GLUTEN

(Lat.) The viscid elastic substance which remains when wheat flour is wrapped in a coarse cloth, and washed under a stream of water, so as to carry off the starch and soluble matters. Gluten exists in many grains, and occasionally in other parts of vegetables; but it is a characteristic ingredient in wheat, giving wheat flour its peculiar toughne and tenacity, which particularly fits it for the manufacture of bread, and for viscid pastes, such as macaroni and vermicelli. There is generally more gluten in the wheat of warm climates than of cold t hence the excellence of that grown in the L13 [s. 530]