CEREAL FOODS.
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Carbohy-
Water Protein Fat drates Ash
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Barley. 10.9 12.4 1.8 72.5 2.4
Buckwheat. 12.6 10.0 2.2 73.2 2.0
Corn. 9.3 9.9 2.8 76.3 1.5
Kafir corn. 16.8 6.6 3.8 70.6 2.2
Oats. 11.0 11.8 5.0 69.2 3.0
Rice. 12.4 7.4 .4 79.4 .4
Rye. 11.6 10.6 1.0 73.7 1.9
Wheat, spring. 10.4 12.5 2.2 73.0 1.9
Wheat, winter. 10.5 11.8 2.1 73.8 1.8
First patent flour. 10.55 11.08 1.15 76.85 0.37
Whole wheat flour. 10.81 12.26 2.24 73.67 1.02
Graham flour. 8.61 12.65 2.44 74.58 1.72
Bread, ordinary white. 37.65 10.13 .64 51.14 .44
Bread, whole wheat. 41.31 10.60 1.04 46.11 .94
Bread, Graham. 42.20 10.65 1.12 44.58 1.45
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The cereal foods are important because of their wide distribution and
the ease with which they can be prepared and utilized as food. They are
very productive and need but little care and hence are a cheap food. The
body can digest and absorb sugar and starch more completely than any
other kind of food.
All civilized people have a favorite cereal. The Chinese and Japanese
use rice very extensively, and this grain is growing in favor with us.
White people generally prefer wheat, which is an excellent grain that
has been used by man for thousands of years. It has been found in
ancient Egyptian tombs, and it is so retentive of life that it has
started to grow after lying dormant for several thousand years. Truly it
is a worthy food for man.
The table of cereals should be carefully studied. It will be seen that
the grains contain much starch, a little fat, and considerable protein.
They also carry sufficient of salts, but only a small amount of water.
Please note further that patent flour loses nearly all of its salts.
Patent flour is the product that is left after all the bran and
practically all of the germ have been removed from the wheat. Whole
wheat flour, or entire wheat flour, is the name given to the flour that
has had a great part of the outer covering of the wheat kernel removed.
It is a misnomer. Graham flour, named after Dr. Graham, is the product
of the whole wheat kernel, and it will be noted that it is richer in
salts and protein than the white flour and the whole wheat flour. The
whole wheat flour and Graham flour we find on the market are often the
result of blending, which is also true of the patent flour.
As we would expect, the various breads are rich or poor in salts
according to the flours from which they are made.
All the cereals are good foods, but inasmuch as wheat and rice are used
most extensively, they will receive more attention than the rest.
Wheat is perhaps the best and most balanced of all our cereals. The
whole wheat with the addition of a little milk is sufficient to support
life indefinitely. It is one of the foods of which people never seem to
tire. Tiring of food is often an indication of excess. It is with food
as with amusement, if we get too much we become blase. Those who eat in
moderation are content with simple foods, but those who eat too much
want a great variety, as a rule. There are beef gluttons, who are
satisfied with their flesh and liquor, but this is because the meats are
so stimulating.
Inasmuch as we use so much wheat, it is important that we use it
properly. Today people want refined foods, and in refining they spoil
many of our best food products. Sugar is too refined for health, rice
suffers through refinement, and so does wheat. The wheat kernel contains
all the elements needed to support life. In making fine white flour of
it, at least three-fourths of the essential salts are removed. This robs
the wheat of a large part of its life-imparting elements, and makes of
it starvation food. If much white bread is consumed it is necessary to
supplement it by taking large quantities of fresh fruits and vegetables,
not necessarily in the same meal, in order to get the salts that have
been removed in the process of milling.
The salts are found principally in the coats of the wheat, and in
removing these coats and the germ, not only the salts, but considerable
protein is lost. In other words, we remove most of the essential salts
and a considerable part of the building material of the wheat, and then
we eat the inferior product. The finer and whiter the flour, the poorer
it is.
White flour has a very high starch content. The products made from it
are quite tasteless and lacking in flavor, unless flavoring is added.
Those who are used to whole wheat products find the white bread flat. It
is possible to consume large quantities of white bread, and yet not be
satisfied. There is something lacking. Whole wheat bread is more
satisfying and therefore the danger of overeating of it is not so great.
The advocates of white flour say that the bran is too irritating for the
bowels and for this reason it should be rejected. There is no danger in
eating the entire kernel, after it is ground up. The particles of bran
are so fine that they do no harm. The intestines were evidently intended
for a little roughage, and it might as well come partly from wheat as
from other sources. The gentle stimulation produced by the bran helps to
keep the intestines active. It is noticeable that consumption of very
refined foods leads to constipation.
Bran bread and bran biscuits are prescribed for constipation. This is
just as bad as removing the bran entirely. Man has never been able to
improve on the composition of the wheat berry. When an excess of bran is
eaten, it causes too great irritation and in the end the individual is
worse off than before. The after effect of irritation is always
depression and sluggishness. Recent experiments seem to show that it is
not the coarseness of the bran that causes activity of the bowels, but
that some of the contained salts are laxative, for the same results have
been obtained by soaking the bran in water and drinking the liquid.
The products of refined flour are more completely and easily digested
than the whole wheat products. However, by eating in moderation and
masticating well every normal person is able to take good care of whole
wheat products, and the benefit of using the entire grain is so great
that we should hesitate about continuing the use of the refined flours
and white breads.
In the French army it has been found that when the soldiers are fed on
refined flour products they are not so well nourished as when they have
whole wheat products, and that they must have more of other foods to
supplement the impoverished breadstuffs. It is difficult to get people
to realize how important it is to give the tissue salts with the foods.
Salts are absolutely essential to vital activity, and a lack of salts
always results in mental and physical depression and even in disease.
No matter what adults are given, children should not be fed on white
flour products. They need all the salts in the wheat. Depriving them of
salts retards their development and results in decaying teeth and poor
bone formation, among other things. They do not feel satisfied with
their white flour foods. Therefore they overeat and get indigestion,
catarrh, adenoids and various other ills. It is not difficult for people
with observing eyes to note the difference in satisfaction of children
after they get impoverished foods and the natural foods.
Anemia is very common among children, especially among the girls. The
chief reason is impoverished foods. Salts can be used by the animal
organism only after they have been elaborated by the vegetable kingdom.
To remove all the iron from wheat and then give inorganic iron, which
can not be assimilated, in its stead, is the height of folly. By all
means, use less of the white flour and more of the entire wheat flour.
If the white flour habit can not be given up, take enough raw fruit and
vegetables to make up for the loss of salts in milling.
When rice is properly prepared it digests very easily. It is a little
poor in protein, but this can be remedied by taking some milk in the
same meal.
The rice we ordinarily get is inferior to the natural product. First
they remove the bran. Then the flour is taken off. Then it is coated
with a mixture of glucose and talcum and polished. All this trouble is
taken to make it appeal to the eye. This impoverished rice is lacking in
salts. It will not support people in health. In the countries where
polished rice is fed in great quantities, they suffer a great deal from
degenerative diseases. One of these is beri-beri, in which there are
muscular weakness and degeneration, indigestion, disturbances of the
heart and often times anasarca. When people suffering from this disease
are given those parts of the rice grain lost in making polished rice,
they recover. This is proof enough that the cause of the disease is the
impoverished food.
The rice that should be used is brown and unpolished. When it is cooked
it looks quite white. It is very satisfying.
Rye is extensively used in some lands. The bread is very good. Oats are
largely devoured in Scotland. Corn bread is a favorite food in the
southern part of our country. The negroes are fond of corn and pork with
molasses, which is far from an ideal combination in warm climates.
PREPARATIONS.
Wheat makes the best bread because it contains gluten. Among proteins
gluten is unique, because it is so elastic and after it has stretched it
has a tendency to retain its place. This is what makes bread so porous.
There are various meals or flours that can not be made into bread, or
even dough, because they lack compounds which will act as frame work.
Bread can be made in many ways. The chief question for the housewife to
decide is whether to make the bread from entire wheat flour or from
patent flour. They are so different in value that a decision should not
be difficult. It is also necessary to decide whether to use yeast bread
or some other kind.
Yeast bread is made essentially from flour, water and yeast in the
presence of heat. There are so many ways of making bread of this kind
that a recipe is not necessary. The amount of salt to be added depends
upon individual taste. Some like to set their yeast working in part
potato, part flour. Others use milk instead of water. Some add
shortening. And nearly all women believe that their own bread is the
best.
Yeast is made up of myriads of little plants or fungi, which thrive on
the sugary part of the flour. They convert this into alcohol and
carbonic acid gas. The alcohol is practically all gone before the bread
is brought to the table. The gas raises the bread, assisted by the
expansion of the water in the dough when it is placed in a hot oven.
The yeast consumes a great deal of the nutritive part of the flour. This
may amount to from 5 to 8 per cent. of the food value, and I have read
that sometimes it is as high as 20 per cent. Liebig said that the
fermentation destroyed enough food material daily in Germany to supply
400,000 people with bread. However, yeast bread is very agreeable to the
taste and therefore is probably worth more than the unfermented product.
One objection to yeast bread is that all the yeast is not killed in
baking, and the alcoholic fermentation may start again in the stomach.
If the bread is turned into zwieback this is remedied. Fresh bread is
not fit to eat, for it is very rarely properly masticated and if it is
merely moistened and converted into a soggy mass in the mouth it is hard
to digest.
Unleavened bread is made by making the flour into a paste, rolling out
thin and baking well. Any kind of flour may be used. This is the
passover bread of the Jews.
Dr. Graham's bread was made by mixing Graham flour with water, without
any leavening, mixing the dough thoroughly, putting this aside several
hours and baking.
Macaroni and spaghetti are made by mixing durum wheat flour with water,
without any leavening. With the addition of eggs we get commercial
noodles. The paste is moulded as desired.
All bread stuffs should be well baked.. The baking turns part of the
starch into dextrine, which is easy to digest. Biscuits should be placed
into a hot oven, but bread should be put into an oven moderately heated,
otherwise the crust forms too quickly.
Whenever a light product is desired, whether it is bread, biscuit or
cake, sift the flour over and over again to get it well impregnated with
air. The more air it contains the more porous will be the finished
product. Five or six siftings will suffice.
Unleavened breads of excellent flavor can be made by using either cream
or butter as shortening, rolling the bread very thin, like crackers, and
baking thoroughly.
Shredded wheat biscuits, puffed wheat and puffed rice, flaked wheat and
flaked corn are some of the good foods we can purchase ready made. Most
of them should be placed in a warm oven long enough to crisp. Masticate
thoroughly and take them with either butter or milk, or both. It is best
to take the milk either before or after eating the cereal. Sugar should
not be added to these foods. Those who are not hungry enough to eat them
without sugar should fast until normal hunger returns.
_Baking powder bread_ is very good. The essentials are well sifted
flour, liquid, good baking powder, quick mixing and a hot oven. The
following recipe, recommended by Dr. Tilden, is good: To a quart of very
best flour, which has been sifted two or three times, add a little salt
and a heaping teaspoonful of baking powder. Sift again three times. Then
add one or two tablespoonfuls of soft butter. Mix rapidly into a rather
stiff dough with unskimmed milk. The dough should be rolled thin, and
cut into small biscuits or strips. Put into a pan and bake in a hot oven
until there is a crisp crust on bottom and top, which will take about
twenty minutes. The more thoroughly and quickly the dough is mixed, the
better the result.
These biscuits or bread sticks are good, always best when made rather
thin, not to exceed an inch in thickness after being baked. When an
attempt is made to bake in the form of a fairly thick loaf it is
generally a failure. Use the proportions of white and whole wheat flours
desired.
If more butter or some cream is added and it is rolled out thin, it
serves very well for the bread part of shortcake.
_Toast_: Slice any kind of bread fairly thin, preferably stale bread.
Place the slices into a moderately hot oven and let them remain there
until they are crisp through and through. The scorched bread that is
generally served as toast is no better than untoasted bread.
_Whole wheat muffins_: One cup whole wheat flour; one cup white flour;
one-fourth cup sugar; one teaspoonful salt; one cup milk; one egg; two
tablespoonfuls melted butter; four teaspoonfuls baking powder. Mix dry
ingredients; add milk gradually, then eggs and melted butter. Put into
gem pans and bake in hot oven for twenty-five minutes.
_Ginger bread_: One cup molasses; one and three-fourths teaspoons soda;
one-half cup sour milk; two cups flour; one-half teaspoon salt;
one-third cup butter; two eggs; two teaspoonfuls ginger. Put butter and
molasses in sauce pan and heat until boiling point is reached. Remove
from fire, add soda and beat vigorously. Then add milk, egg well beaten,
and remaining ingredients mixed and sifted. Bake twenty-five minutes in
buttered, shallow pan in moderate oven.
_Custard_: Three cups milk; three eggs; one-half cup sugar; one-half
teaspoonful vanilla; pinch of salt. Beat eggs, add sugar and salt; then
add scalded milk and vanilla; mix well. Pour into cups, place them in a
pan of hot water in oven and bake twenty to twenty-five minutes. Serve
cold.
Custard may also be cooked in double boiler or baked in a large pan.
This is not a cereal dish, but the next one is.
_Rice custard_: To well cooked rice add a few raisins and a small amount
of sugar. The raisins can be cooked with the rice or separately. Place
the rice and raisins in a baking dish, pour over an equal amount of raw
custard and bake as directed for custard. Bake in either individual cups
or pan. When done the layer of custard is on top and the rice and
raisins on the bottom.
_Macaroni and cheese_: Three-fourths cup macaroni broken in pieces; two
quarts boiling water; one-half table-spoonful salt. Cook macaroni in
salted water twenty minutes, or longer if necessary to make it tender;
drain. Put layer of macaroni in buttered baking dish; sprinkle with
cheese, and repeat, making the last or top layer of cheese. Pour in milk
to almost cover. Put into oven and bake until the top layer of cheese is
brown.
_Corn bread_: Two cups corn meal; one-half cup wheat flour; one
tablespoonful sugar; one-half teaspoonful salt; two teaspoonfuls baking
powder; two eggs; one and three-fourths cups milk. Sift corn meal,
flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together four or five times; add
eggs and milk; stir well, pour into a hot buttered pan; smooth the top
with a little melted butter to crisp the crust. Bake a good brown in hot
oven.
Another recipe for corn bread is: To one cup of wheat flour, add two
cups of corn flour; two eggs; one heaping teaspoonful butter or
cottolene; one heaping teaspoonful baking powder; one pinch soda, a
scant fourth teaspoonful; one-half teaspoonful salt. Prepare and make
into batter with milk and bake as directed in first recipe.
_Corn mush_: Cook corn meal in plain water until it is done. It may be
cooked over the fire, in a fireless cooker or in a double boiler. Serve
with rich milk; add a little salt if desired.
_Oatmeal_: Put into a double boiler and let it cook until it is very
tender. It can also be cooked in a fireless cooker over night. It
requires several hours cooking before it is fit to eat. All foods of
this nature should be thoroughly cooked, and they may all be made into
porridge, which is better.
The objection to all mushy foods is that they are hardly ever properly
masticated. The result is that they ferment in the alimentary tract,
especially when they are eaten with sugar, as they generally are. It is
best to take the mushy foods with milk and a little salt or with
butter. Eaten in this way there is not such tendency to overeat as when
sugar is used. Children especially eat more of these foods than is good
for them if they are allowed to take them with sweets. Porridge is more
diluted than the mushes and hence the danger of overeating is not so
great.
_Boiled rice_: The best way to cook it is in a double boiler or a
fireless cooker. Every grain should be tender. Cook it in plan water. It
is not necessary to stir, but if the rice becomes dry add some more
water. If rice and milk are desired, warm the milk and add when the rice
is done. Serve like oatmeal. Putting sugar on cereals is nonsense. They
are very rich in starch and sugar is about the same as starch. Sugar
stimulates the appetite, and consequently people who use it on cereals
overeat of this concentrated food.
_Rice and raisins_: This is prepared the same as boiled rice, except
that raisins are added to the rice and water when first put on to cook.
With milk this makes a good breakfast or lunch.
COMBINATIONS.
Starches of the cereal order may be eaten in combination with fats, such
as cream, butter, olive oil and other vegetable oils.
They combine well with all the dairy products, such as milk and cheese.
Starches combine well with nuts. Take a piece of whole wheat zwieback
and some pecans, chew both the bread and the nuts well and you will find
this an excellent meal.
There is nothing incompatible about eating cereals with flesh, but it
generally leads to trouble, for people eat enough meat for a meal, and
then they eat enough starch for a full meal. This overeating is
injurious. Besides, starch digestion and meat digestion are different
and carried on in different parts of the alimentary tract, so it is best
to eat starchy foods and meats at different meals. Those who eat in
moderation may eat starch and flesh in the same meal without getting
into trouble.
In winter it is all right to take starch with the sweet fruits.
It is best to avoid mixing acid fruits and cereals. Even healthy people
find that a breakfast of oranges and bread does not agree as well as one
of milk and bread. The saliva, which contains ptyalin, is secreted in
the mouth. The ptyalin starts starch digestion, but it does not work in
the presence of acid. Eating acid fruits makes the mouth acid
temporarily, and consequently the starch does not receive the benefit it
should from mouth digestion. The result is an increased liability to
fermentation in the alimentary tract.
To get the best results it is absolutely necessary to masticate all
starchy foods well. If this is not done it is merely a question of time
until there is indigestion, generally accompanied by much acidity and
gas production. This condition is a builder of many ills.
Recipes for pies and cakes are not given in this book. The less these
compounds are used the better. They are very popular and can be made
according to directions in conventional cook books. Pies should be made
with thin crusts, which should be baked crisp both on bottom and top.
The best cakes are the plain ones.
When desserts are eaten, less should be taken of other foods. Most
people make the mistake of eating more than enough of staple foods and
then they add insult to injury by partaking of dessert.