercise; or perhaps the nerves need

relaxation; or the stomach less food; or food at more regular intervals.

Another argument against predigested foods lies in the fact that

dentists hold that the chewing of coarse food is necessary to keep the

teeth strong. For this strengthening of the teeth, children are given

dry crackers and dry toast each day.

In the so-called “predigested” or “malted” preparations, malt is added

while they are being cooked. Malt is a ferment made from some grain,

usually from barley, the grain being allowed to germinate until the

ferment diastase is developed.

There is no doubt that a number of foods, containing malt are valuable

in the hands of physicians to assist in converting starch into dextrin

or sugar, where diastase is not formed in sufficient quantity,

just as pepsin is an aid in the digestion of protein,—but eaten

indiscriminately, there can be no question that it is more important

for the stomach and intestines to perform their natural work and thus

keep their strength through normal exercise.

While they are not “predigested,” as claimed, they are, as a rule,

wholesome and nutritious. They are cleanly, and made from good,

sound grain and they contain no harmful ingredients. Some contain

“middlings,” molasses, glucose and similar materials, but these are in

no way injurious and have value as foods. The dry, crisp, ready-to-eat

foods are especially advantageous because of the mastication they

require,—this mastication insuring plenty of saliva being mixed with

them to aid in digestion. A dish of such dry breakfast food, well

masticated, together with an egg, to furnish a larger proportion of

protein, makes a wholesome breakfast.

* * * * *

=Cracked Wheat.= In America wheat is seldom used whole. In England the

whole grain, with the bran left on, is slightly crushed and served as

cracked wheat or wheat grits.

Wheat is also rolled, or flaked, or shredded. The majority of wheat

breakfast foods contain a part of the middlings and many of them bran.

Farina and gluten preparations do not contain these, however.

The preparations of the various breakfast foods are a secret of the

proprietors. The ready-to-eat brands are cooked, then they are either

rolled or shredded, the shredding requiring special machinery to

tear the steamed kernels; later they are dried, and, finally packed,

sometimes in small biscuits. Many preparations are baked after being

steamed, which turns them darker and makes them more crisp. Some

preparations are steamed, then run through rollers, while still wet,

and pressed into flakes or crackers.

* * * * *

=Oatmeals= are the most nutritious cereals. The oat contains more fat

than other grains and a larger proportion of protein. It is, therefore,

the best adapted to sustain life in the proportion of nutrient

elements. On account of the fat, oats are especially well adapted for

a breakfast food in winter. Another advantage oatmeal, or rolled oats,

have as a breakfast food is in their laxative tendency, due to the

coarse shell of the kernel.

Oat breakfast foods keep longer than the foods made from wheat and

rice.

There are no malts, or any mixtures in the oat preparations. The

difference between the various oatmeal breakfast foods is in their

manner of preparation. They all contain the entire grain, with the

exception of the husk. They are simply the ground or crushed oat. In

preparing the oats before grinding, the outer hull is removed, the

fuzzy coating of the berry itself is scoured off, the ends of the

berry, particularly the end containing the germ, which is usually the

place of deposit for insect eggs, is scoured, and the bitter tip end of

the oat berry is likewise removed.

_Rolled oats_ consist of the whole berry of the oat, ground into a

coarse meal, either between millstones, or, in the case of the so

called “steel cut” oatmeal, cut with sharp steel knives across the

sections of the whole oat groat.

_Quaker Oats_ consist of the whole groat, which, after steaming in

order to soften, have been passed between hot steel rolls, somewhat

like a mangle in a laundry, and crushed into large, thin, partially

cooked flakes. The oats are then further cooked by an open pan

drying process. This roasting process insures that all germ life is

exterminated, renders the product capable of quicker preparation for

the table and the roasting causes the oil cells to release their

contents, thereby producing what is termed the “nut flavor,” which is

not present in the old fashioned type of oat product.

Both Rolled Oats and Quaker Oats are now partially cooked in their

preparation but the starch cells must be thoroughly broken and they

should be cooked at least forty-five minutes in a double boiler; or, a

good way to prepare the porridge, is to bring it to the boiling point

at night, let it stand covered over night and then cook it twenty to

thirty minutes in the morning. Another method of cooking is to bring

the porridge to the boiling point and then leave it in a fireless

cooker over night.

The great fault in the preparation of any breakfast food is in not

cooking it sufficiently to break the starch cells.

* * * * *

=Puffed Rice= is made from a good quality of finished rice. The process

is a peculiar one, the outer covering, or bran, is removed and then

the product is literally “shot from guns;” that is, a quantity of the

rice is placed in metal retorts, revolved slowly in an oven, at high

temperature, until the pressure of steam, as shown by gauge on the gun,

indicates that the steam, generated slowly by the moisture within

the grain itself, has thoroughly softened the starch cells. The gun

retort is pointed into a wire cage and the cap which closes one end is

removed, permitting an inrush of cold air. This cold, on striking the

hot steam, causes expansion, which amounts practically to an explosion.

The expansion of steam within each starch cell completely shatters the

cell, causing the grain to expand to eight times its original size. It

rushes out of the gun and into the cage with great force, after which

it is screened to remove all scorched or imperfectly puffed grains.

This process dextrinizes a portion of the starch and also very

materially increases the amount of soluble material as against the

original proportion in the grain.

* * * * *

=Puffed Wheat= is manufactured from Durum, or macaroni wheat, of the

very highest grade. This is a very hard, glutinous grain. It is pearled

in order to thoroughly clean and take off the outer covering of bran.

It then goes through a puffing process, identical with that of Puffed

Rice. The chemical changes are very similar to those of puffed rice.

Both Puffed Rice and Puffed Wheat are more digestible than in the

original grain state. They are valuable foods for invalids.

* * * * *

If one’s work calls for extreme muscular exertion, the cereals may be