FIELD CROPS 441 



rolled or flaked and sometimes parched with or without the addition 

 of malt or other flavoring material. 



Cornstarch has long been an important foodstuff commonly 

 used for making puddings and desserts and for invalid cookery. 

 Glucose made from cornstarch is a very common commercial 

 product. The use of corn oil as a culinary fat is comparatively 

 recent but seems promising. 



Corn meal and other corn products are used in making an 

 endless variety of batter breads, cakes, and other dishes for which 

 recipes may be found in books devoted to cookery. 



Unripe or green corn is frequently used as a vegetable, par- 

 ticularly in America. Like all green vegetables it is succulent and 

 contains a small amount of nutritive material in proportion to its 

 bulk, being esteemed for its pleasing flavor and the variety which 

 it gives to the diet rather than for its direct food value. Corn canned 

 alone or mixed with beans or tomatoes is a common commercial 

 product, reasonable in price, and a useful addition to the list of 

 vegetables, particularly in the winter diet. 



Careful experiments made to test the digestibility of corn in- 

 dicate that the carbohydrates are almost completely utilized by the 

 body no matter how the grain is cooked. The method of prepara- 

 tion, however, apparently makes considerable difference in the 

 digestibility of the protein. Thin, porous corn bread, such as 

 jonnnycake, and even the thick loaves of Boston brown bread, made 

 of equal parts of corn, rye, and wheat, furnished as large a propor- 

 tion of digestible protein as white wheat bread raised with yeast. On 

 the other hand, the protein of hoecake (cornmeal mixed with water 

 and baked in thin sheets) has been found to be slightly less digest- 

 ible than that of wheat bread, while the protein of hasty pudding 

 and boiled hominy is only about 73 per cent digestible as compared 

 with 83 to 86 per cent in the above-mentioned type of corn bread. 



The corn breakfast foods and other corn products have much 

 the same digestibility as corn meal when cooked in similar ways. 

 The variations which have been noted with the different corn breads 

 and other corn dishes are of the same character as those observed 

 with similar foods made from! wheat flour of different sorts. 



Corn, though a wholesome and very useful foodstuff which 

 may be cooked in many ways, is not likely to replace wheat as a 

 leading breadstuff where the latter can be obtained, as wheat bread 

 is commonly considered to be more appetizing for everyday use and 

 has an advantage in that it keeps for a longer time in good condi- 

 tion after baking. Corn breads, however, give a pleasant variety to 

 the diet, and being more easily and quickly made than wheat bread 

 are especially useful when hot bread is wanted and time is limited. 

 Corn breads and corn cakes are so easily made that they are favor- 

 ites in camps and wherever cooking appliances are few and simple. 



Where conditions are especially favorable to corn cultivation, 

 as in the mountain districts of the southeastern United States, some 

 parts of Italy, and the Balkan regions of Europe, corn is often the 

 staple cereal food and not infrequently the principal article of diet 



