The mirror., 1923-02-01
THE STAFF OF LIFE
By Mr.. G.. X. K.


grains enter into the composition of a
loaf of bread any thought.
In making -four for loaf of bread
many other grains, beside wheat, are used.
In early times barley was used as the
principal breadAours an instance of its
miraculous use being the feeding of the
multitudes described in Mark :1-10, and
John 61-5S. We read in the Scriptures
of fine -four and coarse -four, showing that
of -four or meal, was graded as to quality.
That there were cloths for this sitting or
boiling process, we have ample proofs in
various writings uncovered in recent ex-
plorations as well as in traditional tales.
Mllstones used B. c., have been uncovered
in old ruins and now rest in our great
museums. / will describe them more fully
in chapter on milling methods, this
chapter being devoted to kinds of grains
used, and by whom.
To great many it would seem strange
that bread can be made from millet seed,
which to the average mind suggests a
feed for birds, chickens, swine and cattle.
Yet, in large portions of Asia, and in
portions of Africa and Europe, it enters
into an article of human consumption, not
only as a breadfood, but also as a
thickener for soups, and gravies. Ira
velers from those regions report it as be-
ing very nourishing and palatable, albeit
it has slight oily taste.
From Russia we derived a wheat-like
plant, called "emmer" or by some "speltz."
This is dry-land grain, its original
home being the desert parts of Siberia
along the northwestern border of China.
There it has been grown for years by the
nomadic tribes occupying that region. By
them it is used both as human and
animal food With the advance of the
fierce tribesmen of Attila, the Hum into
Europe seed of this grain was scattered
as far westward as what is now central
Germany and its growth is recorded in
old Roman writings. Hardy in growth,
able to stand considerable drought and
yet survive and reproduce, it has held its
own as a food-grain all these years, al
though in the United States it has never
been held in the esteem it enjoys in
Europe, where many times it was really
the only wheat to make -four from in
famine years. In appearance it looks like
an elongated kernel of wheat, enclosed in
glossy glumes, two seeds being in each Sec
ton. In composition it is not unlike our
hinty in texture and having a heavy
gluten content. The writer had as neigh
bors in North Dakota, emigrants from
southern Russia, who were used to prepar-
ing this grain in the crude Russian ways
Through them he was able to learn many
facts about emmer and its uses. The bread
made from it is black bread but sweet
and nutritious. Of course it would not
suit the eyes and tastes of our fnicky cooks
and housewives of the United States. They
demand loaf of fine texture and of the
whitest kind although it does not nourish
as well as many of the darker hours.
The words cornbread, hoecake, and corn
pone Immediately bring to our minds the
Sunny South as we call it. Corn, since
its earliest history has always been
warm to hot climate grain, and the earliest
of Egyptian hieroglyphical drawings de-
pict its growth and preparation for food.
So, as the negro of our own South came
from Africa, the knowledge of handling
it came also by him. But, even this grain
has undergone many changes from its
early form, where each kernel was en-
closed in separate husk, to where the
whole ear is enclosed. Because of its be-
ing shot weather" grain, growing in the
more favored climes, we find its use in
cold climates almost unknown. Its use in