  “The grains, with fruits, nuts and vegetables contain all the nutritive properties necessary to make good blood.” “Those who eat flesh are eating grains and vegetables at second-hand; for the animal receives from these things the nutrition that produces growth.” “The life that was in the grains and vegetables passes into the eater. We receive it by eating the flesh of the animal. How much better to get it direct, by eating the food that God provided for our use.” “Grains used for porridge or mush should have several hours’ cooking; but soft or liquid foods are less wholesome than dry foods which require thorough mastication.” When porridges are used, something dry like zwieback or crisp crackers should be eaten with them to induce mastication. Foods containing starch should be well insalivated by thorough mastication before any tart foods are introduced into the stomach, as acid hinders the digestion of starch. The large proportion of starch contained in grains is changed to sugar in the process of digestion, so the addition of more sugar gives an excess of that element, overtaxing the liver and increasing the tendency to fermentation, since both starch and sugar are substances that ferment easily. Then if milk, another easily fermented food, is added what can be said of the combination? Besides: “the presence of a considerable amount of sugar actually retards the digestion of starch.”—Dr. Kress. For those who feel that they cannot at once forego the sweet, stir in a few sliced dates to graham porridge or sprinkle them over the top and serve with nut or dairy cream. Chopped figs or stewed raisins may also be used the same with different cereals. A complete meal may be made of graham or any preferred porridge, blanched almonds, English walnuts or pecans, with dates, figs or raisins. The combination will be satisfying without any milk or cream. My readers will many of them be surprised to find that oatmeal and some other porridges are delightful served with cream sauce, old-fashioned milk gravy, macaroni sauce and other gravies; the cooked parched grains especially so. A poached egg may be placed on each serving of porridge, with or without sauce. Raw rice may be ground coarse or fine for different purposes. The parched grains may be served with suitable, sub-acid fruits. The toasted breakfast cereals on the market, prepared without malt or any additional sweet are many of them excellent foods because of the dextrinization of the starch, and we can easily prepare dextrinized grains in our own homes. Parched Sweet Corn—the Ideal Cereal PreparationPut dried sweet corn into a corn popper, iron frying pan or round bottomed iron kettle; cover, and shake over the fire until the grains are browned and puffed up nearly round. Served plain, this corn supplies a complete and satisfying food, as any one will find who sits down with a nice fresh-parched porridge dish of it and chews it until it is fine and creamy in the mouth. It is much more delicious than the finest popcorn. It may be ground and eaten in cold or hot milk, nut or dairy, and it may have a little salt and sterilized butter mixed with it while it is warm. A cup of cereal coffee or tea-hygiene with a dish of parched corn makes a nice luncheon or supper. The corn may be dried on the cob or shelled and dried. It may often be bought from dealers in seeds, after the planting season is over. One doctor says, “I could travel the world around on parched corn and never want grease of any kind.” It is well understood that corn and oatmeal are the richest in oil of any of the grains. In some countries the soldiers carry parched corn in their pockets on long marches. Yolk—EggPut yellow corn meal into an iron kettle or saucepan over a moderate fire; stir until of an even rich brown color. Serve warm or cold with hot or cold milk or cream. The donor of this recipe says: “When I was a child this was considered a great dainty, but I do not know how it obtained its name or where we learned to make it.” The different preparations of grains may all be parched the same as sweet corn and corn meal in the preceding recipes. If more convenient they may be done in the oven but the flavor is not as good. Some of them are tender enough to be eaten dry or in milk without any further preparation; others are better to be ground before adding the milk or cream, and some need to stand in the milk, hot or cold, for a time, before serving, while others (rice especially) require cooking after parching. Some are better cooked in milk. Pop-cornTo pop: “Wet the corn slightly and let it dry on the stove; put it in the popper while it is hot and in four minutes every kernel should be turned inside out, crisp and tender.”—From a clipping. Serve the popped kernels plain with nuts, cereal coffee, tea-hygiene, cream or milk, or sprinkle delicately with salt and turn a little oil or melted butter over, mixing thoroughly. Put together the poorly popped kernels of corn and all the remains, cover with cold water and soak until soft, perhaps over RuskDry slices or pieces of bread in the oven and brown delicately, grind through the food cutter and serve in milk or with cream. Porridges“Some people degrade these foods by calling them mushes, a horrible name, by the way; the good English word porridge is much better, and porridge is not gruel.”—An Editor. Unless cereals are steamed, they should be cooked in a double boiler or something that answers the same purpose. A flat or round wire batter whip is the best for stirring the grain into the water, as that keeps even the finest flour from becoming lumpy. The very most important thing in making porridges is to have the liquid boiling when the cereal is put in. If it stops boiling while the grain is being added there will be a raw taste to the porridge, no matter how long it cooks. Put the required amount of water, with the salt, 1 teaspn. to a quart of water, into the inner cup of a double boiler. Heat the water to bubbling boiling, sprinkle the measured grain in so slowly as not to stop the boiling of the water, stirring continuously. Let it boil up well, and if a coarse grain, cook over the fire until it thickens, then set into the outer boiler containing perfectly boiling water and keep it cooking rapidly the required length of time. Do not stir after the grain thickens. Watch that the outer boiler does not become dry. Grains for breakfast may be cooked while you have a fire the day before, then all that is necessary in the morning is to set the inner boiler into the outer one containing boiling water and heat it through. If there When the porridge is to be re-heated, a slightly larger proportion of water should be used, and for steaming, a smaller quantity. One advantage in steaming is that the cereal (after being started over the fire in some suitable utensil) can be turned into an earthen dish and set into the steamer, warmed in the morning and sent to the table in the same dish. Farina, cream of wheat and similar cereals are more palatable and nourishing if cooked in part milk. These finer preparations may have milk or cream stirred into them just before serving.
Different lots of graham flour and rolled oats vary, so that it is not possible to make an exact rule for them, but graham flour should be stirred into water until the mixture is quite stiff because it grows thinner by cooking. Rye meal makes one of the most delightful porridges. Stir the meal slowly into boiling salted water, the same as graham flour, and cook for 1 hour at least. Different kinds of corn meal vary, too. Only about ? or ¾ as much granular meal is required for a given amount of liquid as of other kinds. Oatmeal is difficult of digestion, is apt to cause fermentation and should be partaken of sparingly even when well cooked, except by those of strong digestive powers. One young man said in my presence, “I never know I have a stomach except when I eat oatmeal.” Cracked wheat is very nice cooked with an extra quantity of water, molded and served cold. With a Vegetarian Society mill delightful cracked wheat and many other cereal foods can be made. Cracked corn—samp grits—hominy, is a valuable food. Besides the package preparations I have bought it at feed stores in the East and obtained it from the mills in the West, and with a mill it can be made at home. It should be thoroughly cooked. The old-fashioned way is to put it into a round bottomed iron kettle with salt and plenty of water (adding more water when necessary) and cook it all day. It may be served with milk, butter or gravy, or with any of the sauces used for macaroni, and may be cooked with tomato and onion the same as pilau, p.131. RICE“Rice is the most easily digested of all the cereals. The Japanese, famous for their athletic superiority and wonderful endurance, use rice unpolished. The rice of commerce is not only stripped of much of its most desirable qualities, but in order to make it attractive it is coated with glucose and talc to produce the pearly appearance. Persons using such rice should be careful to wash it thoroughly. After once eating unpolished Wash commercial rice in several waters, scrubbing it thoroughly with the hands, in a colander set in a pan of water, rinsing the colander up and down. Then put it over the fire in cold water, boil for 5 m. and drain, before cooking after any of the methods. To Boil RiceAfter washing and parboiling rice, throw it into 3 or 4 times its bulk of boiling salted water, stir it over a hot fire until it rolls up in the rapidly boiling water. Let it boil in this way until it swells, then set into the outer boiler or on the back of the stove on a pad until it is perfectly tender. If rice is cooked in a double boiler, use the smaller quantity of water, and the larger if cooked altogether over the fire. Do not stir after it begins to swell. This is practically the Japanese method. Another Japanese way is to soak the rice over night, drain and put to cooking in an equal quantity of boiling water, keeping closely covered all of the time. Chinese Way of Cooking RiceAfter washing, put rice over the fire in double its bulk of cold water, let it boil up well, carefully lift cover to see if water is all absorbed; if not, drain, sprinkle salt over if desired (the Chinaman does not use it), return to fire closely covered and watch, listening until a faint crackling of parching grains at the bottom is heard; then remove to the back of the range where the rice will just steam—“steam fragrant.” When ready to serve, carefully stir the grain with a wooden skewer or some small round stick, when the snowy mass should crumble apart into indistinct kernels. “Try the Chinaman’s way and be convinced that plain boiled rice is a palatable, substantial food.”—Adapted from Mrs. J.N. Anderson, Canton, China, in “Life and Health.”
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