All civilized people have a favorite cereal. The Chinese and j.a.panese 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 amus.e.m.e.nt, 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 quant.i.ties 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 princ.i.p.ally 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 quant.i.ties 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 coa.r.s.eness 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 r.e.t.a.r.ds 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 a.s.similated, 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 talc.u.m 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 quant.i.ties, 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 mola.s.ses, 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, a.s.sisted 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 ma.s.s 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 pa.s.sover 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 b.u.t.ter 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 b.u.t.ter 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 b.u.t.ter. 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 b.u.t.ter 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 m.u.f.fins_: One cup whole wheat flour; one cup white flour; one-fourth cup sugar; one teaspoonful salt; one cup milk; one egg; two tablespoonfuls melted b.u.t.ter; four teaspoonfuls baking powder. Mix dry ingredients; add milk gradually, then eggs and melted b.u.t.ter. Put into gem pans and bake in hot oven for twenty-five minutes.
_Ginger bread_: One cup mola.s.ses; one and three-fourths teaspoons soda; one-half cup sour milk; two cups flour; one-half teaspoon salt; one-third cup b.u.t.ter; two eggs; two teaspoonfuls ginger. Put b.u.t.ter and mola.s.ses 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 b.u.t.tered, 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 b.u.t.tered 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.