CEREALS AND THEIR PREPARATION.
CEREALS AND THEIR PREPARATION.
Cereal is the name given to those
seeds used as food (wheat, rye, oats, barley, corn, rice, etc.), which are
produced by plants belonging to the vast order known as the grass family. They
are used for food both in the unground state and in various forms of mill
products.
The grains are pre-eminently
nutritious, and when well prepared, easily digested foods. In composition, they
are all similar, but variations in their constituent elements and the relative
amounts of these various elements, give them different degrees of alimentary
value. They each contain one or more of the nitrogenous elements, gluten, albumen,
casein, and fibrin, together with starch, dextrin, sugar, and fatty matter,
and also mineral elements and woody matter, or cellulose. The combined
nutritive value of the grain foods is nearly three times that of beef, mutton,
or poultry. As regards the proportion of the food elements necessary to meet
the various requirements of the system, grains approach more nearly the proper
standard than most other foods; indeed, wheat contains exactly the correct
proportion of the food elements.
Being thus in themselves so nearly
perfect foods, and when properly prepared, exceedingly palatable and easy of
digestion, it is a matter of surprise that they are not more generally used;
yet scarcely one family in fifty makes any use of the grains, save in the form
of flour, or an occasional dish of rice or oatmeal. This use of grains is far
too meager to adequately represent their value as an article of diet. Variety
in the use of grains is as necessary as in the use of other food material, and
the numerous grain preparations now to be found in market render it quite
possible to make this class of foods a staple article of diet, if so desired,
without their becoming at all monotonous.
In olden times the grains were
largely depended upon as a staple food, and it is a fact well authenticated by the history that the highest condition of man has always been associated with
wheat-consuming nations. The ancient Spartans, whose powers of endurance are
proverbial were fed on a grain diet, and the Roman soldiers who under Caesar
conquered the world, carried each a bag of parched grain in his pocket as his
daily ration.
Other nationalities at the present
time make extensive use of the various grains. Rice used in connection with
some of the leguminous seeds, forms the staple article of diet for a large
proportion of the human race. Rice, unlike the other grain foods, is deficient
in the nitrogenous elements, and for this reason, its use needs to be
supplemented by other articles containing an excess of the nitrogenous
material. It is for this reason, doubtless, that the Chinese eat peas and beans
in connection with rice.
We frequently meet people who say
they cannot use the grains, that they do not agree with them. With all
deference to the opinion of such people, it may be stated that the difficulty
often lies in the fact that the grain was either not properly cooked, not
properly eaten, or not properly accompanied. A grain, simply because it is a
grain, is by no means warranted to faithfully fulfill its mission unless
properly treated. Like many another good thing excellent in itself, if found in
bad company, it is prone to create mischief, and in many cases, the root of the
whole difficulty may be found in the excessive amount of sugar used with the
grain.
Sugar is not needed with grains to
increase their alimentary value. The starch which constitutes a large the proportion of their food elements must itself be converted into sugar by the
digestive processes before assimilation, hence the addition of cane sugar only
increases the burden of the digestive organs, for the pleasure of the palate.
The Asiatics, who subsist largely upon rice, use no sugar upon it, and why
should it be considered requisite for the enjoyment of wheat, rye, oatmeal,
barley, and other grains, any more than it is for our enjoyment of bread or
other articles made from these same grains? Undoubtedly the use of grains would
become more universal if they were served with less or no sugar. The continued
use of sugar upon grains has a tendency to cloy the appetite, just as the
constant use of cake or sweetened bread in the place of ordinary bread would
do. Plenty of nice, sweet cream or fruit juice, is a sufficient dressing, and
there are few persons who after a short trial would not come to enjoy the grains
without sugar, and would then as soon think of dispensing with a meal
altogether as to dispense with the grains.
Even when served without sugar, the
grains may not prove altogether healthful unless they are properly eaten.
Because they are made soft by the process of cooking and on this account do not
require masticating to break them up, the first process of digestion or
insalivation is usually overlooked. But it must be remembered that grains are
largely composed of starch, and that starch must be mixed with the saliva, or
it will remain undigested in the stomach since the gastric juice only digests
the nitrogenous elements. For this reason, it is desirable to eat the grains in
connection with some hard food. Whole-wheat wafers, nicely toasted to make them
crisp and tender, toasted rolls, and unfermented zwieback, are excellent for
this purpose. Break two or three wafers into rather small pieces over each
individual dish before pouring on the cream. In this way, a morsel of the hard
food may be taken with each spoonful of the grains. The combination of foods
thus secured, is most pleasing. This is a specially advantageous method of
serving grains for children, who are so liable to swallow their food without
proper mastication.
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