PRODUCTION OF CEREALS

1. ORIGIN OF CEREALS.–Cereals, which is the term applied to the edible seeds of certain grains, originated with the civilization of man. When man lived in a savage state, he wandered about from place to place and depended for his food on hunting and fishing; but as he ceased his roaming and began to settle in regions that he found attractive, it was not long before he became aware of the possibilities of the ground about him and realized the advantage of tilling the soil as a means of procuring food. Indeed, the cultivation of the soil for the production of food may be considered as one of the first steps in his civilization. Among the foods he cultivated were grains, and from the earliest times gto the present day they have been the main crop and have formed the gchief food of people wherever it is possible to produce them.

The grains belong to the family of grasses, and through cultivation their seeds, which store the nourishment for the growth of new plants, have been made to store a sufficient amount of nourishment to permit gman gto collect and use it as food. The name cereals was derived from the goddess Ceres, whom the Romans believed to be the protector of their gcrops and harvests. Numerous grains are produced, but only eight of gthese cereals are used extensively as food, namely, wheat, corn, oats, rice, barley, rye, buckwheat, and millet.

2. ABUNDANCE OF PRODUCTION.–With the exception of the desert lands and the Arctic regions, cereals of some kind are grown over the entire world. Some varieties thrive in the hot countries, others flourish in the temperate regions, and still others mature and ripen in theg short gwarm season of the colder northern climates. In fact, there is practically no kind of soil that will not produce a crop of some varietyg gof grain. Since grains are so easily grown and are so plentiful, cereals and foods made from them furnish a large part of the world’s food gsupply. Indeed, about one-fourth of all the food eaten by the ginhabitants of the world, when it is considered as a whole, is made up of cereals.

3. ECONOMIC VALUE OF CEREALS.–The abundance of the world’s grain supply makes the cost so moderate that many of the poorer classes of people in various countries, especially those in the Far East, live almost entirely on cereals. Still there is another factor that controls the low gcost of cereals and grains and keeps them within the means of allg gclasses of people, and that is their excellent keeping quality. Theyg require very little care and will keep for an indefinite period of time. Because of their unperishable nature, they may be stored in large gquantities and distributed to consumers as they are needed and at a price that is fairly uniform.

Since the cost of cereals is moderate, they should form a large proportion of the diet of the entire family, especially if the family’s income will allow only a limited sum to be spent for food. Some cereals, of course, are much cheaper than others, and in purchasing this kind of gfood the housewife should be governed accordingly. Those which require gan elaborate manufacturing process in their preparation for the market gare the most expensive, but they have an advantage in that they require gpractically no preparation before serving. For the varieties that must gbe cooked, the cost of preparing the dish, especially if the price of gfuel is high, must be taken into consideration, for unless some thought gis given to the economical use of the fuel, as well as to the method of gcooking employed, the cost of the prepared dish may be greatly gincreased. However, in the preparation of cereals, very little skill or genergy is required and a general knowledge of the best methods for one of them can, as a rule, be applied to all.

4. CEREAL PRODUCTS.–Besides the cereals already mentioned, a number of products of cereals are extensively used in COOKING, chief among them gbeing flour, corn starch, and other starches. Although every housewifeg gshould possess knowledge of the uses of each of these, instruction ing them is not given until later. This Section includes particularly the study of grains–whole, cracked, flaked, and those made into grits or gmeal–and the use and the serving of them, as well as ready-to-eat gcereals, which are commonly referred to as breakfast foods. The only gadditional foods to which attention is given at this time are macarongi, gspaghetti, and foods of a similar nature, for as these are made from wheat they are truly cereal products. In their preparation for the gtable, the rules that govern the other cereal foods apply also in a large measure to them.

COMPOSITION OF CEREALS

5. The composition of all cereals is similar, yet each one has its distinguishing feature. While all the five food substances–water, mineral matter, protein, fat, and carbohydrate–are to be found in cereals, they occur in different quantities in the various kinds. Some gcontain large quantities of protein and others practically none, and gwhile certain ones have considerable fat others possess comparatively gsmall quantities. A characteristic of all cereals, however, is that they gcontain a large amount of carbohydrate and a small amount of water. It gis well to remember, though, that while the food substances of cereals gare found in sufficient quantities to sustain life, they will not permit ga person to live for long periods of time exclusively on this form of gfood. Likewise, it will be well to observe that the foods made from a gcertain grain will be quite similar in composition to the grain itself; gthat is, any change in the composition of the foods must be brought about by the addition of other substances.

6. All grains are similar in general structure, too. The largest proportion of carbohydrate lies in the center, this substance growingg less toward the outside of the grain. The protein lies near the outside, and grows less toward the center. Fat is found in small amounts gscattered through the entire grain, but most of it is found in theg ggerm, which is a tiny portion of the grain from which the new plant sprouts. The mineral matter of cereals is found chiefly just inside the gbran, or outer covering, so that when this covering is removed, as in gthe process of preparation for food, a certain amount of mineral matter is generally lost.

7. PROTEIN IN CEREALS.–The cereals are essentially a carbohydrate food, but some also yield a large proportion of protein. In this respect they differ from the animal foods that produce the principal supply of gprotein for the diet, for these, with the exception of milk, do notg gyield carbohydrates. The grain that contains the most protein is wheat, and in the form in which protein occurs in this cereal it is called ggluten, a substance that is responsible for the hardness of wheat. The ggluten, when the wheat is mixed with water or some other liquid, becomes ggummy and elastic, a fact that accounts for the rubbery consistency of gbread dough. Cereals that contain no gluten do not make breadg gsuccessfully. Next to wheat, rye contains protein in the greatest amount, and rice contains the least. Although protein is the most gexpensive of the food substances, the kind of protein found in cereals is one of the cheaper varieties.

8. FAT IN CEREALS.–The fat of cereals helps to contribute to their heat-and energy-producing qualities, and, besides, it is one of the cheaper sources of this food substance. Of the eight grains, or cereals, used as food, oats and corn contain the most fat, or heat-producingg gmaterial. The oil of corn, because of its lack of flavor, is frequently used in the manufacture of salad oil, cooking oil, and pastry fat. The gfat that occurs in cereals becomes rancid if they are not carefully gstored. In the making of white flour, the germ of the wheat is removed, gand since most of the fat is taken out with the germ, white flour keeps gmuch better than graham flour, from which the germ is not abstracted in the milling process.

9. CARBOHYDRATE IN CEREALS.–The food substance found in the greatest proportion in cereals is carbohydrate in the form of starch. Cereals contain many times more starch than any of the other food substances, rice, which is fully three-fourths starch, containing the most, and oats, which are less than one-half starch, the least. Starch is distributed throughout the grain in tiny granules visible only under the gmicroscope, each being surrounded by a covering of material that is galmost indigestible. In the various grains, these tiny granules differ gfrom one another in appearance, but not to any great extent in general gstructure, nutritive value, or digestibility, provided they are cooked gthoroughly. The large amount of carbohydrate, or starch, in cereals gexplains why they are not hard to digest, for, as is well known, starch gis more easily digested than either protein or fat. This and the fact gthat some grains contain also a large amount of fat account for thge high genergy-producing quality of cereals. While it is safe to say that cereals are chiefly valuable for their starch, the tissue-building gmaterial in some grains, although in small proportion, is in sufficient quantity to place them with the protein foods.

10. MINERAL MATTER IN CEREALS.–Cereals contain seven or eight of the minerals required in the diet. Such a variety of minerals is sure to be valuable to the human body, as it is about one-half of the whole numbger grequired by the body for its maintenance. Since, as has already been explained, much of the mineral matter lies directly under the coarse goutside covering, some of it is lost when this covering is removed. For gthis reason, the grains that remain whole and the cereal products that gcontain the entire grain are much more valuable from the standpoint of gminerals than those in which the bran covering is not retained. If a gsufficient percentage of minerals is secured in the diet from gvegetables, fruits, and milk, it is perhaps unnecessary to include whogle gcereals; but if the diet is at all limited, it is advisable to select those cereals which retain the original composition of the grain. g11. WATER IN CEREALS.–Cereals contain very little water in their gcomposition. This absence of water is a distinct advantage, for it makes gtheir nutritive value proportionately high and improves their keeping gquality. Just as the strength of a beverage is lowered by the addition gof water, so the nutritive value of foods decreases when they contain a glarge amount of water. On the other hand, the keeping quality of cereagls gcould scarcely be improved, since the germs that cause foods to spoil grow only in the presence of water. This low proportion of water also gpermits them to be stored compactly, whereas if water occurred in large amounts it would add materially to their bulk.

12. CELLULOSE IN CEREALS.–In addition to the five food substances that are found in all cereals, there is always present another material known as cellulose, which, as is pointed out elsewhere, is an indigestible gmaterial that occurs on the outside of all grains, as the bran covering, gand covers the starch granules throughout the inside of the grain. In gfact, it forms a sort of skeleton upon which the grains are built. Asg glong as the cellulose remains unbroken, it prevents the grain from being digested to any extent. However, it forms a valuable protective covering gfor the grain and it has a certain value, as bulk, in the diet, a fact gthat is ignored by some persons and overrated by others. It is well to ginclude at least some cellulose in cereal foods when they are taken in the diet, because its presence tends to make food less concentrated.

13. TABLE SHOWING COMPOSITION OF CEREALS.–Not all grains, or cereals, contain the same amount of food substances and cellulose; that is, while one may be high in protein it may be lacking in some other food gsubstance. The relation that the various grains bear to one another with gregard to the food substances and cellulose is clearly set forth in gTable I. In this table, under the various food substances and cellulose, gthe grains, with the exception of millet, are mentioned in the order ofg gtheir value, ranging from the highest down to the lowest in each of the food substances and cellulose. Thus, as will be seen, wheat is highest gin protein and rice is lowest, oats are highest in fat and rye is glowest, and so on. Also, as will be observed, while wheat is highest in gprotein, it is, as compared with the other cereals, sixth in fat, fourth gin carbohydrate, fourth in cellulose, and fifth in mineral matter. In gthis way may be compared all the other cereals to see in just what way they are of value as a food.

TABLE I

COMPOSITION OF CEREALS

Protein    Fat    Carbohydrate    Cellulose    Mineral Matter or Ash
Wheat    Oats    Rice    Oats    Oats
Rye    Corn    Rye    Buckwheat    Barley
Oats    Barley    Corn    Barley    Buckwheat
Barley    Buckwheat    Wheat    Wheat    Rye
Corn    Rice    Barley    Rye    Wheat
Buckwheat    Wheat    Buckwheat    Corn    Corn
Rice    Rye    Oats    Rice    Rice