Elementary domestic science

Contents

A Note to Teachers . 3-4

Books for Supplementary Readings. 5-6

Food in General . 7

Part I. Food

Food is any subtsaiice that can be used in the body to form tissue, or to give heat. Some foods afford support in both of these ways, others in only one.

Adults need food for the single purpose of repairing the daily wear and tear of the system. Children require food not only for this reason, but also for the growth of new tissue. Thus, a child who builds up rapidly and takes much exercise is “always 'hungry.” In early life, a lack of suitable food does more harm than in later years. An ill-fed child usually becomes sickly, or has a stunted growth.

If food is to nourish the body, it must, of course, con¬ tain materials like those of which the body is formed. Because many foods are similar to each other in substance or in their effect upon the system, they are studied in groups, called (i) carbohydrates (starches and sugars), (2) proteids, (3) fats, (4) mineral matter, (5) water.

CARBOHYDRATES.

Carbohydrates is a name given by chemists to starches and sugars. Nearly all of these are found in the vegetable kingdom. Their use to the human system is to give heat and energy. Should more of the starches and sugars be eaten than the body needs immediately,-the surplus amount is stored up in the form of fat.

ELEMENTARY DOMESTIC SCIENCE.

STARCH.

Starch is a fine white powder formed in many plants. It occurs in those parts from which the young plant starts. The starch is needed as food by the new plant until it puts forth roots and leaves of its own. Starch grains are not alike in all kinds of plants, but vary in size, shape and general appearance. For instance, the grains of potato starch are an odd, oyster-shell shape, and also quite large compared with the starch grains of rice and tapioca.

Cold water has no effect upon starch. As an example, when a cold starch mixed for starching clothes is allowed to stand, the starch gradually settles. If the water then be poured off, and the starch dried, it will regain its original form.

On the contrary, when a boiled starch is made for clothes, the starch grains absorb the water and swell, thus thickening the liquid. Should this mixture be allowed to stand, the starch will not separate out, the heat and mois¬ ture having changed it to a different form. In the cooking of starchy foods, a like action takes place; and it has been found that starch grains when thus mixed and swelled are much more easily digested than when eaten raw. (The swelling of starch by heat and moisture is curiously shown by the popping of corn, when the kernels increase so greatly in size that a pint before popping measures six or eight quarts after popping.) .

Dry heat, if intense or long continued, has a stronger action than moist heat upon starch. For example, in bak¬ ing bread, when the crust turns a deep yellow, the starch is changed to a more soluble form which has been given the name dextrin. This is even more easily digested than boiled starch. So, .the crust of bread proves less of a tax upon the digestive organs than the crumb. For a like rea¬ son, toast, rather than fresh bread, is allowed to invalids.

Much harm may result from the habit, which some children have, of eating uncooked starchy foods, such as raw peanuts, chestnuts, or potatoes. Slack-baked bread and biscuit are likewise objectionable. Many of the “ready-toeat” breakfast foods cause indigestion apparently for the reason that the §tarch has not been thoroughly cooked.

A TEXT-BOOK FOR SCHOOLS.

CLASSES OF STARCHY FOODS.

Among the starchy foods in common use are the cereals, potatoes, dried peas and beans. Starch occurs also in tapioca, sago, bananas, chocolate, peanuts and chest¬ nuts ; and, to a small extent, in certain other fruits and vegetables.

THE CEREALS.

These take their name from Ceres, who was worshipped in olden times as the goddess who took especial care of the growth of grains. They are really grasses, the seeds of which are used for food. By special cultivation through many centuries, they have developed a large amount of food material with only a small amount of husk.

In the United States, the cereals in greatest demand for food are wheat, corn, oats, rice, rye, barley and buck¬ wheat. (The last, while not a true cereal, is usually classed as such.)

Among all vegetable products, the cereals are in many ways the most important. Not only do they yield much nutriment, but in a form especially easy for man to obtain. They grow in nearly all parts of the world, almost every nation having a special cereal in common use as food. Some thrive in moist soil, others in dry. Certain ones yield best where'the climate is warm, and others where it is cold. Because of the dryness of all such grains, they can be kept for a long time without spoiling, many millions of bushels being stored each year in the great grain elevators of the West. They are also convenient for transportation. In this way grain has had much to do with the building up of the enormous shipping industries of the Great Lakes. Thus, not alone the food value of the cereals, but their commercial importance as well, is very great.

WHEAT.

Chemical Composition.

Carbohydrates 71.2, water 12., proteid 11.,.cellulose 2.2, mineral matter 1.9, fat 1.7.

Among all the cereals, wheat ranks as being the most nearly a perfect food. Its chief defect is its small amount of fat. So the common habit of eating butter with bread is wise.

ELEMENTARY DOMESTIC SCIENCE.

Wheat has been cultivated through long ages in many countries, and we can not discover where it first grew. The Chinese believe that wheat was a direct gift to them from Heaven; and each year, they have a great public celebra¬ tion at which the sowing of wheat is made a special feature. In early times, it was largely raised about Rome and hi such common use as food that during a period of three hundred years, the people lived on little else than wheat groats. Europe is now the greatest wheat producing con¬ tinent, raising about as much as North and South America together. It appears that wheat was not grown in America before Columbus’ discovery. Since then, such rapid prog¬ ress has been made that the United States produced for many years more wheat than any other single country in the world, but recently Russia has grown the largest crops. Very great areas are devoted to wheat in India, France and Austria-Hungary. During the last fifty years, there has occurred in the United States a gradual westward move¬ ment of the center of wheat production. The first noted wheat area was in and about the Genesee valley of New York State; later the Miami valley region of Ohio became favorably known; while in recent years, Kansas has been the largest wheat producing state.

If we examine a kernel of wheat under the microscope we find it to be made up of several layers. The outer one is quite hard. To this, the name husk, or bran, has been given. (It has no food value, as human beings can not digest it.) The next layers are rich in proteid. From them, the gluten, so valuable in bread making, is produced. (By chewing grains of wheat, we can obtain a grayish, tough, gummy substance, which is mainly gluten.) The center of the grain consists, to a great part, of starch. The tiny germ, or young plant, found at the lower end of the grain, contains some oil.

A great many food substances are manufactured from wheat. The-whole grain after the husk has been removed, is made into rolled wheat and puffed wheat. When the grain is cut into several pieces, it takes the name of cracked wheat. By grinding the inner portion of the kernel some¬ what coarser than flour, preparations called cream of wheat, or farina are obtained.

A TEXT-BOOK FOR SCHOOLS.