Foods, their selection and preparation

As this nutritive value of cereal germs has come to be recognized, various methods of stabilizing this portion have been developed, the most promising of which seems to be the removal of fat. Defatted cereal-germ products are now available in inexpensive form since the fat removed has important indus¬ trial uses. These products are high in goodquality protein, minerals, and the B vitamins, and wide use might well be made of them to improve diets lacking the B vitamins and protein. Wheat germ may be obtained from the local flour mill. If kept dry in dark containers and at a low temperature (45° to 50° F.) it can be held for some time without becoming rancid. Rice polish, a by-product from the milling of rice, sold for cattle food, contains the germ of the rice. It is also high in mineral content and is an especially rich source of the B vitamins. Endosperm. The endosperm is largely a storage place for energy and such additional building material as the plant may need as it develops. Here the energy is stored in the form of starch. Proteins are present, and some minerals and vitamins, though considerably less than in the germ portions. CEREAL BREAKFAST FOODS Cereals are now available in a group of manufactured products known as "cereal breakfast foods.” These are divided into two groups: the ready-to-cook and the ready-to-eat. Ready-to-Cook Cereals. The simplest of the breakfast cereals are the old-fashioned por¬ ridges prepared by cooking whole or partly ground cereals in water or milk to a thick mush. Because of the instability of ground whole-grain products, these are not often [88] University of Arkansas ' OATS Quaker Oats Bran layer Endosperm Germ CORN Diagrams of Cereal Grains [89] available in packaged form. Some small mills provide them during the winter months as whole ground corn meal, cracked wheat, or coarsely ground whole wheat. Farm families, with their own grain supply and small mills, grind their own. Cleaned whole wheat, if available, may be cooked in pressure saucepans. Specially selected and processed wheat and oat cereals are available in the form of rolled oats and, to a limited extent, rolled wheat. These are whole-grain cereals. Rolled cereals are prepared by passing the whole groats through a steam chamber onto the rolls. The regular or old-fashioned rolled products are prepared from whole groats. For the quicker-cooking variety of rolled oats, each groat is cut into three portions and put through closer-set rollers. This yields smaller and thinner grains. Both regular and quick-cooking rolled oats are prepared from the whole grain, and have identical nutritive values. The designation "whole grain," applied to a breakfast cereal, means one which contains the natural proportions of bran, germ, and endosperm and has the same nutrient content as the unprocessed grain or grains from which it is made. Other cereals to be cooked contain selected portions of the grain. These fall into groups designated as "farina" and "granular wheat cereal." Farina contains only the endosperm portion of the wheat ground to a meal. The granular cereals are more coarsely ground than farina and contain other portions of the grain.