Green Corn

When the corn is in the milky stage of its development, which it reaches in July and August, the kernels are sweet and tender and possess a flavor pleasing to most people. This green corn is gathered from the fields and gardens, and appears in the markets early in July and for about two months following. Green corn is prepared by boiling the ears for about twenty minutes. It may then be served on the cob or shaved from the cob and served with butter or butter and milk as a side dish. The varieties of corn served in this way are usually the so-called "sweet corn." Sweet corn possesses a very much larger amount of sugar than field corn, and is therefore much better adapted for this use. Sweet corn is never ground into meal, though it appears in recent years as parched berries or kernels among the "pure-food" preparations.

Rye

Rye has many points in common with wheat in its natural growth and in its use as a food. It is ground into flour and meal similar to wheat and used very largely in northern Europe for bread. Rye bread is much darker than wheat bread; in fact, it is as dark as the whole wheat bread and somewhat similar to whole wheat bread in texture. It has a very different flavor, however, and because of its greater proportion of cellulose, is somewhat less nourishing than bread made from wheat. "When properly made the rye bread has a fine texture and the loaf retains its moisture longer than the wheat loaf, perhaps because of its finer texture.

Oats

Oats were defined by the lexicographer Johnson as "food for horses in England and men in Scotland." A canny Scotchman, reading that definition, remarked: "And where do you find such horses as they have in England or such men as they have in Scotland? "

As a matter of fact, oatmeal in the form in which it is usually put upon the market for human food shows on analysis a very high protein content - in short, it is the most nutritious of the cereal products, and it is likely that no cereal is better adapted for the maintenance of life and energy than is oatmeal. It appears in the markets in two different well-known preparations: the old-fashioned oatmeal, such as has been used for generations by the Scotch for their nourishing, appetizing porridge, and the oat flakes prepared by crushing the oat berries by a roller process, and steaming them for a considerable time, thus partially cooking them. The rolled oats thus prepared make one of the best of the cereal breakfast foods, and have the advantage of requiring less cooking than the oatmeal. A very common mistake, however, is to cook the rolled oats too little. They require, like the wheat preparations, at least forty-five minutes in a double boiler. The cereal would be much more wholesome and easily digested if prepared in a "tireless cooker," where it would be under the influence of nearly a boiling temperature for from eight to twelve hours. The oatmeal should never be served until it has been cooked in a double boiler for two or three hours, or in a tireless cooker overnight.

Barley

This grain looks somewhat like the rice grain when it comes from the threshing machine, and, like the rice kernel, barley has a shell which cleaves tight to the berry, and needs to be removed before the cereal is edible. This hulled barley, while sometimes milled into flour or meal, has very limited use in this form, its usual use in the dietary being in the hulled berries. It looks not unlike rice, and may be used in a similar way, though its most general use is as an adjunct for soups.