BREAKFAST FOODS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 247, 17 October 1908, Page 2

BREAKFAST FOODS.

UNCLE SAM'S VIEWS ON

CEREALS

The Department of Agriculture at Washington has just issued a pamphlet on the preparation of cereals. From it we quote the following, which should interest all women readers:

Cereals are chiefly valuable as fuel foods, but the amount of protein they contain makes them also worthy of consideration as tissue builders; Since foods rich in protein are usually expensive, the cheapness of cereals makes the protein in them of particular importance. They can often, be substituted to some extent for the more expensive protein foods, such as meat, eggs, etc. In regard to the amount of protein they contain, oats rank first, then wheat, corn, and rice last. Cereals richest in protein are poorest in starch, so that the order in which they would stand as fuel foods would be reversed.

Cereals which absorb- the least water give the most nourishment as they are served :on the table. Because it is dryer a saucer of cooked rice gives more nourishment than a similar quantity of oatmeal. The dry, ready-to-cat cereals would give more nutriment, ounce for ounce, than the home-cooked moist ones, but not necessarily cupful for cupful, for the former are very li<?ht and bulky. The digestibility of all the breakfast cereals is about equal, except perhaps rice. On account of its small amount of fibre, rice is said ,td be oommoniy more easily digested than the others. Breakfast cereals have about the same digestibility as bread, those with the bran retained being about like graham bread, and those without the bran much like white bread.

When sugar is eaten with breakfast foods, digestive disturbances areofter noted. It is well, therefore, to eat cereals without sugar or with • only a moderate quantity. Some persons substitute sweet fruits, like dates, for sugar, and such combinations are palatable and wholesome. Certain breakfast foods may be made at- home. Any stale bread or cake may be dried and lightly browned in the oven, then crushed and beaten dry, and with milk or cream used as a breakfast cereal. Stale bread may be dipped in molasses and water and dried in the warming oven of an ordinary range from 12 to 24 hours and then crushed, to be used like the various granular breakfast cereals. The cost of such breakfast foods is but a trifle.

The following appeared in our Tow& Edition last issue -