Foods, their selection and preparation

Austin, C. P. Summary of Vitamin Retention Re¬ search on Contact Icing of Fresh Fruits and Vege¬ tables. National Association of Ice Industries. Washington, D.C. Leaflets from Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Economics give method of preparation, United States Department of Agriculture: W-85, Potatoes in Popular Ways, 1944 IS-58, Sweet Potatoes, 1946 IS, Green Vegetables, 1941 IS, Root Vegetables , 1942 IS— 8, Cooking Dehydrated Vegetables Lowe, Belle. Experimental Cookery, 3d ed., Chap. IV, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1943. Sherman, Henry C. Foods: Their Value and Man¬ agement, Chaps. IV, V, VI, and VII (1946). Vitamin and Mineral Content of Certain Foods as Af¬ fected by Home Preparation. Miscellaneous Pub¬ lication No. 628. United States Department of Agriculture, Washington, D.C. VI * Cereals and Cereal Foods Cereals are seeds of the grasses. They are high in nutritive value, since they contain in small bulk all the building and energyyielding materials necessary for the develop¬ ment of the new plant. Cereal grains in some form are produced in every country. The ease with which they are stored and transported contributes to their ready avail¬ ability and low cost as compared with more perishable foods. The cereal most economically produced in any area tends to be the one most used, and the food habits of the people adapt themselves to it. On a world basis, rice is the cereal most used for human consumption. In some Oriental countries 80-90 per cent of the food calories are supplied by rice. In much of Europe and the temperate zones in the Americas, wheat grows abun¬ dantly, and has come to be the preferred cereal because of the quality of the bread made from it. In north Europe it is replaced by the more hardy rye. In the tropical Americas, corn is the native cereal, and the tortillas prepared from it make up a large part of the food in these countries. In the southern United States, where corn is grown more successfully than wheat, it has always been a staple part of the diet. All cereals are good sources of energy and contribute important amounts of other food nutrients. A large part of the food supply in countries and areas with low family incomes is in the form of cereals or products pre¬ pared from cereals. This direct use of ce¬ reals for food is sound economically. It is sound nutritionally only when the cereal is so selected and processed as to make its maximum contribution to the diet in re¬ quired nutrients, and when the remainder of the diet can be chosen to provide the nu¬ trients lacking or supplied in inadequate amounts by the cereal. In every country cereals and cereal prod¬ ucts make up a large part of the diets of lowincome groups. As the amount spent for food increases, there is a tendency to replace cereals with foods such as fruits, green vege¬ tables, milk, eggs, and meat, which have more flavor and more of the nutrients not present in adequate amounts in cereals. Composition. When cereals are fully ma¬ tured and properly stored the water content is usually about 10 to 12 per cent. This low percentage of water contributes to the ease of storage and the readiness with which cereals can be shipped.