558 THE SMALL GRAINS 



of a piston, fitting closely within the cylinder. A little 

 rod or wire passes through the center of each hole, with- 

 out touching its sides, which causes a hole in the stick of 

 macaroni. Spaghetti is smaller in diameter, without any 

 hole through it, and vermicelli has a still smaller diameter. 

 The name macaroni is applied often as a generic term to 

 all forms. 



606. Characteristics of good macaroni. First, a 

 good macaroni is never white, and that color is a sure in- 

 dication either of bleaching or of poor quality. Though 

 these products are called pastes, it is a fact that good 

 macaroni must not be pasty, when cooked, but firm like 

 rubber. A first-class product is extremely hard, vitreous 

 in fracture, yellowish in color, and will bend considerably 

 before breaking. It will hold its form firmly after cook- 

 ing, and not become flabby or flatten out into a pasty 

 mass. 



607. Macaroni manufacture in this country. Maca- 

 roni of the qualities just described cannot be made from 

 the ordinary wheats of this country. Even the hard win- 

 ter and hard spring wheats are not satisfactory. Many 

 new macaroni factories have been built in this country 

 in recent years, and a number of them already are using 

 durum wheats. Using the proper wheat, American fac- 

 tories could have a large market for semolina, or perhaps 

 even for the macaroni, in southern Europe. 



608. Breakfast foods. A few cereal foods of the 

 breakfast food class, such as oatmeal, have been in use for 

 a long time, particularly among the Scotch people. In 

 recent years scores of new breakfast foods have been made 

 from all of the cereals. There are three classes of break- 

 fast foods at present on the market in North America: 

 (1) the uncooked breakfast foods consisting of hulless 



