MAIZE GRAIN AS FOOD 



6 79 



" germ " is removed. The impression as to the keeping qualities CHAP, 

 of maize which this latter statement appears to convey is, per- XIV- 

 haps, rather misleading ; the writer has known maize meal to 

 have been kept for more than a year, through the hottest summer 

 known in Pretoria (191 1-12), without having turned in the least 

 rancid at the end of the period. In 1903, however, maize 

 meal imported from Baltimore, U.S.A., to South Africa, and 

 which had, therefore, crossed the Equator, was so rancid as to 

 be unfit for food. 



Though maize flour contains a comparatively small propor- 

 tion of protein, this defect will probably be remedied in course 

 of time ; the Illinois State Agricultural Experiment Station has 

 already, after but a short period of work, succeeded in increas- 

 ing the protein-content by about 2 per cent. 



The following comparison of the food value of "Johnny 

 Cake," i.e. maize meal bread, and of wheat bread, is drawn 

 from analyses by Atwater and Wood, and Dr. Robert Hutch- 

 inson : — 



Table CXVII. 



COMPARISON OF THE FOOD-VALUE OF WHEAT BREAD AND 

 MAIZE BREAD. 



Wheat Bread. 

 Per Cent. 



1 Johnny Cake.' 

 Per Cent. 



Water 



Protein ..... 



Fat 



Carbohydrates "1 



(Starch, Sugar, and Dextrine) J 

 Cellulose .... 

 Ash 



40-0 

 6-5 



I'O 



51-2 

 ■3 



I'O 



38-0 



8-5 

 27 



47'3 



3'5 



IOO'O 



The " Johnny Cake " is drier by 2 per cent, and contains 

 2 per cent more protein, 1 if per cent more fat, and less 

 starch than wheat bread. 



Bowman and Crossley (1) state that maize is "very well 

 digested in the human body. Experiments show that 90 per 

 cent of its dry matter is absorbed, as compared with 82 per 



1 The higher percentage of protein is probably due to the addition of milk, 

 egg, and wheat flour. 



