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/291

 food in an unmixed state. The above opinion, it appears, has no justification either from the chemical composition of the two bodies or from recorded digestive and nutritive experiments.

A study of the analytical data of the whole grain shows that in so far as actual nutrition is concerned the maize is fully as nutritious as wheat. In respect of its content of fat Indian corn and its direct products easily take precedence of all the other cereals, with the exception of hulled oats. In round numbers Indian corn flour or bread made therefrom contains twice as much fat or oil as wheat, three times as much as rye, twice as much as barley, and nearly as much as hulled oats. In regard to digestible carbohydrates, that is digestible starch, sugar, dextrin, and fiber, Indian corn flour possesses a higher content than hulled oats and almost the same content as wheat. In regard to digestible protein Indian corn has nearly the same quantity as the other leading cereals, except oats. What it lacks, however, in its quantity of protein in so far as nutrition is concerned is more than made up in its excess of fat.

Comparative Digestibility and Nutrition of Wheat and Indian Corn from Experiments Made in South Dakota Station, Bulletin 38.—Pigs were fed with Indian corn and wheat, or rather the ground Indian corn and ground wheat, and it was found that pound for pound there was a greater gain in the case of Indian corn flour than wheat. For 100 pounds of flour fed the average gain with Indian corn was 21.83 pounds and where wheat flour was used 20.79 pounds. These experimental data show that in regard to nutritive properties Indian corn flour cannot be considered inferior to wheat flour. Indian corn bread is particularly well suited for persons engaged in hard manual labor. A ration which is composed largely of Indian corn products and oatmeal is found to be particularly valuable for those engaged in lumbering, harvesting sugar-cane, etc.

Indian Corn Flour Pudding.—Various forms of pudding are prepared from Indian corn flour. Among the most important is that known in the New England States as hasty pudding and in the west and south as mush. A simple method of preparing Indian corn pudding, hasty pudding, or mush is to stir into water, very slowly, the Indian corn flour in such a way as to avoid the formation of lumps. The flour should be sifted into the water either cold or at boiling temperature and the mixture vigorously stirred meanwhile. By this means a thin, uniform paste is secured which is allowed to cook slowly until quite thick in consistence and until all the starch granules are thoroughly disintegrated. The product is improved by allowing to stand for several hours at near the boiling point after the cooking is finished, provided precautions are taken not to allow the mass to become too solid. This product is eaten hot with butter, milk, or cream, or is much prized when allowed to cool, cut into thin slices and fried. A very important dish for the children