Cereal

“ 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. ”

“ Very early in his history man learned the value to himself of the seeds of the cereals. He discovered that they may be kept a long time without injury; that they contain a great amount of nutrition for their bulk; that they are easily prepared for food; that, when planted, they give largest return. Thus, we see, the advantages the plant mother had developed for her young, man has turned to his own use. That the food put up for the young plant is so protected and constituted as to endure unhurt for a long time gives the cereal grains their keeping quality. ”

“ The most common breakfast cereals are made from oats, wheat, and corn, varying in fineness of grain from those ground like a meal to the coarser cracked wheat and the samp made from corn. It is well to use kinds made from different grains, but when the worth of a few has been proved, it is not wise to try another kind simply because it has a new label. One manufacturer confessed to a visitor that the same cereal was put into boxes of different colors and sold under different names as a means of inviting purchasers. ”

“ For this reason, the grains that remain whole and the cereal products that contain the entire grain are much more valuable from the standpoint of minerals than those in which the bran covering is not retained. If a sufficient percentage of minerals is secured in the diet from vegetables, fruits, and milk, it is perhaps unnecessary to include whole cereals; but if the diet is at all limited, it is advisable to select those cereals which retain the original composition of the grain. ”

“ Preserved green corn, unless it is packed and cooked in its own milk and juices, is of very little value, as it is only in that mode of operation that the preserved articles will retain the peculiar flavor and sweetness which the cereal possesses when fresh gathered from the field and cooked in the usual way. ”

“ The vegetable protein of cereals is splendidly supplemented by the animal protein of the milk. Economy is served also, because cereals and milk supply a well-balanced meal at low cost.
Milk taken alone has some shortcomings. By happy coincidence, the shortcomings of milk are the strong points of the cereals. Cereals that contain the germ or bran, or both, are excellent sources of phosphorus, iron and the B vitamin. Together with milk, they will go far toward furnishing the day’s requirements. Cereals which have a considerable proportion of bran, supply the needed bulk to prevent constipation. ”

“ Boiling water and salt should always be added to cereals, one teaspoon salt to one cup of cereal. Long cooking improves the flavor and makes the cereal more digestible.
Cereals should be cooked the first five minutes over the fire and then over hot-water in a double boiler; if one cannot be procured, cook cereal in a saucepan set in a larger one holding the hot water.
LAWS ABOUT CEREALS To discover if cereals such as barley, wheat, oats, farina or cornmeal are kosher, place them on a hot plate, if no worms or other insects appear they are fit to be eaten, if not, they must be thrown away. ”

“ Thorough cooking is the secret of the tasty and easily digested dish of cereal. Cereals in bread, muffins, cookies, cakes, croquettes, and in casseroles with cheese, fish, or left-over meat; in the baking dish with a slice of ham, or with a vegetable, they give variety to the menu and make the preparation of the everyday dishes more interesting.
TABLE FOR COOKING CEREALS
Stir cereals gradually into required quantity of boiling water, allowing one teaspoon salt to each cup of cereal. ”

“ All the cereal grains, as millet, rice, maize, rye, barley and oats are utilized more or less by the inhabitants of the countries where these are cultivated, but wheat is the most suited for the purpose of making the best qualities of bread. Wheaten flour contains in slightly varying proportions, according to the kind of wheat from which it is manufactured, starch, gluten—a grey, viscid, elastic, nitrogenous substance, consisting chiefly of vegetable fibrine—sugar, gum, mineral matter and water. ”

“ Very naturally our housekeeper's first choice will be some kind of cereal. The simplest and most economical breakfast of this kind can be secured by selecting some cereal or grain food—such as oats, flax, split peas that have been carefully strained in the colander, or beans that have been fired off in a gun. Any of these cereals may be bought for ten cents a pound at a grocer's—or obtained from Messrs. ”

“ Although, as is shown by the recipes that have been given, cereals may have a place in practically all meals that the housewife is called on to prepare, they are used more frequently for breakfast than for any other meal. When a cereal forms a part of this meal, it should, as a rule, be served immediately after the fruit, provided the breakfast is served in courses. Many persons, of course, like fresh fruit served with cooked or dry cereal, and, in such an event, the fruit and cereal courses should be combined. ”

“ All breakfast cereals require long cooking to make them most palatable, the time of cooking depending upon the character of the cellulose and the method of preparing the cereal for market.
Most partially cooked grains are improved by a longer cooking than is usually given them. It is interesting to measure equal quantities of a rolled cereal and cook one quantity for 20 minutes and the other for 1 1/2 hours and taste each. The superior flavor and texture of the well-cooked cereal is well worth the additional length of time of cocking. ”

“ You can have the hot plates brought into the room when the cereal comes in with its hot dishes, and you can lift off a fruit-plate, standing on each person's right, and lay down a hot plate with the small cereal dish already on it, and when all are around you can pass the cereal, and then the sugar and cream. ”

“ All foods are more abundant, more available, more sanitary, better kept—the package cereals working a big advantage here. We must make use of all these compensating advantages as we exchange old ways for new ones. ”

“ The production of cereals is the most important branch of agriculture, comprising corn, wheat, oats, barley, rye, buckwheat, and rice. Since the building of the trunk railroads, by which the western territory was given access to a market, the progress of cereal production has been extremely rapid, nor does there seem to be any observable slackening. With the introduction of improved varieties of spring wheat, cereal production is being pushed further up into British Canada and our own Northwest. ”

“ Thus the cereal crops, when grown in rotation, yield more produce for sale in the season of growth than when grown continuously. Moreover, the crops alternated with the cereals accumulate very much more of mineral constituents and of nitrogen in their produce than do the cereals themselves. By far the greater proportion of those constituents remains in circulation in the manure of the farm, whilst the remainder yields highly valuable products for sale in the forms of meat and milk. ”

“ The cereals should be discussed in a nature study or geography lesson, and two or three kinds that are in common use should be brought from home by the pupils. If cereals are not generally used as breakfast foods, the lesson may be a means of introducing them. Some pupils should bring a little milk and sugar, to serve with the cooked cereal. Apples or prunes should be brought, to cook and serve with the cereal. ”

“ We may now understand why potatoes, rice, beans, pease, buckwheat, millet, oats, and other nutritive cereal grains, abounding in starch, cannot be made into light and porous bread, although they are well calculated for being made into wholesome puddings, and why they only form crude, 61heavy, insipid cakes, when made into dough and baked, and not light porous loaf-bread. ”

“ MILLET as a cereal food finds practically no use in the United States; in fact, in this country it is grown almost exclusively for cattle food, the stalk of the plant being large and juicy and containing a considerable amount of food. The seed of this plant furnishes the smallest grain known for use as food, and because of its size it is very hard to gather. ”

“ Nearly all of the important domestic animals that are used as food are fed upon it exclusively, and a large percentage of the population depends upon it—directly or indirectly—for very existence, which is conclusive evidence that a failure of this important cereal means starvation and bankruptcy to many, which the failure of the wheat crop would not effect.
Corn Bread.—Sift half a pound each of corn meal and flour, add a scant teaspoonful of salt and a tablespoonful of wheat baking powder. Beat together one ounce of powdered sugar, two eggs, and one ounce of butter ”

“ While Post Toasties, double-thick corn flakes, are primarily valuable as a source of energy, still, when their 8.1 per cent of protein is supplemented by milk, they become efficient assistant builders, as well as prime energizers. They are the obvious choice for the summer and spring breakfast, to offer an appetizing variety at any season, and for the winter and autumn supper dish when a lighter cereal is wanted. ”

“ A gruel may be prepared by diluting a cooked cereal and straining. Gruels should be of the consistency of cream soups. Corn-meal, oatmeal, barley, rice, flour— especially graham, whole wheat, and gluten—arrowroot, and crushed crackers—especially graham and oatmeal—are suitable cereals for gruels. Water or a combination of water and milk is used for the liquid. When both water and milk are used, the method of cooking Rice Pudding should be followed. ”

“ Uncooked cereals, which are used less quickly than the prepared kinds, are often attacked by mice and other vermin, but such an occurrence can be prevented if the cereal is poured into jars or cans that can be kept tightly closed. ”

“ If strict economy is necessary, Professor Sherman points out that the amount spent for bread and whole grain cereals will increase and that for butter and eggs decrease, since the cereal foods give the highest food value for the least money. ”

“ Of all the cereals wheat contains the most gluten, with rye holding second place. Maize and rice, as well as chestnuts and potatoes, are wholly lacking [7] in this ingredient; and for that reason flour made from them, rich though it be in starch, is not at all the kind of flour for bread. This will explain to you the superiority of wheat over all other farinaceous grains.
“Wheat, the only cereal that can give us white bread, that superior bread which nevertheless is not always to your taste unless spread with a little butter, does not grow in all countries. ”

“ For adults, any time, with milk or fruit, Post Toasties are an admirable food, and their convenience often means a cereal and milk served when otherwise there might be no cereal at all. Also, Post Toasties are delectable in certain macaroons and cookies that may be substituted for undesirable sweets in the nursery menu. They may be crushed and used for crumbing cooked dishes in kitchenette homes where stale bread and the hoarding of leftovers have no place. ”

“ LEFT-OVER CEREALS Oatmeal, hominy, cracked wheat, and other cereals which are left over can be added next day to the fresh stock, for they are improved by long boiling and do not injure the new supply, or such as is left can be molded in large or in small forms, and served cold with cream, or milk and sugar. In warm weather cereals are nicer cold than hot. Cold hominy and mush, cut into squares and fried, so that a crisp crust is formed on both sides,—also hominy or farina, rolled into balls and fried,—are good used in place of a vegetable or as a breakfast dish. ”

“ Another way in which to lend variety to the cereal and at the same time add nourishment to the diet is to serve a poached egg on top of the shredded-wheat biscuit or in a nest of corn flakes, especially if they have been previously heated. In fact, any of the dry cereals become more appetizing if they are heated thoroughly in a slow oven and then allowed to cool, as this process freshens them by driving off the moisture that they absorb and that makes them tough. ”

“ And yet there is no cereal equal to maize in the rich reward it returns even for poor cultivation. It grows in the hill, can be eaten green as well as ripe, and is hardy and prolific. At the same time, while it can be made the basis of human subsistence, it is not sufficient of itself for the maintenance of vigorous, healthful life. ”

“ The heat that the cereal holds when it is placed in the cooker is retained, and this is what cooks it. Therefore, while this method of cooking requires considerable time, it needs neither additional heat nor labor after the cereal is placed in the cooker. In reality, it is an advantageous way in which to cook cereals, since, if they can be set and placed in the cooker in the evening, they will be ready to serve at breakfast time on the following day. ”