"You remember our flour in the muslin bag, Norah?" asked Fred.
"Yes, you squeezed the bag of flour in the basin of water," said Norah, "and washed out all the starch into the water.""I am going to do it again now," said Fred. " You watch me."After squeezing and kneading the bag for some time, Fred said, "I think I have got most of the starch out now. Let us open the bag and look inside." He did so, and showed his sister a thick, sticky substance left behind in the bag. "This," said he, "is gluten. It is the most important part of the flour. It is the gluten that makes our flesh and bones, and all the parts of our body. Wheat and oats are the best of the corn grains for food, because they containmore gluten than the others.
"Do you know what I have in this saucer?" "That is some rice," said Norah.
"Yes," said Fred. "Rice is another kind of grain. Teacher washed the starch out of some rice-flour in class today, but when he opened the bag there was nothing left inside. The rice-flour is pure starch. It contains no gluten. Rice-flour would not be fit for bread.""Where does rice grow, Fred?" asked Norah.
"It grows in the very hot parts of the world. It grows best in places where the soil is wet, and the air always hot and moist. It would not grow here.""It is a grass, just like the other corn plants," said Willie, "with tall, hollow, jointed stems, and long pointed leaves or blades.""Teacher says," added Fred, "that after the seeds are sown in the rice- field, the men flood the whole field with water for several days. When the water is drained off, the little plants can be seen pushing their way up through the soft wet mud. "The hot sun soon begins to dry the fields, and then the men let in the water again and again, to cover them while the plants grow.""What a strange sight a ricefield must be!" said Norah.
SUMMARY
Wheaten-flour contains gluten; rice-flour contains no gluten-only starch. Gluten is the best part of the flour; it makes our flesh and bones. Rice-flour would not be fit for bread.
Rice, like wheat, is a grass, with tall hollow stems, and long pointed leaves. It grows in very hot moist lands. It would not grow here.
Lesson 18