The Dickinson press., 1908-11-14
DURUM WHEAT.
The Idea that EntireWheat Makes
the Most Nourishing Food Dis
qualified. Durum Wheat the
Coming Breadstuff.

3, Point Iona, CAL, Nov. l2-In Ger
many and some other European states
white wheaton bread is 9 luxury. The
rye and other admixed cereals make the
basis for the bread of the people. The
calculated loaf of schwarzbrod is the
soldiers staff of life.
One of the first things that 60 to i'm
press the newcomer by way of Ellis
Island that this is a land flowing with
milk and honey is that white bread and
rolls are so common. so plentiful. He
must ever find them in common use
among his compatriots on the East Side,
of which he so promptly becomes a part.
France is a consumer of white -four.
principally durum flour, its nutritious
value being the first consideration. The
French government buys its wheat intel.
ligently and economically. Gluten is the
first requisite, the lean of the meat OIL
the wheat, and in no flour does it ap.
pear so %abundantly as in durum flour,
and hence durum is the chosen wheat.
Samples from various countries are
carefully tested in the government labra-
tories, and that wheat, durull, contain
ing the most gluten, muscle making con-
stituent and the least moisture consistent
with the best price is the basis upon
which the bread supplies are bought.
Arabian durum wheat, all else being
equal, often has the preference. because
of its dryness. A 2 per cent saving on
moisture in wheat at $l.00 a bushel
means a saving On a purchase of
10. 900, 900 bushels of just 5000, 600.
France has set the example as to the
basis upon which breadstuffs should be
bought, gluten content and dryness and
other nations will follow suit. In
Russia, the home of durum wheat, the
Kubanka strain leads all the rest and
has the call because of its superior gluten
content.
Already this durum wheat -four is
beginning to be recognized in England,
all those using it %pronouncing it as a
bread flour superior to all other fours.
America is fast adopting it. From
100, 900 bushels grown in 1901 from $1O.-
600 worth of seed imported from Russia,
the harvest last year amounted TO be-
tween $50, 900, 600 and $50. 600. 900 and
it will exceed that this year.
Opposition to this wheat is waning
and it is said hat last year from 1O,-
900, 900 to 80, 900, 900 bushels of it were
used in Minneapolis, being mixed with
other weaker flours to strengthen and
bolster them up in that most necessary
requisite, the muscle making content,
gluten.
This durum -four did not 60 out as
durum but was blended into other flours
of we'll known brands.
Durum is a white -four but not so white
as other f1ours weaker in gluten content.
Gluten is a yellowish gray substance.
and the richer a -four is in gluten the
more creamy in color is it.
A flour very low in muscle making
value in its natural state is quite white
because the starch predominates. Corn
starch is very white and illustrates this.
The gluten is all washed out of corn
starch. Were it left in the starch would
be yellow, and that would not do.
The country may be said to be divid-
ed into two camps of people cherishing
wheat bread errors. one demanding chalk
white bread and the other whole wheat
bread.
To meet the whilns of the chalky
bread eaters the miller, by a patented
process~known as bleaching. passes, at
the last stage of the milling. a current
of electrified-nitrous- oxide gas through
the our. bleaching out the creamy
natural color and turning it white
white as chalk. From this white bread
is made.
1t is this whiteness in bread that has
educated the consumer up to the false
idea that there is no gluten. no muscle
making value in white flour and he flies
into the flame of the whole wheat flour
candle and burns his wings, for he fares
worse, a hundred times worse.
The gluten is in the white flour, only
it has been decolorized. Such white
flour is not em~asculated in the milling
process and is in a nutritive sense far
superior to the whole wheat -four made
from the same grain. for bran, so abun-
dant in whole wheat flour. is worthless
absolutely worthless as a human food.
Despite the superlative bread-makine
qualities of durum -four. its richness in
muscle making gluten. its natural sweet
ness and nutty flavor, its large yield to
the barrel-from fifteen to twenty more
loaves than ordinary flour-and other
valuable points, yet its creamy color
has been charged up against it. creamy
because of the inherent yellow gold
value in it. But the waning of the
white flour and bread craze will now
bring durum flour into use as a natural.