well for those who are troubled with constipation, by mechanically
irritating and exciting the stomach and bowels, yet for that very reason
it is wholly unfit and improper for those who are afflicted with chronic
diarrhœa.
Here is still another objection founded in ignorance of the true
physiological and pathological principles which it involves. The truth
is, that the coarse wheaten bread, under a proper general regimen, is as
excellent and sure a remedy for chronic diarrhœa as for chronic
constipation.
I have seen cases of chronic diarrhœa of the most obstinate character,
and which had baffled the highest medical skill and every mode of
treatment for more than twenty years, yielding entirely under a proper
general regimen, in which this bread was the almost exclusive article of
food, and not a particle of medicine was used. And I have never known
such a mode of treatment to fail of wholly relieving diarrhœa, whether
recent or chronic; although a very great number of cases have come under
my notice.
It is fully evident, therefore, that the bran does not act on the
digestive organs as a mere mechanical irritant; for if it did, it would
always necessarily aggravate, rather than alleviate diarrhœa. Nor does
it relieve diarrhœa on the principle of a narcotic nor of a stimulant;
for the effect of these is always to give an immediate check to that
complaint; and in such a manner as to expose the system to a return of
it. But the coarse wheaten bread _seems_ to increase the disease for a
short time, at first, and then gradually restores the healthy condition
and action of the bowels.
The mucilage of wheat bran is probably one of the most soothing
substances in the vegetable kingdom, that can be applied to the mucous
membrane of the stomach and bowels.
Chronic constipation and chronic diarrhœa, both spring from the same
root. Where the constitutional vigor of the alimentary canal is very
considerable, continued irritations, resulting in debility, will produce
constipation; and these continued causes operating for some time, will
often induce such a state of debility and irritability as is attended
with diarrhœa:—and in other cases, when this constitutional vigor of the
alimentary canal is much less, diarrhœa is far more readily induced, and
rendered chronic.
Coarse wheaten bread, then, by its adaptation to the anatomical
structure and to the physiological properties and functional powers of
our organs, serves to prevent and to remove the disorders and diseases
of our bodies, only by preventing and removing irritation and morbid
action and condition, and thereby affording the system an opportunity of
recovering its healthy and vigorous action and condition. And the
thousands of individuals in our own country of every age—of both
sexes—of all situations, conditions and circumstances, who within the
last six years have been benefited by using the coarse wheaten bread,
instead of that made of superfine flour, are living witnesses of the
virtues of that bread.
But the testimony in favor of coarse wheaten bread as an important
article in the food of man, is by no means limited to our own country
nor to modern times.
In all probability, as we have already seen, the first generations of
our species, who became acquainted with the art of making bread,
continued for many centuries to employ all the substance of the grain,
which they coarsely mashed in their rude mortars or mills. And even
since mankind began, by artificial means, to separate the bran from the
flour, and to make bread from the latter, the more close and discerning
observers among physicians and philanthropists, have perceived and
asserted, that bread made of fine flour is decidedly less wholesome than
that made of the unbolted wheat meal.
Hippocrates, styled the father of medicine, who flourished more than two
thousand years ago, and who depended far more on a correct diet and
general regimen, both for the prevention and removal of disease, than he
did on medicine, particularly commended the unbolted wheat meal bread,
“for its salutary effects upon the bowels.” It was a fact well
understood by the ancients, that this bread was much more conducive to
the general health and vigor of their bodies, and every way better
adapted to nourish and sustain them than that made of the fine flour.
And accordingly, their wrestlers and others who were trained for great
bodily power, “ate only the coarse wheaten bread, to preserve them in
their strength of limbs.” The Spartans were famous for this kind of
bread; and we learn from Pliny that the Romans, as a nation, at that
period of their history when they were the most remarkable for bodily
vigor and personal prowess and achievement, knew no other bread for
three hundred years. The warlike and powerful nations which overran the
Roman Empire, and finally spread over the greater part of Europe, used
no other kind of bread than that which was made of the whole substance
of the grain; and from the fall of the Roman Empire to the present day,
a large proportion of the inhabitants of all Europe and the greater part
of Asia, have rarely used any other kind of bread.
“If you set any value on health, and have a mind to preserve
nature,”—said Thomas Tryon, student in physic, in his “Way to Health,
Long Life and Happiness,” published in London, in the latter part of the
fifteenth century,—“you must not separate the finest from the coarsest
flour; because that which is fine is naturally of an obstructive and
stopping quality; but, on the contrary, the other, which is coarse, is
of a cleansing and opening nature, therefore the bread is best which is
made of both together. It is more wholesome, easier of digestion, and
more strengthening than bread made of the finest flour. It must be
confessed, that the nutrimentive quality is contained in the fine flour;
yet, in the branny part is contained the opening and digestive quality;
and there is as great a necessity for the one as the other, for the
support of health: that which is accounted the worst is as good and
beneficial to nature as the best; for when the finest flour is separated
from the coarsest and branny parts, neither the one nor the other has
the true operations of the wheat meal. The eating of fine bread,
therefore, is inimical to health, and contrary both to nature and
reason; and was at first invented to gratify _wanton_ and _luxurious_
persons, who are ignorant both of themselves, and the true virtue and
efficacy of natural things.”
“Baron Steuben has often told me,” says Judge Peters, “that the peculiar
healthfulness of the Prussian soldiers, was in a great measure to be
attributed to their ammunition bread, made of grain, triturated or
ground, but not bolted; which was accounted the most wholesome and
nutritious part of their rations.”[C]
“The Dutch sailors, in the days of their naval glory, were supplied with
the same kind of bread.”
“During the war between England and France, near the close of the last
century,” says Mr. Samuel Prior, a respectable merchant of Salem, New
Jersey—“the crops of grain, and particularly wheat, were very small in
England, and the supplies from Dantzic, the Netherlands and Sweden being
cut off by the French army, and also the usual supplies from America
failing, there was a very great scarcity of wheat in England. The
British army was then very extensive, and it was exceedingly difficult
to procure provisions for it, both at home and abroad—on land and sea.
Such was the demand for the foreign army, and such the deficiency of
crops at home and supplies from abroad, that serious fears were
entertained that the army would suffer, and that the continental
enterprise of the British government would be defeated in consequence of
the scarcity of provisions; and every prudential measure by which such a
disastrous event could be prevented, was carefully considered and
proposed. William Pitt was then prime minister of state, and at his
instance, government recommended to the people generally throughout
Great Britain, to substitute potatoes and rice as far as possible, for
bread, in order to save the wheat for the foreign army. This
recommendation was promptly complied with by many of the people. But
still the scarcity was alarmingly great. In this emergency, parliament
passed a law (to take effect for two years) that the army at home should
be supplied with bread made of unbolted wheat meal, solely for the
purpose of making the wheat go as far as possible, and thus saving as
much as they could from the home consumption, for the better supply of
the army on the continent.
“Eighty thousand men were quartered in barracks in the counties of Essex
and Suffolk. A great many were also quartered throughout the towns, at
taverns, in squads of thirty or forty in a place. Throughout the whole
of Great Britain, the soldiers were supplied with this coarse bread. It
was deposited in the store-rooms with the other provisions of the army;
and on the day that it was baked, and at nine o’clock the next morning,
was distributed to the soldiers—who were at first exceedingly displeased
with the bread, and refused to eat it, often casting it from them with
great rage, and violent execrations. But after two or three weeks they
began to be much pleased with it, and preferred it to the fine flour
bread.
“My father,” continues Mr. P., “whom I have often heard talk these
things over, was a miller and a baker, and resided in the county of
Essex, on the border joining Suffolk, and near the barracks containing
the eighty thousand soldiers. He contracted with government, to supply
the eastern district of the county of Essex, with the kind of bread I
have mentioned: and he used always to send me with it to the
depositories on the day it was baked: and though I was then a youth, I
can still very distinctly remember the angry looks and remarks of the
soldiers, when they were first supplied with it. Indeed they often threw
their loaves at me as I passed along, and accompanied them with a volley
of curses. The result of this experiment was, that not only the wheat
was made to go much farther, but the health of the soldiers improved so
much and so manifestly, in the course of a few months, that it became a
matter of common remark among themselves, and of observation and
surprise among the officers and physicians of the army. These gentlemen
at length came out with confidence and zeal on the subject, and publicly
declared that the soldiers were never before so healthy and robust; and
that disease of every kind had almost entirely disappeared from the
army. The public papers, were for months filled with recommendations of
this bread, and the civic physicians almost universally throughout Great
Britain, pronounced it far the most healthy bread that could be eaten,
and as such, recommended it to all the people, who very extensively
followed the advice:—and the coarse wheaten bread was very generally
introduced into families—female boarding schools, and indeed all public
institutions. The nobility also generally used it; and in fact, in many
towns, it was a rare thing to meet with a piece of fine flour bread. The
physicians generally asserted that this wheaten bread was the very best
thing that could be taken into the human stomach, to promote digestion
and peristaltic action; and that it, more than anything else, would
assist the stomach in digesting other things which were less easily
digested, and therefore they recommend that a portion of it should be
eaten at every meal with other food.
“Still, after this extensive experiment had been made with such happy
results, and after so general and full a testimony had been given in
favor of the coarse wheaten bread, when large supplies of superfine
flour came in from America, and the crops at home were abundant, and the
act of parliament in relation to the army became extinct, most of the
people who had before been accustomed to the use of fine flour bread,
now by degrees returned again to their old habits of eating fine bread.
Many of the nobility, however, continued to use the coarse bread for a
number of years afterwards. General Hanoward, Squire Western, Squire
Hanbury and others living near my father’s, continued to use the bread
for a long time, and some of them still used it when I left home and
came to America, in 1816.”
The testimony of sea captains and old whalemen is equally in favor of
wheaten bread. “I have always found,” said a very intelligent sea
captain of more than thirty years’ experience, “that the coarser my ship
bread, the healthier my crew is.”
A writer in Rees’ Cyclopædia, (article Bread) says—“The inhabitants of
Westphalia, who are a hardy and robust people, and capable of enduring
the greatest fatigues, are a living testimony to the salutary effects of
this sort of bread; and it is remarkable that they are very seldom
attacked by acute fevers, and those other diseases which are from bad
humors.”
In short, as I have already stated, the bread of a large portion of the
laboring class, or peasantry, throughout Europe, Asia and Africa, and
the islands of the ocean, whether leavened or unleavened—whether more or
less artificially prepared, is made of the whole substance of the grain
from which it is manufactured: and no one who is sufficiently
enlightened in physiological science to qualify him to judge correctly
in this matter, can doubt that bread made in the best manner from
unbolted wheat meal, is far better adapted to the anatomical structure
and physiological powers of the alimentary organs of man, than bread
made of superfine wheat flour; and consequently, the former is far more
conducive to the health and vigor and general well-being of man than the
latter.
If, therefore, mankind will have raised bread which in every respect
most perfectly conforms to the laws of constitution and relation
established in their nature, and is most highly conducive to the welfare
of their bodies and souls, then must it be well made, well baked, light
and sweet bread, which contains all the natural properties of the wheat.
And if they will have this bread of the very best, and most wholesome
kind, they must, as I have already stated, see that the soil from which
their wheat is raised, is of a proper character, and is properly
tilled,—that the wheat is plump—full-grown—ripe, and free from rust and
other diseases; and then, before it is ground, they must see that it is
thoroughly cleansed, not only from chaff, cockles, tares, and such like
substances, but also from all smut, and every kind of impurity that may
be attached to the skin of the kernel. And let every one be assured that
this is a matter which really deserves all the attention and care that I
suggest.
If human existence is worth possessing, it is worth preserving; and they
who have enjoyed it as some have done, and as all the human family are
naturally endowed with the capabilities to enjoy it, certainly will not
doubt whether it is worth possessing; nor, if they will properly
consider the matter, can they doubt that its preservation is worthy of
their most serious and diligent care.
And when they perceive how intimately and closely the character of their
bread is connected with the dearest interests of man, they will not be
inclined to feel that any reasonable amount of care and labor is too
much to be given to secure precisely the right kind of bread.
I repeat, then, that they who would have the very best bread should
certainly wash their wheat, and cleanse it thoroughly from all
impurities, before they take it to the mill; and when it is properly
dried, it should be ground by sharp stones which will cut rather than
mash it: and particular care should be taken that it is not ground too
fine. Coarsely ground wheat meal, even when the bran is retained, makes
decidedly sweeter and more wholesome bread than very finely ground meal.
When the meal is ground, it should immediately be spread out to cool
before it is put into sacks or casks:—for if it is packed or enclosed in
a heated state, it will be far more likely to become sour and musty. And
I say again, where families are in circumstances to do wholly as they
choose in the matter, it is best to have but little ground at a time; as
the freshly ground meal is always the liveliest and sweetest, and makes
the most delicious bread.
When the meal is thus prepared and brought home, whether in a barrel or
sack, the next thing to be attended to, is, that it be placed and kept
in a perfectly clean, and sweet, and well ventilated meal room. It
should on no consideration be put into a closet, or pantry, or
store-room, which is seldom aired, and more rarely cleansed; and into
which all manner of rubbish is thrown; or even where other kinds of
provisions are kept. If the meal be put into a pantry or store-room
which is confined and dirty, and into which old boots and shoes, and old
clothes and pieces of carpet, and other things of this kind, are
thrown—or where portions of vegetable or animal substance, whether
cooked or uncooked, are habitually or even occasionally put and
permitted to remain, it must be expected, as a matter of course, of
necessity, that the quality of the meal will be considerably
deteriorated by the impurities with which the air of the place will be
loaded, and which will be continually generated there.
People generally have but a sorry idea of what constitutes true
cleanliness; but they may be assured that they cannot be too deeply
impressed with the importance of keeping their meal room as clean and
sweet and well aired as possible.
FERMENTATION.
Chemical composition of flour. Yeast—modes of preparing it. Substitutes
for it. Fermentation, and its products. Vinous, acetous and
putrefactive fermentation.
Having procured good wheat, cleansed it thoroughly, and got it properly
ground, and placed in the meal room, the next step is to take a portion
of the meal and manufacture it into good bread. But in order that this
may be done in the most certain and perfect manner, it is important that
the properties of the meal and the principles concerned in bread-making
should be well understood.
According to the statement of Prof. Thomson, of Edinburgh, one pound of
good wheat meal contains ten ounces of farina or starch, three ounces of
bran, six drams of gluten and two drams of sugar;—and it is because
wheat contains such proportions of these substances that it makes the
very best loaf bread. The farina or starch is the principal nourishing
property;—the saccharine matter or sugar is also highly nutrient; but in
the process of making loaf bread, it serves mainly, by its vinous
fermentation, to produce the gas or air by which the dough is raised and
the bread made light. The gluten is likewise a very nutrient property,
but in loaf bread, it principally serves, by its cohesiveness, like gum
elastic, or India rubber, to prevent the gas or air formed by the
fermentation of the sugar, from escaping or passing off;—and the gas
being thus retained, inflates or puffs up the dough, and makes it porous
and light. The bran, with its mucilaginous and other properties, not
only adds to the nutritiousness of the bread, but eminently serves to
increase its digestibility, and to invigorate the digestive organs, and
preserve the general integrity of their functions.
The wheat which is raised in Virginia and the southern states generally,
contains a larger proportion of gluten than that which is raised in the
western part of the state of New York. Hence bakers are able to make a
larger loaf of bread out of a pound of southern flour than they can out
of a pound of western flour; and consequently some of them have
endeavored to make their customers believe that the southern flour is
the most profitable. It certainly _is_ the most profitable for the
baker; but it is not the most profitable for the consumer.
The next thing indispensably necessary to the making of good bread, is
good lively sweet yeast, or leaven, to produce what is called the
panary, or more properly, the vinous fermentation of the saccharine
matter, or sugar.
Some bread-makers will do best with one kind of yeast or leaven, and
some with another. I have generally found that people do best with those
materials to which they have been most accustomed; but I am sorry to
find so general a dependence on breweries for yeast. To say nothing of
the impure and poisonous substances which brewers employ in the
manufacture of beer, and which always affect the quality of their yeast,
I am confident that domestic yeast can be made of a far superior
quality. However light and good in other respects that bread may be
which is made with brewers yeast, I have rarely if ever seen any in
which I could not at once detect the disagreeable properties of the
yeast.
There are various ways of making domestic yeast. One of the simplest,
and perhaps the best, is the following, which was communicated to me by
one of the best bread-makers I ever saw:
“Put into one gallon of water a double handful of hops;—boil them
fifteen or twenty minutes, then strain off the water while it is
scalding hot;—stir in wheat flour or meal till it becomes a thick
batter, so that it will hardly pour;—let it stand till it becomes about
blood warm, then add a pint of good lively yeast, and stir it well; and
then let it stand in a place where it will be kept at a temperature of
about 70° F. till it becomes perfectly light, whether more or less time
is required; and then it is fit for use;—or if it is desired to keep a
portion of it, let it stand several hours and become cool; and then put
it into a clean jug and cork it tight, and place it in the cellar where
it will keep cool; and it may be preserved good, ten or twelve days, and
even longer.”
Another way by which yeast when thus made may be preserved much longer,
and perhaps more conveniently, is, to take it when it has become
perfectly light, and stir in good Indian meal until it becomes a hard
dough: then take this dough and make it into small thin cakes, and dry
them perfectly, without baking or cooking them at all. These cakes, if
kept perfectly dry, will be good for several weeks and even months.
When yeast is needed, take some of these cakes (more or less according
to the quantity of bread desired) and break them fine and dissolve them
in warm water, and then stir in some wheat flour till a batter is
formed, which should be kept at a temperature of about 60° F. till the
yeast becomes light and lively, and fitted for making bread.
Others, in making this yeast, originally put into the water with the
hops, a double handful of good clean wheat bran, and boil them up
together and strain off the water as above described: others again, boil
up a quantity of wheat bran without the hops, and make their yeast in
all other respects as above described.
The milk yeast is greatly preferred by many; and when it is well
managed, it certainly makes very handsome bread. The way of making it is
simple. Take a quart of milk fresh from the cow, (more or less according
to the quantity of bread desired,)—a little salt is generally added, and
some add about half a pint of water blood warm, but this is not
essential;—then stir wheat flour or meal into the milk till it forms a
moderately thick batter; and then cover it over, and place it where it
will remain at a temperature of from 60° to 70° F. till it becomes
perfectly light. It should then be used immediately: and let it be
remembered that dough made with this yeast will sour sooner than that
made with other yeast; and also that the bread after it is baked will
become extremely dry and _crumbly_ much sooner than bread made with
other yeast. Yet this bread, when a day old, is exceedingly light and
beautiful: albeit some dislike the animal smell and taste which it
derives from the milk.
In all these preparations of yeast and dough, it should ever be
recollected that “the process of fermentation cannot go on when the
temperature is below 30° F., that it proceeds quite slowly at 50°,
moderately at 60°, rapidly at 70°, and very rapidly at 80°.”