Page:Foods and their adulteration; origin, manufacture, and composition of food products; description of common adulterations, food standards, and national food laws and regulations (IA foodstheiradulte02wile).pdf/272

 Composition of Rye.—From a study of many hundreds of analyses of rye of American origin the following table may be given as approximating the composition of a typical American rye:

Weight of 100 kernels,      2.50 grams Moisture,                  10.50 percent Ether extract,              1.50   " Protein,                    12.25   " Fiber,                      2.10   " Starch and sugar,           71.75   " Ash,                        1.90   "

× 200.—(Courtesy of Bureau of Chemistry.)

The percentage of moisture in American grown rye is usually less than that of European origin. The American rye, also, has smaller kernels as a rule than that of foreign growth. In the content of protein the American samples of rye are fully equivalent to those of foreign origin, and in their mean composition, except as noted above, do not differ greatly from that of standard varieties collected abroad.

Protein of Rye.—As is the case with other cereals more than one nitrogenous constituent exists in the rye. Three of the principal ones have been separated and named as follows: leucosin, gliadin, and edestin. Other proteins belonging to the globulin, albumin, and proteose family are also found in small proportions. The gliadin of rye resembles in its chemical and physical