Buckwheat.
This grain may be classed with wheat as regards its nutritive qualities. It contains thirteen or fourteen per cent. of water, about fifteen per cent. of gluten, and sixty or sixty-five per cent. of starch. It will not make good fermented bread, but its delicious cakes are an essential and attractive feature upon American breakfast tables everywhere, especially in cool weather. It is sold in bulk and is also put up in three and six pound packages.
Rice.
Although this grain is the main food of one-third of the human race and is very easily digested, it contains too little gluten and fat and too much starch to be considered alone as a perfect food for man. Rice has a slightly constipating effect but is an excellent and wholesome occasional article of diet, and one which could not well be spared from the family list. Rice is sold deprived of its husk. It is imported from the East Indies, but the best is the fine, large head rice of the Carolinas. As some of the most valuable qualities of rice dissolve out in hot water, it should be steamed until tender, rather than boiled.
Farinaceous Foods.
These are very numerous and some of them are excellent. Among them may be named the “CEREALINE FLAKES,” made from white corn; CRACKED and CRUSHED WHEAT, WHEATEN GRITS, FARINA, which is the inner part of the wheat granulated, SELF-RAISING, BUCKWHEAT and other FLOURS; “WHEATLET,” “GRAINLET,” “GRANUM,” “FARINOSE,” “MAIZENA,” MANIOCA, INFANT FOOD, MILK FOOD, ARROW ROOT, CORN STARCH of various makes, GRAHAM FLOUR, BOSTON BROWN BREAD MIXTURES, etc. Many of these preparations are eaten with milk, and prove valuable additions to the family diet.
Sago is the pith of an Indian palm steeped in water until it becomes a paste, then formed into little balls by rubbing it through a perforated plate. The best is the whitest. Tapioca is the pith of the Manihot tree, washed like sago, but granulated differently. Both are nutritious and easily digested, and are made into puddings, often with fruit, and eaten with milk or sauce.
Bread.
One hundred pounds of good, fine, wheaten flour will take up forty-five pounds of water, and yield one hundred and forty-five pounds of bread. The proper and legal weight of bread is while it is hot. A four pound loaf loses in twenty-four hours one and one-quarter ounces; in forty-eight hours five ounces; in seventy hours nine ounces. The quantity of water which flour will absorb depends largely on the proportion and quality of the gluten. The best flours absorb most, and will take up more in dry than in wet seasons; hence a dry season is good for the baker. Thorough kneading increases the absorption of water, and should be continued until none of the dough will stick to the hand.