Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-29
NUTRITIVE VALUE.
Brought Out by Expert Cereal Reel
pes.

On either side Of the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That cloche the world and meet the sky.


-TENNYSON.
Next to potatoes in the class Of starchy
foods come cereals. Among the most i'm
portant cereals are wheat, rye, rice. oats
barley and corn. From each OF these a
number Of breakfast foods are prepared and
put on the market under various names.
Many Of these preparations have been par
TALLY steam cooked at the factory and are
advertised as needing but little cooking to
prepare them for the table. 1t Is by no
means economical to buy these steam
cooked cereals. The purchaser pays for
the weight Of water which the cereal has
absorbed and receives preparation which
has often lost much Of the original flavor
of the grain. Besides this the use of in
ferior grains cannot be detected, and the
small quantity bought at time Is ex-
pensive. Notice the appearance OF cereals
grains are yellowish white and whole,
with little starch dust on them. Corn
meal and hominy spoil quickly, therefore
do not buy them in large quantities.
Cereals should be kept in jars or cans,
never left in paper bags to attract mice.
Cereals may be prepared in two ways
by boiling and by steamfng. Or the two
the latter method is preferable for several
reasons. 1t insureS even cooking of the
cereal. prevents it from wasting or drying
on to the saucepan, makes stirring I'M
necessary and none of the food substances
are drained off at the end, as in boiling.
Steaming is done with a double boiler
because the food in the upper part never
reaches the boiling point The important
point In cooking cereals is to have them
thoroughly cooked. 1t is better not to eat
cereals at all than to eat them under
cooked, for only by long cooking are they
made digestible and we'll flvored. Cook
steam-cooked cereals, as a iuie twice as
long as Is directed on the package.
To steam a cereal fill the over part or
the double boiler one-third full of boiling
water and put it over the fire. into the
top measure the cereal and put with I the
salt and the amount of DO ling water that
the cereal will absorb. Put the two parts
of the boiler together. cover tightly, and
let steam the required length of time. To
save time and fuel, uncooked cereals may
be soaked in cold water before cooking,
and very often a fire kept up for other pur-
poses may be utilized for cooking cereals.
Those requiring more than one hour may
be cooked the day before they are to be
eaten and reheated In the morning.
Rice, one cupful: salt, one teaspoonful;
water two quarts or more. Put the water
over the fire to boil WASH the rice In
strainer held over bowl of cold water,
changing the water until it is clear. When
the water boils rapidly, drop in the rice
slowly so as not to stop the bolling OF the
water If the grains settle. STIR with
fork Let the rice boil rapidly uncovered,
from twenty to thirty minutes, or until the
grains can be crushed between the fingers.
Add the salt wnen the rice is nearly done
Turn into a strainer to drain. rinse with
ing dish into the oven with the door open
for few minutes. Properly boiled rice
should be white. soft and each grain dis
tinct as the motion of the boiling water
and the rinsing after draining tend to keep
the grains separate.
Comparing the food value of cereals with
that of potatoes. we find starch again the
principal food substance that they contain.
There is also a large quantity of woody
fiber and, except in the case Of rice, this
is not nearly so easily softened as the
woody fiber in potatoes. hence the neces-
sity of the long, slow cooking. Potatoes
contain enough water to soften the starch
which they contain, but cereals need
large quantity Of water added to them.
Have cornmeal mush and other fine
cereals served thick enough to need chew
ing to give as was mentioned in the les
son on diRestives. time for the saliva to
act on the starch. Do not serve cereals
with quantities Of sugar. for sugar is, like
starch, a heat and energy producer.