WHALE MEAT

a food which has merit as a novelty and as a wholesome addition to the meat supply of the world when the flesh of land food-animals is scarce or rises abnormally high in cost. That of large whales is too tough-fibered for consumption unle minced fine before cooking, but parts of the carca es of humpbacks and small finbacks (or ‘‘rorquals’’), especially the former, are moderately tender and well flavored. A single specimen will yield five or six tons of edible meat, the best cuts being from alongside the spine toward the tail. The raw meat looks like coarse beef. It makes good steak, but is better when prepared by longer proce es—as pot-roast or braised or cut up and cooked in ca erole, If promptly frozen (and thus held During the war, large quantities of hardened whale-fat were used in the manufacture of oleomargarin by the northern countries of Europe. WHEAT (see the color-page opposite 558), the human food-grain preeminent in other than Asiatic countries. It owes its high position to the excellence of its flour for bread-making—it vields bread more generally acceptable than that of any other grain—bread that is attractive in appearance, particularly well leavened, and pleasantly mild in flavor. Its leavening quality is due to its comparatively large content of gliadin (see GuuTen). Its composition is about 69% carbohydrates (chiefly starch in a form which is easily and efficiently a imilated), 11% protein, 14-% fat, 1.7% ash, 2.6% cellulose, and 14.5% water. Wheat has been cultivated since the earliest ages—it was the main crop in ancient Hgypt and Palestine and formed part of the food supply of the prehistoric Swi cave dwellers. To-day, the United States produces and consumes a greater quantity than any other country in the world. Ru ia in normal times stands next in the list of producers. The plant is a slender gra of varving height, annual or biennial, flourishing in sub-tropical regions yet capable of enduring the unusually severe winters so often experienced in northern Europe and the northwestern part of this continent. It requires, however, a mean temperature of at least 55° ahr. for three or four months of the year. Owing to the different climates in which it is produced, the cultivated varieties are very numerous and new kinds are continually presenting themselves, many of which are held in high estimation in certain districts. The chief types are known as Soft, Semi-hard, Hard, and Durmn (or ‘‘macaroni’’), the last-named being the hardest of the hard wheats. The hard wheats—the great grains of Minnesota and our other west-north central states—are of varieties brought from the rich grain districts of the south and east of Ru ia. They are heavy with gluten and vield creamy-colored flour. The soft wheats (those chiefly grown in our other states) contain le gluten and give whiter flour (see article on Fitour). Other cla ifications are into Bearded and Unbearded, Red and White, Spring and Winter, ete. Durum wheat—highly valued for its drought and rust resistance—is generally so heavily bearded that the seed-head looks much like barley. ‘‘Winter wheats’? are those which are seeded in the fall and therefore carry a partly developed root-system through the winter. The grain consists e entially of a starchy kernel—composed of minute cells containing the glutenous protein and the preponderant starch granules—wrapped in five coats, or layers, which constitute the bran. The three thin outside lavers are ealled the ‘‘skin’’; the fourth, known as the ‘‘testa,’’ contains the greater part of the coloring matter of the bran. These four outer-coats together constitute about 5% of the welght of the whole grain. They consist chiefly of cellulose and mineral matter. The fifth inner, and thickest, coat (constituting about 8% of the weight of the grain) is known as the ‘‘cereal,’’ or ‘‘aleurone,’”’ layer. It consists of cells full of protein. The varying proportions in which the bran is included in the flour represent the differences in Graham, or whole wheat, and other related flours and breads (see Ftovr and Breap). The grain carries also a fatty germ but this does not ordinarily reach the consumer in either his flour or bread. Because of its importance for food purposes, wheat has attained great promine nee in the political and commercial worlds. In the former, it has held the reins of power, created parties, developed partizanship, and decided the i ues of parliamentarv and congre ional strife. In the latter, it has proved-an attractive source of speculation and an objective point for financial ambition. It has been the compeer of gold in the race for gain, and has given and removed fortunes in a day. Corners have heen created and ruin forced almost in the twinkling of an eye by speculative battles for the control of its supply. Rolled wheat is milled in much the same way as Rolled oats (see OATMEAL). Cracked wheat corresponds to old-fashioned oatmeal. Puffed wheat is prepared in the same way as Puffed rice (see subhead at the end of the article on Rice).