TROPICAL FOOD MATERIALS 



45 



So far as information is available, there are practically no 

 results of experimental work recorded where the whole grain of 

 the wheat is utilized. Goodfellow, in investigating the nutritive 

 value of Hovis bread in which the germ is partially cooked with 

 superheated steam, ground to meal, and added to the ordinary 

 flour found the percentage of protein absorption very little 

 lower than with ordinary white bread. It is important, there- 

 fore, to remember that when dealing with a good quality of wheat, 

 the protein absorption from the flour containing all the elements 

 of the grain, except the coarser parts of the bran, is slightly over 

 80 per cent., and, further, that the protein content of the wheat 

 has not been impoverished by the exclusion of the highly nitrog- 

 enous germ. In the particular sample of wheat referred to, and 

 with which the above result was obtained, the amount of protein 

 present was 12 per cent. 



It is necessary now to examine the effect of the modern methods 

 of milling wheat on the protein content of the products obtained. 



Hutchison gives the composition of the different parts of a 

 wheat grain as follows : 





In the old method of stone-grinding the method still in use 

 in India the bran was removed, but not the germ; whereas in the 

 modern steel-roller milling both bran and germ are excluded. 

 After being ground, the products are separated into different 

 portions by sifting, and the portion that constitutes flour is 

 derived entirely from the endosperm, and forms from 70 to 73 per 

 cent, of the whole grain. This flour is further separated into a 

 portion derived from the central part of the endosperm, which 

 is poor in protein and rich in starch. This is termed " patents " ; 

 the remaining portion is the ordinary household or baker's 

 flour. Neglecting further refinements in the division of the 

 products, the effect of modern methods of milling is to lessen 

 very considerably the protein and mineral constituents of 



