THE DECLINE OF OATMEAL PORRIDGE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2400, 1 March 1900, Page 59

THE DECLINE OF OATMEAL PORRIDGE.

It is a thousand pities that from any cause whatever there should be a tendency to give up this cheap and excellent food in favour of articles that cost twice as much, and are frequently not half as good. Dr Johnsons well-known dictionary definition of " oats "—"" — " A grain which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people " — was merely a little splutter of the doctor's pettiness and prejudice. "Why," he said to Boswcll, "I Wd -that -by my definition of oats I jneant to vex -them." Lord Elibank's rejoinder, when it was repeated to him, however, was* crushing : '" And

whaur'll you find sic horses and sic men?" English horses and Scotchmen have in the past undoubtedly afforded unquestionable evidence of the value of oats for the building up of frames and the development of muscle, and -science has unmistakably shown that is just wliat might have been exjected from the food. ! < Professor Norton, of Yale University, some years ago made a thorough analytical examination of the oat-plant in ail its stages of growth. He was a very competent chemist, and the results he arrived at have in the main been pretty much what other authorities have conic to since. After an interesting account of the manner in .V/hich silica is appropriated by the plant in the structure of stalk and leaf and iinsk, the professor continued: "Equally Ibeautiful are the facts which we discover respecting the alkaline sulphates and phosphates. We find little of the latter in the -whole length of the straw, in the leaf, or in the chaff. But when we arrive at the grain, the alkaline sulphates disappear, and the phosphates take their places; these have passed, up the whole length of the stalk, uvoiding the leaves and the chaff, and at last, by a law infinitely more unerring than any which human wisdom could devise, deposited themselves in the very place where phosphoric acid is most needed, in order " that, as part of the food, it may build up the bones, -the framework of the animal body. . . . We see, then," concludes the * professor, " that even including the husk, the oat is superior to almost any other corn in those ingredients which -go to the production of muscle in the body. The strong, muscular forms of Scottish ploughmen have long be.en living witnesses to the good properties, of their favourite and almost only food."' Professor Norton found that, taking a low average, the oat yields about 4 per cent. _nore of the ingredients necessary for bone and niusclemalring than the besb wheat. Fine horses in England and fine men in Scotland are thus just about what you might ,pxpect, on tcientific grounds, to find. It is certainly unfortunate that a food that has proved its capability of building up so stalwart a race of men as the agriculturists of Scotland should be losing its popularity. Perhaps, when it comes to be known how extensively it is being adopted by the comparatively wealthy, there will be a reaction in its favour. Whatever may be said about imported meal, there can be no doubt Scotch oatmeal or rolled oats cannot be beaten; and, if properly cooked, is as delicious as it is "wholesome. Scotch porridge is made as follows: To one pint of water when boiling add three tablespoonfuls of oatmeal, shaken slowly through ( the fingers or a sieve, and stirred continuously; add a little salt, and boil 30 y minutes. Connoisseurs in the matter hold * that the cooking ought to be done in a double saucepan, so that the' inner vessel containing the .oatmeal should come in contact, nob with the dry scorching heat of the fire, but with boiling water. The writer of this, though nob a Scotchman, has for many years taken porridge for breakfast, though he has been accustomed to do what probably no Scotchman would do — that is to say he has always taken stewed fruit Avith it. The Scot usually takes his " parritch " with milk — rarely ■with cream, as a luxury; and, when milk is not available, with treacle, treacle-beer, or the like; but, with these, porridge is apt to get a trifle monotonous. A plate of well-cooked porridge with rhubarb, gooseberries-, cherries, plums, damsons, apples or pears, with milk and sugar, affords a seasonable variety; always cheap, always delicious, and always wholesome. — Chambers's Journal.