Foods and home making

1. Prepare some kind of dried fruit at least once during the week. 2. If possible, select some dried fruit at the store. CHAPTER VI HOW BREAKFAST CEREALS ARE PREPARED FOR MARKET — BUYING AND COOKING THEM Can you answer these questions ? If not, look for the answers as you study this chapter. 1. From what parts of a plant do cereals come? 2. What substance is contained in the husk of cereals? 3. What is meant by ready-to-eat cereals? 4 Which is more economical to buy, oatmeal in package or in bulk? 5. Should one eat sugar on a breakfast cereal ? Why? 6. How much starch is there in breakfast cereals ? 7. Is there water in uncooked breakfast cereals? 8. Name the materials you know to be in breakfast cereals. 9. What is meant by ash in food ? Why is it so called ? What are breakfast foods? Such foods as oatmeal, rolled wheat, and corn flakes are very commonly eaten for breakfast. For this reason they are called breakfast foods. Breakfast foods are also known as breakfast cereals. Cereals are the seeds of grasses, such as wheat, corn, oats, and rice. Food manufacturers prepare cereals or grains for use at breakfast in various ways. We need to know something of what the food manufacturer does to the grains if we are to select breakfast cereals intelligently. How are uncooked breakfast cereals prepared for market? Have you ever examined a wheat or oat grain and observed what a tough coating there is on the outside? (See Figure 19.) In getting grains ready for us to eat, they are put through rollers and the outer husk removed. The whole grain from which the husk has been removed may then be broken into pieces. Oatmeal or cracked oats (not rolled oats) is prepared in this way. 49 50 Breakfast Some grains from which more or less of the outer coating is removed are crushed into a meal. Cream of Wheat and corn meal are prepared in this way. Cereals made ready for selling in this way have not been Redrawn from Whealena Chart Figure 19. Magnified Section of a Wheat Grain The grain was cut in two lengthwise; the layers of the outer coating were loosened to show them plainly. The parts of a wheat grain are; 1 . Germ or embryo that sprouts and grows when the grain is planted. This is rich in fat, proteins, minerals, and vitamins B and PP. 2. Very tough covering or husk, usually removed when the grain is crushed or ground. This consists largely of cellulose. 3. Coats commonly called bran. All these layers contain mineral matter. cellulose, proteins, and vitamin B. 4. Inner portion of the grain made up chiefly of starch and proteins. (See page 58.) cooked at the factory. These uncooked breakfast cereals need cooking at home to make them tender and palatable. How are partially cooked cereals prepared in the factory? Rolled oats and rolled wheat belong to another group of break- fast cereals. These grains are rolled out by machinery and also steamed. The cereals are thus partially cooked in preparing them for market. Since the grains are rolled out and partly Buying and Cooking Cereals 5i cooked in the factory, they do not require such long cooking in the home. However, most of the partially cooked cereals are more palatable if they are cooked in the home for a longer time than indicated on the package containing them. The rolled grains are the semi-cooked or steam-cooked.