PURPOSE OF COOKING.--As the so-called ready-to-eat cereals require
practically no further preparation, attention is here given to only
those cereals which need additional treatment to prepare them properly
for the table. Raw grains cannot be taken into the body, for they are
neither appetizing nor digestible. The treatment to which they must be
subjected is cooking, for the structure of grains is such that cooking
is the only means by which the coverings of the starch granules can be
softened and broken to make them digestible. But this is not the only
effect produced by cooking; besides making raw cereals digestible,
cooking renders them palatable, destroys any bacteria or parasites that
might be present, and, by means of its various methods, provides a
variety of dishes that would otherwise be very much limited.
22. CHANGES THAT CEREALS UNDERGO IN COOKING.--In the process of cooking,
cereals undergo a marked change, which can readily be determined by
performing a simple experiment. Place an equal amount of flour or corn
starch--both cereal products--in two different glasses; mix that in one
glass with cold water and that in the other with boiling water. The
mixture in which cold water is used will settle in a short time, but if
the substance that goes to the bottom is collected and dried it will be
found to be exactly the same as it was originally.
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