The Holbrook news., 1917-03-23
SUBSTITUTE FOR MEAT
PEOPLE OF UNITED STATES TURN TO VARIOUS WHEAT PRODUCTS.
Are Beginning to Realize the Value of Such Foods as Macaroni, Etc., Which Make for Health and
 Financial Saving.

As far back as history records,
 wheat has been the main food element of the human race, and today, as in the time of King Pharaoh, the prod ucts made from this grain figure large Iy in the sustaining of life the world over.
 In the United States, we have con- fined the use of wheat largely to mak- ing flour for breadstuffs, and until re cent years have overlooked the use of it in making one of the most healthful, savory and nourishing of foods that could grace our tables, viz: macaroni, spaghetti, vermicelli, noodles and kin dred products.
 For centries Europeans on the shores of the Mediterranean sea have used macaroni and spaghetti as their principal article of diet, and these peo- pie are today the hardest races in the world. The tardiness of Americans in taking up this food product has been largely due to the surplus pro duction of meats, but for the past few years this surplus has actually changed to a shortage, caused by the passing of the large ranches and cheap grazing lands, and meats have been mounting higher and higher in the scale of prices until meat dinners are fast becoming a luxury. This condi- tion will never be changed-the day of cheap meats in the United States, as in Europe, is forever behind us, so we must find a substitute that is equally as meritorious and nutritious an article of diet.
 Macaroni or spaghetti can be cooked in such a variety of ways that the heartiest or most fastidious palate can matoes, oysters, cheap cuts of meat, mushrooms, fish, eggs or cream, the most toothsome dishes can be pre- pared and perfectly balanced meal served in this one dish alone, and that, too, at a financial saving to the good housewife that makes her smile with satisfaction.
 One reason for the growing popu- larity of macaroni products in this country is the fact that large and spot lessIy clean American factories have been built during the past few years for the manufacture of the finest qual- ity of macaroni and spaghetti the world has yet produced. Until recent ly Italy and France were the only na- tions turning out such products; but Durum wheat, from which macaroni products are made, grows to greater perfection in the middle Western states than in any other place on the globe, even surpassing the product of Russia, from whence the seed was i'm ported by the United States depart ment of agriculture several years ago. The Durum wheat, which is richer in gluten than any other variety, is ground into what is technically termed by millers 'Semolina: a fairly coarse four made from the berry of the wheat, from which only the outer GOV ering, or bran, has been removed. This is mixed with pure water and kneaded into a dough in large ma chimes. The dough is put into hy- draulic presses and comes out through dies in a variety of shapes. The prod uct is then put through curing proc ess in humidors and drying rooms which must be maintained at a specif- ic degree of humidity and temperature, and finally is packed in dust and mois- ture-proof cartons and boxes.
 The American system of manufac- turing macaroni and spaghetti is so clean, so efficient, and so much su- perior to the foreign process that it is small wonder the wideawake house wives here are quickly adopting this most healthful food as one of their staple articles of diet, and it is not too much to predict that these products bearing the label Made in U. s. A." will be found in use the world over before many years have elapsed.