Rye bread has never been extensively used in America, although it is more or less used in cities having a German population. It does not differ greatly from wheat bread, except that it is darker, of a closer texture, and to most people less palatable. It is recommended to people who have a tendency to constipation. Doubtless this results more from its texture than its chemical elements, for various experiments have demonstrated the fact that it is less easily digested and more waste matter is thrown off. This perhaps explains its laxative tendency. It is said that it will keep fresh longer than wheat bread, and that it should be baked in a much hotter oven.

Corn bread is made from the meal of maize or Indian corn. It is used extensively in the Southern portion of the United States for bread. A large number of the people prefer it to wheaten bread.

Doctor, A Good Many People Think Corn Bread Much More Wholesome Than Wheat. Are They Right Or Wrong?

"There is some foundation for the belief, for as already explained, the tendency of English speaking people, at least, is toward foods entirely too concentrated, resulting in almost universal constipation, and the fact that corn meal contains more or less bran and is really a coarse food, explains why it is more wholesome than ordinary wheat bread."

Has It Any Properties Not Common To Wheat?

"It has not. Corn is inferior to either wheat or oats as a food, except for fattening, although it contains very similar properties. It has a little more oil than wheat, and a higher per cent of starch, if grown in the Central or Western States. Corn grown in the far South has a high per cent of nitrogen or tissue forming elements. It answers the requirements substantially of either wheat, oats or rye, and is the cheapest of all foods, furnishing approximately the necessaries of life."

What Is The Special Value Of Corn?

"Corn is an exceedingly nutritious food, containing all the necessary elements of food, but ordinarily too high percentage of starch, except when grown in hot climates. It is therefore the most fattening of all the cereals, or for that matter, it excels every other food in fattening qualities, except those containing large quantities of sugar or oil. Next to corn bread, corn meal mush is of secondary importance."

Are There Any Objections To Corn Meal Mush?

"The principal objection is that it is too easily swallowed. Like all starchy foods, it requires the saliva to properly prepare it for digestion. Corn meal mush would, however, be much better than what it usually is if well cooked. It should be stirred in three or four times its volume of cold water, and then boiled for about three or four hours."

What About Corn Starch?

"Corn starch is made from both green and ripened corn. That made from the unripened corn is put up for the purposes of food. It is very palatable and nutritious, but contains no other element except the starch, and is therefore only a heat or fat producer. It is not a desirable food for persons who are troubled with acid dyspepsia, especially if it be eaten with sugar, as the combination ferments quickly."

What About Roasting Ears?

"Green corn, commonly called roasting ears, is very palatable and would not be objectionable except for the bran which envelopes the grain. This is a tough, insoluble substance, and is frequently a cause of diarrhoea or summer complaint during its season. If the starch be abstracted by grating, it is not so objectionable."

Then, Canned Corn Or Dried Corn Would Have The Same Indigestible Material?

"That is true; it is not good food. If we had some way of grinding up the husks or tough part, it might be especially valuable, but as it is, it is extremely objectionable."

Are There No Desirable Preparations Of Corn?

"Yes, grits and hominy are good foods, and are the cheapest of any in existence. Grits is the fine particles obtained in making hominy, and is extensively used for food in the Southern States. Hominy, being the coarser particles, requires if anything more cooking, and has proportionately a higher per cent of starch than the grits. Both should be boiled four hours, or until they are reduced to a pulp. Lye hominy is made from whole kernels of corn. It is placed in a vessel, and a weak solution of lye is added and left standing until the lye has in a measure destroyed the tough cellulose coat of the corn. It is then removed from the lye water, rubbed and washed until most of the bran is removed. Then the corn is soaked in water until the lye is substantially all absorbed."

Does This Make Corn More Digestible?

"Yes; the lye has a chemical action upon the starch and partly digests it. Lye hominy is almost more of a medicine than a food, and it would therefore hardly be desirable for one in health to eat lye hominy continually but for some dyspetics it is especially useful."

What Can You Say About Parched Corn?

"Corn is parched by simply applying sufficient heat to roast it brown. The starch, in a measure, becomes dex-trinized, and would be easily digested if it were reduced to a fine powder."

Does The Parching Destroy The Bran?

"To a certain extent it does, and the only objection to parched corn is that it is usually poorly masticated, and if swallowed in coarse broken fragments, it is not easily digested. Pop corn is a small variety of corn used for food exclusively. It contains a larger per cent of oil than ordinary corn, and when subjected to a high degree of heat, the oil causes the grain to pop open."

A Great Many People Regard Pop Corn As Unwholesome. If This Be True, On What Grounds?

"Pop corn is not unwholesome so far as its composition is concerned, but its texture is where the difficulty lies. It is more or less tough and if swallowed in particles from the size of a grain of wheat up to whole grains of corn, it is very difficult to digest. It is therefore liable to cause either intestinal inflammation by irritation or obstruction in the bowels. It ought never to be given to children, and any one doing so cannot have much regard for the life of the child. It is not an uncommon thing among children for death to result from eating pop corn."

"Buckwheat is a cereal much prized by many people, but so little used it hardly deserves to be mentioned."

What Are Its Properties, Doctor?

"The properties of buckwheat are very similar to that of rye. Both contain less tissue forming elements than wheat or oats, are less digestible, and not so valuable as food."

I Have Never Seen Any Bread Made Of Buckwheat. Suppose It Has No Other Use Than For Pancakes?

"That is its common use. Some people like the flavor of buckwheat cakes very much, but they are rather waxy and difficult to digest. There is another objection to buckwheat, and that is that it frequently causes an eruption of the skin called erythema. This is very disagreeable because of its continuous itching. No one should eat buckwheat cakes unless they care more for their palates than their stomachs and health."

Cannot Buckwheat Be Safely Used At All?

"It can be used with more advantage if nearly one-half the volume be of corn meal."

Are These All The Bread Foods?

"There are other vegetables used for bread, but not to any great extent in this country."

What Foods Are Suitable To Be Eaten With Bread?

"The relation of bread to our foods would include the whole system of dietaries, which should be formulated in another part of this work, although it is proper to remark in this connection that the cereals should form the principal part of our diet."

Why Do You Say This?

"Because they contain the necessary elements for supporting life, are less liable to produce disease, and are cheaper. Instead of making meat or common vegetables the principal part of our diet, the bulk of our food should consist of the cereals. If too low in fats and tissue forming foods, nuts, meats, milk or eggs should be added to sufficiently increase the nitrogenous and fattening elements."

How Much Meat Should One Ordinarily Eat Per Day, If The Principal Part Of The Diet Be Cereals?

"The ordinary estimate for a person weighing 150 pounds requires about 8 ounces of lean beef to supply the necessary amount of tissue forming food. At least ¾ of of this amount would be furnished by a cereal diet, so that 2 ounces of lean meat will supply a fair average for amount of meat needed, exclusive of fat; but if entire wheat bread be used, with either milk, nuts or legumes, meat will not be necessary, except in disease."

Doctor, What Foods Are Incompatible With The Cereals?

"Acids of any kind are incompatible with starch. This is especially true of vinegar, and it is not advisable to eat rhubarb and fruits that are strongly acid at the same time that starches are eaten. They should be taken long enough before the meal or a half hour or so after the starches, but if no meat is eaten at all, no kind of acids should be taken at a meal composed mostly of the cereals."

Does This Same Rule Apply To Sugar Also?

"Not as a general principal, but the fact that sugar is quickly converted into acid, makes it objectionable for those who have weak stomachs. It is almost certain to start an abnormal fermentation."