FOOD. 



accompaniment to curried dishes, or baked in 

 puddings, which is perhaps the best mode of 

 using- it. 



Maize or Indian Corn is the produce of the Zea 

 mays of Linnaeus a cereal found native in America, 

 but now largely cultivated, not only in the New 

 World, but in several of the warmer regions of the 

 Old. As an article of human subsistence, it is 

 extensively used in the countries where it is grown ; 

 but did not, till the failure of the potato-crop in 

 1847, meet with much attention in Britain. In 

 America, the tender young ears, in their milky 

 state, are roasted and eaten with butter and salt 

 as a delicacy, or boiled with meat. When green, 

 they are also pickled as gherkins (young cucum- 

 bers) ; and dried, they keep all the year. When 

 the grains arc ripe, the skin is taken off, and the 

 farinaceous part is boiled whole, or ground into 

 meal, and made into cakes, puddings, &c. It is 

 this meal which is chiefly known in Britain, and of 

 which a variety of puddings, cakes, and loaves 

 have been recommended. 



Being extremely productive, maize can be 

 cheaply produced, hence its great importance as 

 an article of diet in America, Mexico, Natal, 

 Italy, Spain, the south of France, and the Danubian 

 Principalities. Its cultivation is not, however, 

 restricted to these countries, but it is also exten- 

 sively pursued in Turkey, Egypt, India, China, 

 and the islands of the Indian Archipelago. The 

 meal, called hominy or cominy, contains in loo 

 parts : 



Starch - sLSTJ Su ^- Fat - Salts - Watcr - 



64-7 ii-o 0-4 8-1 1-7 14 



It is therefore very nutritious. We find that those 

 who live chiefly upon maize are robust, healthy, 

 and fond of it as an article of diet. Its flavour is, 

 however, somewhat rough and harsh, and hence 

 it is chiefly preferred by those who have early 

 been trained to its use. The substance known as 

 os-wego, maizetta, or corn-flour is prepared by 

 treating maize with a weak solution of caustic 

 soda, in order to deprive it of gluten and of its 

 harsh taste, and then drying the product. 



Peas and Beans, which belong to the leguminous 

 order of plants, are consumed partly in a green 

 state, and partly when ripe and dried. It is the 

 latter state with which we have at present to do ; 

 and it may be stated generally that their meal or 

 farina is now but little used as an article of human 

 food. Peas, split or whole, are used in the prepara- 

 tion of pea-soup ; the meal, either pure or mixed, 

 is still employed in some districts in the making of 

 cakes ; and, very finely ground and bolted, it is 

 used as a supper-diet, under the name of Glasgow 

 brose-meal. With regard to the amount of nitrog- 

 enous or nutritive matter which pulse and lentils 

 contain, it is beyond what is found in any of the 

 cereals. The nutritive effect, however, does not 

 agree with this theoretical conclusion, partly from 

 their deficiency in other wholesome constituents, 

 and partly from the difficulty with which they are 

 digested. 



Sago Tapioca Arrow-root. Of a consider- 

 able number of foreign starchy products, these are 

 the mostextensivelyused,andbestknown in Britain. 

 The first is the produce of the sago-palm (Sagus 

 rumphit), a native of the East Indies and Indian 

 Archipelago. ' The part which affords the sago is 

 the pith ; and to procure this, the body of the 



tree, when it is full grown, is sawn into pieces, and 

 the raw sago cut out and put into a trough with 

 water, in which it is well stirred, to separate the 

 flour from the woody fibre. This is now suffered 

 to rest, and the flour subsides to the bottom. The 

 water is then poured off, and the meal laid upon 

 wicker-frames to dry. To form it into the round 

 grains in which it is imported, the sago when moist 

 is passed through a cullender, and rubbed into 

 little balls, like shot, and then thoroughly dried. 

 The sago-tree requires to be seven years old before 

 being fit for felling ; and a full-grown specimen 

 will yield about 600 pounds of sago. The best 

 sago is of a slightly pinkish hue, and readily 

 dissolves to a jelly in hot water. Several other 

 trees besides that above mentioned yield sago, but 

 neither so abundantly nor of so excellent a quality.' 

 The sago of commerce is imported either as sago- 

 meal, pearl-sago, or common brown sago, which 

 states have reference more to its form than com- 

 position. In all, the main constituent is starch, 

 which, being light and easily digestible, renders 

 sago an eligible substance for the dyspeptic and 

 invalid. 



Tapioca is obtained from the tuberous root of 

 the Janipha manihot by grating and washing. It 

 is usually met with in small irregular lumps, a form 

 it has acquired by being dried on hot plates. The 

 heat breaks the starch globules, and renders them 

 partially soluble in cold water. In boiling water, 

 tapioca becomes a transparent and viscous jelly. 

 ' In its nutritive qualities,' says Pereira, ' it agrees 

 with sago, than which it is much purer, being free 

 from colouring-matter. It also yields a more con- 

 sistent jelly than some other kinds of starch. It is 

 principally employed as an agreeable light nourish- 

 ment for invalids, as well as for children.' 



The pure white starchy powder known as arrow- 

 root is obtained from the tubers of the West 

 Indian plant, Maranta arundinacea. It makes a 

 tolerably strong jelly, stronger than that of wheat- 

 starch, and is free from colouring-matter and also 

 from any unpleasant taste or odour. It is used 

 in the preparation of either puddings or gruel, 

 ike sago and tapioca. ' The best arrow-root we 

 have,' says Webster, ' is from Antigua, Jamaica, 

 and Bermuda ; but a great deal of what is sold in 

 London is adulterated with potato-starch, which, 

 though a substance not very different, has not pre- 

 cisely the same properties. Arrow-root, like every 

 kind of starch, boils to a jelly ; but it differs from 

 DOtato-starch in this respect, that the ielly formed 

 r rom arrow-root will remain firm for three or four 

 days without turning thin or sour, whereas the jelly 

 : rom potato-flour, in the course of ten or twelve 

 lours, becomes thin as milk and acescent ; hence 

 t is not so well calculated for food, and particularly 

 nfants'.' The proper value of all these substances, 

 however, can be best appreciated by bearing in 

 mind that they contain but a small portion of 

 jluten in proportion to the staich. As food for the 

 young, they are by far too largely employed ; and 

 :he best American wheat-flour, good Scotch oat- 

 meal, and barley-meal, may all be employed with 

 advantage at different times, by way of variety, 

 and repeated according to their agreement with 

 the child's organs of digestion. The digestion of 

 all these forms of food containing starch is greatly 

 promoted by long boiling either with water or milk, 

 is this process is just so much saved to the intesti- 

 nal organs. It is thus obvious that we have a 



