580 MISCELLANEOUS FARM SUBJECTS 



for the dish, but so much depends upon custom that only general sug- 

 gestions can be made. The Italians and some other races are much 

 fonder of^garlic than Americans, the Germans of summer savory or 

 bohnenkraut in string beans, and the English of mint with peas. 

 Each housewife must select the seasonings which her family prefers 

 and endeavor to use them in such a way that the special flavors may 

 be most satisfactorily brought out. 



Salads and Salad Dressings. Nearly all vegetables may be 

 served in the form of salad. The salads made with the raw vege- 

 tables are more refreshing and perhaps more generally relished than 

 those made with cooked vegetables. The most common green salad 

 plant in the United States is undoubtedly lettuce, and perhaps celery, 

 alone or mixed with other materials, next. Endive, chicory, blanched 

 dandelion, and other plants should also be used, as they give a pleas- 

 ant variety to the menu. Such salads are garnished like lettuce. 



CEREAXS. 



There is such a bewildering variety of cereal breakfast foods, 

 on the market, with such differences in appearance, taste, and claims 

 to nutritive value, that it is hard to choose between them. Of the 

 five cereals corn, oats, rice, wheat, and barley, most commonly used 

 for breakfast foods, oats contain perhaps the largest quantities of the 

 important nutrients, with a fairly low proportion of crude fiber. 

 Wheat ranks very close to oats and even wiien prepared with the 

 bran is freer from crude fiber. Although the bran contains much 

 protein, digestion experiments indicate, that the crude fiber makes 

 the whole material so much less digestible that more protein is ac- 

 tually available to the body when the bran is excluded. The bran- 

 containing preparations should be avoided by persons of weak diges- 

 tion, but are often useful in cases of constipation. Appearance, pal- 

 atability, and relative cost will always and rightly be important fea- 

 tures in the selection of these cereal breakfast foods. Corn and its 

 preparations are rich in carbohydrates and fat, but are slightly less 

 digestible than the other cereals. Rice is poor in protein, but re- 

 markably free from crude fiber, and furnishes a large proportion of 

 digestible carbohydrates. Barley contains a fair proportion of nu- 

 trients and is moderately digestible. All these differences in com- 

 position and digestibility are comparatively slight and may be disre. 

 garded by healthy persons living on the ordinary mixed diet. 



Thorough cooking not only makes the cereals more palatable, 

 but also breaks down the walls of indigestible cellulose which sur- 

 round the starch grains and other nutrients and produces other 

 changes so that the digestive juices can work on the nutritive ingre- 

 dients more effectively. Poorly cooked cereals are less palatable than 

 well cooked and may cause indigestion and be really harmful. When 

 the partially cooked preparations are used, care should be taken to 

 insure sufficient recooking before serving. The ready-to-eat brands 

 are apparently thoroughly cooked. 



Unless something is added during the process of manufacture, 

 all brands must have just about the same composition as the cereals 



