Blood,
muscle, nerve — each must have its fitting food ; and thus
it is easy to see why knowledge is the first condition of
healthful living. The moral is : Never rashly experiment
in diet till sure what you are about, and, if you can not for
3'ourselves find out the nature of 3'our projected food, call
upon some one who can.
Where wheat is ground whole, it includes six and a
half parts of heat-producers to one of flesh-formers. The
amount of starch varies greatl3^ Two processes of mak-
ing flour are now in use, — one the old, or St. Louis pro-
cess ; the other, the " new process," giving Haxall flour.
In the former, grindstones were used, which often reached
so great a degree of heat as to injure the flour ; and repeat-
ed siftings gave the various grades. In the new, the outer
husk is rejected, and a system of knives is used, which
chop the grain to powder, and it is claimed do not heat it.
Tlie product is more starchy, and for this reason less
THE CHEMISTEY OF VEGETABLE FOOD. 103
desirable. We eat far too much heat-proclncing food, and
Ruy thing which gives us the gluten of the grain is more
wholesome, and thus " seconds " is really a more nutri-
tious flour than the finer grades. Try for yourselves a
small experiment, and j^ou will learn the nature of flour
better than in pages of description.
Take a little flour ; wet it with cold water enough to
form a dough. Place it on a sieve, and, while working it
with one hand, pour a steady stream of water over it with
another. Shortly 3'ou will find a graj^ish, tough, elastic
lump before you, while in the pan below, when the water
is carefully poured ofl", will be pure wheat-starch, the.
water itself containing all the sugar, dextrine or gum,
and mineral matter. This toughness and elasticity of
gluten is an important quality ; for in bread-making, were
it not for the gluten, the carbonic-acid gas formed by the
action of jesist on dough would all escape. But, though
it works its way out vigorously enough to swell up each
cell, the gluten binds it fast, and enables us to have a
panful of light " sponge," where a few hours before was
only a third of a pan.
Starch, as 3^ou have seen, will not dissolve in the cold
water. Dry it, after the water is poured on, and minute
grains remain. Look at these grains under a microscope,
and each one is cased in a thick skin, which cold water
can not dissolve. In boiling water, the skins crack, and
the inside swells and becomes gummy. Long boiling is
thus an essential for all starchy foods.
Bread proper is simply flour, water, and salt, mixed to
a firm dough and baked. Such bread as this, Abram
gave to his angelic guests, and at this day the Bedouin
Arab bakes it on his heated stone. But bread, as we un-
104 THE CHEMISTBY OF VEGETABLE FOOD.
Page 51
Presented as published in 1881. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Blood, muscle, nerve — each must have its fitting food ; and thus it is easy to see why knowledge is the first condition of healthful living. The moral is : Never rashly experiment in diet till sure what you are about, and, if you can not for yourselves find out the nature of your projected food, call upon some one who can.
Where wheat is ground whole, it includes six and a half parts of heat-producers to one of flesh-formers. The amount of starch varies greatly Two processes of making flour are now in use, — one the old, or St. Louis process ; the other, the " new process," giving Haxall flour. In the former, grindstones were used, which often reached so great a degree of heat as to injure the flour ; and repeated siftings gave the various grades. In the new, the outer husk is rejected, and a system of knives is used, which chop the grain to powder, and it is claimed do not heat it. Tlie product is more starchy, and for this reason less
desirable. We eat far too much heat-producing food, and Buy thing which gives us the gluten of the grain is more wholesome, and thus " seconds " is really a more nutritious flour than the finer grades. Try for yourselves a small experiment, and you will learn the nature of flour better than in pages of description.
Take a little flour ; wet it with cold water enough to form a dough. Place it on a sieve, and, while working it with one hand, pour a steady stream of water over it with another. Shortly you will find a grayish, tough, elastic lump before you, while in the pan below, when the water is carefully poured ofl", will be pure wheat-starch, the. water itself containing all the sugar, dextrine or gum, and mineral matter. This toughness and elasticity of gluten is an important quality ; for in bread-making, were it not for the gluten, the carbonic-acid gas formed by the action of yeast on dough would all escape. But, though it works its way out vigorously enough to swell up each cell, the gluten binds it fast, and enables us to have a panful of light " sponge," where a few hours before was only a third of a pan.
Starch, as you have seen, will not dissolve in the cold water. Dry it, after the water is poured on, and minute grains remain. Look at these grains under a microscope, and each one is cased in a thick skin, which cold water can not dissolve. In boiling water, the skins crack, and the inside swells and becomes gummy. Long boiling is thus an essential for all starchy foods.
Bread proper is simply flour, water, and salt, mixed to a firm dough and baked. Such bread as this, Abram gave to his angelic guests, and at this day the Bedouin Arab bakes it on his heated stone. But bread, as we un-