The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-12-10
WHAT THEY EAT IN CHINA.
Wheat a General Article of Food as
Well ms Rice


Consul General Jernlgan, Shanghai.
Although rice is generally regarded by
the Chinese as the staff of ife," a large
quantity of wheat has been used from the
most ancient times, and in the earliest
classifications wheat is mentioned as one
of the five grains. In the northern prov
inces, where rice is not grown and can
only be purchased by the well to do wheat
is the most common cereal. but IL is of a
very pear quality. Blasted heads are seen
in lark numbers every year and ergotism
is too frequent cause of disease among
the poor. .a-i
The wheat is ground by very primitive
process. The mill consists of two light
stones, which are turned by aid of a blind
folded mule. The -four is coarse and dark
chiefly used in the form of vermicelli and,
when steamed, makes a good substitute
for rice and when mixed with a little
BROTH favored with dash of soy it forms
very savory dish. To use the Chinese
term, they are the Suspended" and the
dropped the former is the true Vermi-
cell, the manufacture OF which is a COM
mon sight in many northern villages,
where strings of the paste, fastened at the
ends of two light sticks, are suspended
before the doors of the cottages even in
the main streets The strings are gener-
ally heightened by pulling down little by
| little" the lower stick, dozen or twenty
strings being fastened to each pair of
sticks. The chopped vermicelli is made by
| rolling out the dough and cutting 1t in
thin strips with a knife fastened to the
board like a straw chopper.
Wheat flour is also used for making
rolls which are lghtened with leaven, and
thes are cooked by steaming, as are the
many varieties of patties containing mine
ed meat, molasses, or a kind of JAM The
steamer consists of sleeves, fitting tightly
one upon another, which are covered and
placed over the kettle in which the meat
Or other food is being cooked.
The ordinary Chinese, whether in city or
| village, takes his breakfast at the tea
house or restaurant 1t consists almost en-
| tirely of these meat rolls or patties; the
| latter are dipped in vinegar, soy, or q So
| luton of red pepper, when eaten. Some
| times the steamed rolls, after they have
| grown old, are made palatable by being
toasted on grill over a charcoal fire. An
| other popular dish is doughnut fried in
| oil. Baking is almost entirely unknown,
| but there is q cake of the size and shape
| of an OK rib which is baked by being stuck
on the inside of a jar-shaped furnace, in
which there is a hot charcoal fire. These
| cakes are sometimes circular, but in every
\ case they are covered with the seeds of
| the sesame, which add very much to the
! flavor. Another variety is a large, round
! cake cooked on a griddle, and which is
divided into quarters when offered for sale
| The Mohammedan Chinese make a similar
| cake, of which they are also very fond,
| without using any pork fat
! For the better quality of native pastry
and confectionery, rice flour is used. but
at the treaty ports and the cities TO which
| foreign influence has extended many
forms of sweet cake and biscuit are made
of American flour. Even for purely native
varieties of rolls and cakes the America n
| flour is now preferred on account of its
wilderness and wholesomeness.
Within a few years past the importation
of American flour has rapidly increased.
| In the heart of China ten years ago, 1t
was almost unknown away from the
| treaty ports, but now bags of American
| -four may be seen in large quantities
stacked in the shops of inland cities. Ac-
! curate statistics can not be had as to the
| quantity of American flour imported and
| the customs returns are silent on the sub
| ject, except with reference to two or three
of the southern ports. In the last volume
| of the returns, it appears that Canton
| takes about one-third of the whole mpor-
| tation of American -four. The figures for
| Canton in 1896 were 1864 piculs q picul
equals 1884 pounds) valued at S439, 0SS in
gold. This would seem to give, for the
whole of China, 527,052 piculs, valued at
81. S17, 264.12.
| 1t will doubtless occur that where so
| much wheat is grown IL is only needed to
| import mill machinery TO manufacture on
the spot all the -four that can be demand
ed, but unless the quality Of the wheat
produced in China Is materially improved.
the demand for American -four IS likely
| to go on Increasing. The flour from Amer
/ lea is shipped almost exclusively in bags
holding twenty-five pounds, a packing
| much preferred by the Chinese
Losing No Time. hear
dot your son is goin' into peesness for
| himself.