The Hattiesburg news. (Hattiesburg, Miss.) 1908-1917, 1915-08-06
HOW TO KEEP YOUR
CORN MEAL FRESH
OLD FASHIONED STONE-GROUND
MEAL SPoILs SOONER THAN
MODERN KIND.

Washington, D. c., Aug. 6.-Investi-
cations on the keeping qualities of
corn meal, recently completed by the
experts OF the Department of Agricul-
ture, show that stone ground meal,
which on account of its rich oily fla
vor is so desired in the palatable muf-
fins, hoe-cake and pone, spoils much
more quickly than meal made in the
modern mill By the roller process.
For this reason the stone-ground meal
should be eaten as soon as possible
after milling. In this respect it is like
milk and cream which are usually con-
sulned within few hours after being
produced, and which under. the most
favorable conditions can he kept in
their natural state for only a short
time. The rolled mill meal is, in it's
keeping qualities, more like butter
which can with proper care be kept in
good condition, not Indefinitely, but
for a reasonable length of time.
In those sections of the country
where it is customary to take corn to
the mill and carry back the meal, fire.
quent trips should be made to the mill
and only small quantities Of corn TAX
en- al each trip so that the meal can
be used up in short time after being
milled.
The paltable, characteristic taste Of
The palatable, characteristic taste of
to the oil contained in the germ of
the corn. AS the whole kernel of corn
is ground in the stone or French burr
mill this oil is pressed out in the pro
cess and imparts it's flavor to the
meal. In the roller mill process the
germ is taken from the corn before
rolling by machine called a degerm-
inator, and but little of the oil gets
into the meal. The germ, if allowed
to remain in the meal, causes it to
spoil quickly. So the very thing that
imparts the desirable flavor TO the
meal will also injure its keeping quail
tiles. In some cases in stOne-grOund
meal the germ is removed by boiling
after grinding. This improves the
keeping qualities over that of unbolt-
ed meal but does not make it equal
in keeping qualities to the meal made
by extracting the germ before milling
The term underground" meal ap-
plies to the product ground by stones
without regard to whether the motive
power is water, steam or electricity.
At one time nearly all stone grinding
mills were operated by water power
while roller mills was usually oper-
ated by steam, and so the term eva
foreground" was used to mean the
same as "stone-ground." In later
years, however, steam and electricity
have almost entirely displaced water
as a motive power in mills. 1t is the
milling machinery, and not the source
of power, that determines the charac-
ter of the meal that may be produced.
The keeping quality of corn meal is
also greatly affected by heat and mois-
ture. Other things being equal, the
drier the meal the longer it will keep
1t is the custom in larger mills and in
some smaller ones to artificially dry
the meal after milling. In wet sec
tons of the country, or in wet wealth
er anywhere, dried meal will very
quickly absorb moisture from the at
mosphere. Any kind of corn meal
will keep much longer in cold weather
than in warm weather. 1t should,
therefore, be stored in dry, cocl
place.