THE CONSUMPTION OF WHEAT 297 



CO per cent. Our own homely dish of "noodles" can be traced 

 back to a macaroni ancestry 



Crackers, Often Called Biscuits (bis cuit, twice baked), are 

 a variety of unleavened bread. They find their way to almost 

 every table in the land. They are usually made from soft 

 wheat flour. "Milk, butter, lard, spices, dried fruits any- 

 thing or everything desired to give them particular consistency, 

 color or flavor is mixed with the flour and water." The 

 manufacture of crackers is a trade by itself, different from 

 ordinary baking, and requiring machinery and processes peculiar 

 to itself. As early as 1875, crackers were made by a rapid and 

 continuous process. Machines mixed the flour and water, 

 pressed the dough into a sheet, cut it and even fed the biscuits 

 into an oven. A traveling stage carried them through the 

 oven. The patent traveling ovens were 30 to 44 feet long, and 

 fitted with endless webs of plates or chains. The chains were 

 used for small fancy biscuits, and the plates for large and 

 plain water biscuits. The rates at which biscuits of different 

 sizes and degrees of richness traversed the length of the oven 

 in order to bake varied from 5 to 40 minutes, and the tem- 

 perature of the oven was modified to suit various qualities. 

 Both the heat and rate of motion were "under easy and ade- 

 quate" control. 1 Crackers are rarely made in the home. For- 

 merly they were placed upon the market in the bulk, but the 

 package form of the trade has increased so greatly that some 

 companies are rapidly doing away with the less profitable busi- 

 ness of selling crackers in the bulk. About 50 different 

 package biscuits are placed upon the market by one com- 

 pany. Perhaps the most interesting form of unleavened breads 

 is the Passover bread, which has been used during Passover 

 week by orthodox Jews from the time of Moses until now. It 

 is not unlike the plain water cracker. 



Ready-to-Eat Wheat Foods. These foods are also known as 

 breakfast foods. Their manufacture dates from 1895, and 

 seems to be confined to the United States. The pioneer in 

 this business was Henry D. Perky, who patented "Shredded 



1 In spite of many efforts, the writer was unable to secure any 

 considerable data on any phase of the modern cracker industry. 

 The business is largely monopolized by a few men not affected by 

 the recent wave of publicity. It is rumored that the profits of the 

 business are too great to make publicity advisable. 



