Barley

Barley is not largely consumed as a food, although it is one of the most nourishing cereals. It is probable that the reason is to be found in the high price at which it is charged. Malting samples apart, barley, weight for weight, is cheaper than wheat, but it contains more fibrous matter in the husk, and consequently less nutritive food.

Where, however, this fibre is removed it is of similar value, although its cost is out of proportion to that value. When a bushel of barley weighing 50 lb. can be purchased in normal times for 3s. 6d. to 4s., or less than a penny a pound, the mere removal of the husk unwarrantably increases it to 2 1/2d. and 3d. While barley contains the smallest proportion of fat of all the cereals, and is relatively poor in protein for the formation of muscular tissue, it is the richest in mineral matter. Samples vary, however - a fact which the grower learns to his cost when he offers a poor sample to a brewer - for a really thin barley contains but two-thirds of the normal quantity of starch. Barley will not make edible bread, in consequence of its small proportion of gluten, but its flour is frequently used in Wales for this purpose when it is mixed with wheat flour. Barley was, however, largely used in this country by the rural population of the past as a breadstuff in spite of its inferiority.

Barley Water

Barley Water, which is frequently recommended as a nourishing drink, has really nothing to recommend it in this direction, for its feeding property is but infinitesimal.

Tapioca

Tapioca is the product of the cassava plant, a native of the American tropics, which it has been claimed produces six times as much feeding substance to the acre as wheat. It is rich in starch, but the real article is imitated by a product of the potato, which is almost pure starch. It is advisable, therefore, in preparing cheap tapioca to use milk and eggs, that its deficiency in protein may be properly modified.

Macaroni, Spaghetti, Vermicelli

These foods, so popular in Italy, are of great nourishing value, but that value is diminished by the fact that they are made from very fine flour which leaves no residue in the process of digestion. They should, therefore, be eaten with fruits or tomatoes in their skins, or with green vegetables. Like all cereals these foods absorb a large quantity of water in the process of cooking. The starch present in an average sample reaches 12 oz. in a pound, and the protein l 1/2 to 2 oz., but the proportion of fat is so small that oil, butter, or margarine should be added where macaroni forms a large item in the diet. Macaroni cheese, as prepared in England, is a less digestible dish than where grated cheese is sprinkled over it as in Italy. In making a pudding from either of these foods with the assistance of new milk, 6 oz. should be broken small in a dish of three pints, with sugar, and flavour to taste. This will produce five large plates, weighing about 10 oz. each, at a cost of 7 1/2d.., when the paste costs 4d. a pound - or, where skimmed milk can be obtained at a penny a pint, and 2 oz. of margarine are added, 5 1/2d. - i. e. a fraction more than a penny a plate.

Preparations Or Maize

If we omit the preparations of maize which are sold in this country for making moulds or blanc-mange, this most valuable cereal is almost ignored, although it is quite equal to wheat as a producer of energy, containing as it does more fat and starch and an ample proportion of protein. Maize forms one of the most popular foods in Africa, in America, where I have enjoyed the corncakes common to the country; and in Italy, where polenta is the chief food of the peasantry, while it is widely consumed in Ireland. It is one of the most economical of all foods - a well-made meal providing sweet or savoury and highly nourishing cakes for the dinner or the tea table, and for this purpose, too, hominy may be used. At 2d. a pound a penny buys 800 units, but the maize flours which are practically all starch - there being barely a trace of protein or mineral salts - provide a great deal less for the money. Maize products are not only well digested, but well absorbed, and, for the reasons advanced, combined with their lower price, it is a pity that they are not more largely consumed.