12 
BULLETIN 439, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
German millers have been experimenting to some extent with soy 
meal in making brown bread by mixing with rye flour. As to the 
extent to which this bread is now used, no data are available, but 
it is known that soy meal, on account of the large proportion of 
protein and phosphates it contains, as well as the palatable products 
made from it, is gaining in popularity. Soy-bean flour enters largely 
as a constituent in many of the so-called diabetic breads, biscuits, 
and crackers manufactured as food specialties. 
As a human food, soy-bean flour has been used principally in the 
United States as a special article of diet and is sold by a number 
of food companies manufacturing special foods. Extensive tests are 
being conducted by the United States Department of Agriculture 
with soy-bean flour in the making of bread. 1 The flour or meal can 
be successfully used as a constituent for muffins, bread, and biscuits 
in much the same way as corn meal. In these various food products 
about one-fourth soy flour and three-fourths wheat flour have been 
found to be the proper proportions. When a special food of low 
starch content is desired, as for diabetic persons, a larger proportion 
of soy flour is used and some form of gluten is substituted for the 
wheat flour. The addition of the soy flour changes the proportion 
of protein and carbohydrates in the mixture, as will be noted from 
the composition of flours shown in Table VI. 
Table VI. — Composition of soy-bean flour in comparison with wheat flour, corn meal, 
rye flour, Graham flour, and whole-wheat flour. 2 
Constituents (per cent). 
Kind of flour or meal. 
Water. 
Ash. 
Fat. 
Fiber. 
Protein. 
Carbo- 
hydrates. 
6.14 
6.10 
12.00 
10.00 
9.00 
9.60 
10.90 
5.24 
6.20 
.45 
.90 
1.10 
1.80 
1.05 
20.71 
4.50 
1.00 
2.70 
1.50 
2.20 
2.00 
1.72 
2.05 
.20 
.80 
.65 
1.90 
1.00 
39.56 
47.30 
11.00 
8.50 
12.00 
12.60 
12.00 
26.63 
Soy bean 2 
33.85 
Wheat 
75.35 
Corn meal 
77.10 
Rye 
75.85 
71.90 
73.05 
1 Flour made from the whole soy bean. 
2 Flour made from soy-bean cake. 
Although soy-bean milk has been used in both the fresh and the 
condensed form and in the manufacture of cheese in Japan and 
China for centuries, it only recently has been considered of possible 
importance in the United States. Soy-bean milk, owing to its food 
value and for sanitary reasons, is said to be of the greatest importance 
for cooking purposes and can be used by bakers, confectioners, and 
chocolate manufacturers. In Asiatic countries the whole bean is 
1 Attention has been given to the food value of soy beans in connection with studies carried on by the 
Office of Home Economics. See U. S. Dept. Agr., Farmers' Buls. 58 and 121 and Office Expt. Stas. 
Bui. 159. 
2 Reported by the Bureau of Chemistry. 
