Food and health

How to make. Measure the cereal and water; put the water into the inner part of the double boiler with the salt. Have the lower part of the boiler ready, about half full of hot water ; place the inner boiler directly upon the stove or over the flame. When the water is boiling rapidly, shake the cereal into the water from a cup so slowly that the water does not stop boiling. This is the first secret of a well-cooked cereal. The rapidly boiling water keeps the grains of cereal in motion. Thus they do not stick to the vessel nor to each other, and the heat reaches the starch in the grains equally. If the grains begin to settle, shake the vessel gently ; but do not stir, even with a fork. Do this for about five minutes, or until you see a thickening of the mass, — so much that the separate grains do not settle. If toward the end of this stage there is danger of sticking, lift the mass with the fork, but do not stir it, as stirring will break the grains. This first process opens the starch grains. Place the inner part of the boiler in the outer part over boiling water and allow the cooking to continue for at least one hour. For this is the second secret of the perfect cereal, — a long cooking that softens the fiber and develops flavor. One cereal, advertised as being cooked in three minutes, is hardly eatable after that length of time, but is delicious at the end of two hours. If you have a fireless cooker, put the cereal, in the double boiler, into the cooker overnight for the second stage. The uses of cold cereal. Never throw away cooked cereals. The cold cereal is useful in many ways. {a) Mold in small cups with dates or other fruit, and serve with sugar and cream for supper, — or for luncheon at school. (i) Cool corn-meal mush in a flat dish, cut it in slices when cold, and brown the slices in a frying pan with beef fat, or a butter substitute. Serve with sugar, molasses, or sirup for breakfast or supper. {c) Rice or hominy may be mixed with a beaten egg, molded into small cakes, and browned either in the frying pan or in the oven. {d) A small remaining portion of any cereal may be used to thicken soup. (e) Any cooked cereal may be used in muffins or even in yeast bread. Using Indian corn. As Americans we should be very proud of our Indian corn. The early settlers found it grown by the Indians. We have improved it, learned how to cultivate it, and made it one of our great crops. Have you heard of the*" Corn Clubs,'' for boys and for girls, too ? Do you know that the same grain is found in other parts of the world, where the sun is hot enough to ripen it .? It grows in South America, and it is an abundant food in Italy, where the people make a delicious porridge, " polenta.'' What is there more beautiful than a field of waving corn .? It might well be planted for its beauty in the flower garden, as it is sometimes in England. Corn products. You can make a list of the different kinds of corn and some of the corn products, can you not ? Sweet corn, popcorn, and field corn, yellow and white. The cattle would call the stalks or leaves a corn product. The poultry like their corn whole sometimes. We prefer meal, or hominy, or samp. Have you ever heard of " hulled corn " .? This was much used in early days. The hard ripe kernels were soaked in a weak solution of lye (wood ashes) until the " hull " came off, and then the whole grains were cooked. Something more about corn meal. We have two colors in corn meal, yellow and white. Some people prefer one and some the other. There are also two ways of grinding : the old method, between stones ; and the new process, by rollers. The old method seems to give a better flavor, because the oil of the germ is in