THE CONSUMPTION OF WHEAT 293 



The crust and the crumb of the bread differ physically and 

 chemically. This is due to the. sudden and intense heat to 

 which the crust is subjected. In the crust the starch is rapidly 

 decomposed into dextrine and maltose, which are caramelized 

 by the heat, making the crust darker and sweeter than the 

 crumb. When bread grows stale, the moisture passes from 

 the damper crumb to the drier crust, and it is supposed that 

 the starch undergoes a chemical change. "The whole ques- 

 tion of staleness is one about which little has been absolutely 

 proved. ' ' 



Cost of Baking. A barrel of flour will make nearly 300 

 loaves of bread as ordinarily baked. A 10-cent loaf weighs 

 about 1^4 pounds. The consumer thus pays 8 cents a pound 

 for bread. A pound of bread can be made from about three- 

 quarters pound of flour. At 2 cents per pound for flour, it is 

 estimated that the cost of a pound of bread, exclusive of fuel 

 and labor, is about 2 cents, which allows a half cent for 

 shortening and yeast. While the fuel and labor add mate- 

 rially to the cost, these figures verify the statement that all 

 the combined operations of raising wheat in Dakota, trans- 

 porting it to Minneapolis, grinding it, and shipping the flour 

 to Boston or New York cost less than to bake the flour into 

 bread and carry it from the bakery to the home. 



Macaroni in its numerous forms is a palatable and nutritious 

 food. It is comparatively inexpensive, and is largely replacing 

 meat dishes, which are continually becoming more costly. In 

 food value and in use in the dietary, macaroni is very similar 

 to bread. As a rule, the harder the wheat, that is, the more 

 gluten it contains, the better it is suited to the manufacture 

 of macaroni. Many wheats are used, however, which are not 

 real macaroni wheats. The true varieties are quite widely 

 grown, and have long figured in commerce. Algerian durum 

 wheats are exported for this purpose, and form a standard 

 type. Not a little macaroni wheat is grown and used in 

 South Argentina. The wild goose wheat of Canada, rejected 

 as a bread wheat, now finds use as a macaroni wheat, espe- 

 cially in France. The Japanese use home-grown wheat. The 

 metadine wheat of France is a half-hard wheat that is being 

 largely used, but with a mixture of durum wheat. Indian 

 and Turkish wheats are often mixed with such wheat as the 



