Cereals are grains of grasses, the seeds of which are used for food.

Those that are most commonly used are wheat, oats, corn, rye, barley, rice, buckwheat.

From these are prepared the different breakfast foods and flours.

Wheat is perhaps the most important of these grasses. It was cultivated in Egypt and China, long before the Christian era. It is frequently mentioned in the Bible. The prehistoric Lake-dwellers of Switzerland depended upon its cultivation for their daily food.

The countries which produce the largest amount of wheat are, United States, Canada, Russia, India, Australia, Egypt and Turkey. There are several varieties being cultivated in these different countries.

The grain of wheat is highly nutritious, due to its large per cent of starch.

The Composition Of Wheat (Average)

Carbohydrates: 67 per cent.

Protein: 13. (In form of Albuminoids.)

Mineral matter: small amount.

Water: 14 per cent.

The nitrogenous part of the flour of wheat is an elastic substance known as gluten. This substance is absolutely essential in the making of light bread.

Wheat flour, mixed with some water, yields a yellowish, elastic, sticky substance, which resembles glue. This is due to the gluten in wheat. If the mixture of water and flour, after being moistened, is heated it will expand to more than double its bulk.

The Kinds Of Wheat

Winter wheat and spring wheat.

Winter wheat or soft wheat is sown in the fall. On account of its exposure during the winter months to the cold and dampness, much of the gluten has been destroyed. Therefore, the wheat yields a flour when milled that is. soft and starchy. This grade of flour is used in the home mostly for pastry and cakes.

The spring or hard wheat is sown in spring, grows quickly and yields a flour when milled that is rich in gluten. This flour is excellent for bread making. It is grown mostly in northern states.

Spring wheat is known by its greater capacity for absorbing water, its gritty feeling and by caking slightly when squeezed in the hand.

Each grain of wheat is composed of four separate layers: first-the outside covering is hard and is called bran. The second layer contains the gluten. The third layer contains the fat and germ, and the center contains the starch.

In the manufacture of flour the wheat is first cleaned, then rolled, then bolted and packed.

The millers manufacture different grades of flour.

High grade patent flour is the whitest and purest and commands the highest price. It is poor economy to buy a low grade of flour, as it is liable to contain flour-dust, shorts, and other by-products, which are neither wholesome nor nutritious.

In the milling of wheat every part of the grain is utilized and sold. The outer covering, known as screening and bran, is sold for cattle feed. The germ is made into breakfast food.

Graham flour is made from unbolted flour, and contains some of the bran as well as the finer parts of the flour.

Entire wheat, or whole wheat, is manufactured by grinding together all parts of the kernel except the bran and the germ

Macaroni, spaghetti, vermicelli, are Italian pastes made from the glutinous flour, or spring wheat.