16 



BULLETIN 215, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



RELATION OF MOISTURE CONTENT TO KEEPING QUALITY OF 

 DEGERMINATED BOLTED ROLLER-GROUND MEAL. 



These experiments were carried on in two series, the first with ton 

 lots and the second with carload lots. The meal used in both series 

 was ground during the month of May, 1913, at the mill of the Ameri- 

 can Hominy Company, Terre Haute, Indiana. Each lot of meal was 

 divided into two parts, one of which was shipped to Savannah, 

 Georgia, the other to Chicago, Illinois. At both places the meal was 

 stored in public warehouses designed for products of this nature, 

 sample bags being withdrawn from month to month for chemical 

 analysis and tests as to quality. The analyses of the meal as ground 

 were made at the Chicago Food and Drug Inspection Laboratory, as 

 were also the analyses at the end of each period of the meal stored at 

 that center. Analyses of the meal stored at Savannah were made at 

 the Government food laboratory located in that city. In addition to 

 the usual chemical determinations, the general appearance of the 

 meal and the taste and flavor of the mush prepared from the meal 

 were noted. 



STORAGE EXPERIMENTS WITH TON LOTS OF MEAL MILLED MAY 7, 1913. 



DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSES OF THE MEAL AS MILLED. 



Five lots of 1 ton each were milled to contain percentages of mois- 

 ture ranging from 11.41 to 16.86. Since the corn used, owing to the 

 good quality of the crop of 1912 and the lateness of the season, was 

 quite dry, the meal ground without any drying whatever (lot B) 

 contained only 15.04 per cent of moisture. In order to secure one lot 

 with a higher moisture content, such as would have been present in 

 undried meal milled earlier in the season, water in addition to the 

 amount usually employed for tempering was added to the corn. In 

 this manner the percentage of moisture in lot A was raised to 16.86. 

 It was recognized that meal thus prepared was not strictly compara- 

 ble with that made without the addition of water from corn with a 

 higher moisture content, and due allowance was made in interpreting 

 the results. 



Table 7. — Composition of ton lots of determinated, bolted, roller-ground corn meal, 

 containing different amounts of moisture, as milled May 7, 1913, for use in storage 

 experiments. 



Product. 



Meal as milled: 



Lot A , undried , water added . 



Lot B , undried 



Lot C, medium dried 



Lot D, medium dried 



Lot E , high dried 



Moisture-free meal: 



Lot A , undried , water added . 



Lot B , undried'. 



Lot C ,. medium dried 



Lot D, medium dried 



, Lot E , high dried 



Mois- 

 ture. 



Per 

 cent. 

 16.86 

 15.04 

 13.41 

 13.27 

 11.41 



Acid- 

 ity. 



14.' 7 

 14.0 

 14.1 

 13.4 

 11.9 



17.7 

 16.5 

 16.3 

 15.5 

 13.4 



Protein 

 (NX6.2.5). 



Per cent. 

 6.53 

 6.50 

 6.69 

 6.66 

 6.72 



7.85 

 7.65 

 7.73 

 7.68 

 7.58 



Fat, 



Per 

 cent. 

 0.71 



.94 

 1.05 



.80 

 1.32 



.86 

 1.11 

 1.21 



.92 

 1.49 



Nitrogen- 

 free 

 extract. 



Per cent. 

 75. 13 

 76.65 

 77.87 

 78.32 



' . 79. 47 



' 90. 36 

 90.22 

 89.92 

 90.30 

 89.71 



Crude 

 fiber. 



Per 

 cent. 



0.49 

 .52 

 .59 

 .59 

 .62 



.59 

 .61 



Ash. 



Per 



cent. 

 0.28 

 .35 

 .39 

 .36 

 .46 



.34 

 .41 

 .45 

 .42 

 .52 



