Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1901-06-21


will not only have saved your time,
labor, and strength, but you will have
Il superior article of food, more palata-
bic and nourishing, giving enjoyment
as we'll as healthfulness. Surely Of
all things on earth, this text is most
applicable to cookery: with all thy
getting, get understanding" That is
the foundation-stone. We can always
remember things better if we know
the reasons why.
Keep all cereals in tins with tightly
fitting covers. Carefully look over all
grains for the removal OF stones, chaff,
or any other foreign substance.
Wash the unground grains. The feel
ing OF cleanliness more than compen.
safes for the small amount OF starch
which is washed away. A colander,
or wire sieve, is the best for this pur-
pose.
All flour or meal should be siited
for the same reason of cleanliness.
Flour and meal are much more
readily mixed with other ingredients
after having been sifted.
1t is especially important to sift out
the bran from graham flour, unless
you wish to use it incidentally. Not
withdrawing claims made by its ad.
vocates, it is proved that the woody
fiber of the bran irritates the Innings
of the digestive organs, and not only
passes through the system without af-
fording any nourishment, but causes
other nourishing foods to pass through
undigested. While graham flour may
be temporary relief for constipation,
it is never a cure, and aggravates the
causes by disturbing the digestion.
The Changing Of Starch Into Sugar.
Each starch grain is incased in a
walled cell. The heat and moisture
break down the walls and expand the
grains, making them ready for the
change into sugar. This change is
made by the action of a ferment
This takes place in the growing seed,
in the mailing grain, in the raising of
dough by yeast, and by means of the
digestive ferments in the human sys-
tenn.
Cold water does not dissolve starch.
Starch can stand in cold water until
the water is evaporated and still be
unchanged, but boiling water at once
changes its color and consistency.
All starch foods should be put into
boiling water, and kept at the boiling
point until all the starch cells are ex-
panded. This is a simple rule, and if
faithfully followed, will save the
housekeeper much anxiety, and bring
satisfaction instead of the worry aris-
ing from misunderstood failures.
Potatoes and other vegetables are
more than half water, and need only
enough boiling water to keep them
we'll covered, while the heat penetrates
and expands the starch cells; but the
cereals are hard and compact, and the
question of the right proportion of
water is the vital one, as every house
keeper knows. No starch foods
should be stirred while cooking, save
only enough to thoroughly mix the
starch Cor cereaD with the liquid in
which it is cooked. The stirring
brushes the expanding starch cells and
makes them pasty.
The Cooking Of Oatmeal.
Raw oatmeal requires three or four
hours boiling or steaming. The
starch grains are firm and compact,
not easily acted upon. Crushed, or
rolled oats, are more readily acted
upon by the heat and moisture as
they have a fatter and broader sur.
face, and the cells are more easily
reached, but they require at least an
hour of constant cooking. Three
hours is better; otherwise the starch
cells are taken into the stomach in
cased in the hard walls, and indiges.
ton follows.
This is true OF all the cereals
wheat. rye, corn, barley, rice, and oats.
Coarse hominy should be boiled at
least five or six hours in five parts OF
water. Corn-starch is fine and read
lily penetrated by the boiling water.
It can be expanded in five or ten
minutes. The grains are so fine in
the cornstarch that it is necessary to
mix them with enough cold water to
separate the particles, otherwise the
boiling water dissolves the starch
grains on the surface and forms an in.
soluble coating for the inclosed cells,
making Jumps in the starch or flour.
Whole wheat or cracked wheat
should be boiled five or six hours, with
the proportion of five parts of water to
one OF wheat.
The proportion of rice varies. from
two and half parts of water to three
of water for one of rice, according to
the absorptivc power of the rice.
Some kinds of rice absorb more than
nthe1A do. All cereals need mora