DAVID PAULSON by David Paulson

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Aug 28, 1900

DAVID PAULSON

By David Paulson

I HAVE been very much interested in the articles in the REVIEW AND HERALD, entitled “The Starch Family,” as I have been trying, with what little knowledge I have, to cook our food as healthfully as I know how. I have found by experience that mushes are not the best food, so have discarded them; but last week your article gave me a new thought. I have tried the experiment of baking, in its dry state, my corn and oat meal, graham and white flour, for about two hours, or until a light-brown. From this I made mush, air biscuits, gems, light bread, cookies and pie crust shortened with cream or peanut butter. I am perfectly delighted with the test.

First, please tell me if there is any objection to baking the grains and flour before wetting, or cooking in water. They taste much better, and it is much less trouble; for one can have the flour and grains baked and put away, ready for use, doing away with the necessity of keeping up a hot fire for so long at a time this hot weather.

Second, if, by accident, we should get the flour, grains, or toasted bread a little too brown, does it seriously injure them, from a health standpoint?

The toasting, or browning, in the oven, of these various grains before they are cooked, is an excellent thing, as it tends to partly convert them into dextrin, or a form of sugar, which is very essential, especially to those with weak stomach power.

Whether this is accomplished for the grain in a dry state, or whether the grain is baked afterward until thoroughly toasted, is largely a matter of convenience, as the principle is the same in both cases. If in either case the particles become absolutely burnt or charred, they should be discarded, as there is apt to be developed substances that in some cases prove injurious to the stomach.