44 



The World's Commercial Products 



country and also in the West Indies, does not make curry in the Eastern manner, but he 

 frequently renders rice more appetising by boiling with it a piece of salt fish, or salt pork, large 

 quantities of which figure in the list of imports of a community with a negro population. 

 Rice cannot by itself be made into bread as it contains very little gluten. But it has the great 

 advantage of being very easily digested, and is often of great benefit to invalids who cannot 

 readily take starchy vegetables, such as potatoes. The Eastern people cook rice very nicely 

 so that each grain is separate and firm, and the mass can readily be handled. In Europe 

 rice, too often, is served as a sticky mass, due to improper cooking. 



The straw of the plant is a fairly good 

 fodder for cattle. It is plaited and made 

 into hats, the straw shoes of Japan, and 

 other items of apparel. The husks or chaff 

 are useful for manure and in a variety of 

 other ways. Rice bran and the mixture 

 of broken grains, dust, etc., are valuable 

 cattle foods. Rice polish is the most 

 nutritious of the by-products from the 

 milling and cleaning of rice. Possibly, in 

 the future, fashion may not demand the 

 removal of the most valuable part of the 

 grain, but at present it is chiefly used as a 

 cattle food. 



Poudre-de-riz — one of the requisites of 

 the toilet table— is not made from rice,, 

 but of soap-stone finely powdered. In 

 India, however, a rice powder is prepared 

 from the grains for similar purposes. 



Starch is made in Europe from rice 

 not required for other purposes, some is 

 exported again to India to be used in 

 " making up " cotton prints. (See 

 Starches.) 



Alcohol from Rice. The Japanese 

 prepare from rice an intoxicating liquor 

 known as " Sake," which is said to re- 

 semble in taste light sherry, kept in . a 

 beer-bottle for some time. A certain 

 ferment, called " koji," which in reality 

 is nothing but mouldy rice, is used in its preparation. In order to obtain this, some 

 previously soaked rice is steamed until all the grains have become soft. The whole mass 

 is spread out on mats to cool, and sprinkled with the spores of a fungus called Aspergillus- 

 oryzae and placed in a cellar. After twenty-four hours a white mould begins to appear 

 on the rice, which at the same time grows more and more sticky, and green spots begin 

 to show themselves. The mass is stirred up about every twelve hours and water added, and 

 in from three to four days the preparation of the koji is finished. It may be dried and 

 packed in tins, and kept a considerable time like German yeast. 



Sake is prepared as follows : During four or five days ten parts of water, three of koji, and 

 seven of steamed rice are stirred in a bowl with a wooden spoon. The mixture is poured into 

 another vessel and covered with a mat. The first fermentation now takes place, and lasts 

 from ten to twenty days, depending on temperature. 



Fifty parts of this fermented substance are taken and 150 of boiled rice, and 200 of water 



DIVISION OF LABOUR IN BRITISH INDIA 



