Human Nutrition. 



7^7 



grains are to be made easily digestible, enough water must be used to 

 swell them thoroughly. The thick, dry, sticky mushes are filled with 

 half raw starch. The taste is disagreeable and they lie like a lump 

 of lead in the unfortunate stomach. 



The question is often asked, are the " ready to eat " cereals on the 

 market as wholesome as those which require cooking? Probably they 

 are about equally good when the raw cereal has been well prepared. 

 Otherwise, the " ready to eat " cereal is to be preferred. It is more 

 expensive to use and not always so palatable as the home-cooked cereals 

 if these are well done. 



Those cereal foods which include the whole grain, as rolled oats and 

 shredded wheat, are better for a constancy. They contain a smaller 

 proportion of digestible nutrients but are richer in mineral matter and 

 in bulk. 



Cooking cereals. The amount of 

 water a cereal will absorb varies with 

 its weight. Thus, using rolled oats as 

 an example, i cup of rolled oats will 

 require about 3 cups of water for per- 

 fect cooking. One cup of corn meal 

 weighs 2 1-5 times as much as the 

 oats, so will require about 2 1-5 times 

 Fig. 4.-A double boiler improves ^^ ^uch water, or between 6 and 7 



oatmeal. cups of water. 



Directions for cooking cereals. 



1. Salted boiling water. 



2. Sprinkle cereal into water 

 and cook for 5 minutes over di- 

 rect heat, stirring constantly. 



3. Set on back of stove to 

 cook slowly for 50 minutes to 8 

 hours, according to kind, stir- 

 ring occasionally to prevent 

 sticking, or: — 



4. Set kettle containing cereal 

 into kettle containing hot water 

 and let cook i to 8 hours with- 

 out stirring. 



Cereals such as cream of 

 wheat and rolled oats require 

 a shorter time to cook, al- Fig. 5. — Fruit and cereal make a good breakfast 



