it is also frequently kiln-dried before being sent to foreign shores and even when intended for domestic consumption at points remote from the mill.
While this preparation of maize flour is doubtless important for transportation purposes, it impairs the palatability and nutritive value of the product. It is advisable to continue to have the maize flour prepared in the old-fashioned way and sent directly into consumption.
Method of Preparation.—One method of preparing the maize flour is as follows: The grains are broken into large pieces and dried with steam heat at a temperature of from 105° to 110° C. (221°-239° F.). The mass while still hot passes into a mill composed of two stones which revolve rapidly in opposite directions. The smaller portions of the meal, which have been reduced to a kind of gum by the high temperature, are separated by this process from the covering or the bran of the kernel. A small mass of the starchy matter leaves the mill in the form of small noodles, which are freed from any particles of bran by sifting. In this manner a mass is obtained which is quite free from fiber and fat.
The composition of maize meal prepared by the above process is as follows:
Moisture, 9.70 percent
Protein, 12.68 "
Ether extract, 1.19 "
Ash, .60 "
Fiber, .35 "
Starch, sugar, and dextrin, 71.48 "
This method of preparing maize meal is not used to any extent in this country, but is said to be commonly employed in Germany.
Composition of Maize Flour.—The color of maize flour depends upon the color of the corn from which it is produced,—it may be white or yellow. The starch granules when heated in water to 62.5° C. swell up and become deformed, except a few, usually the small ones, which resist the action of water at that temperature. The starch granules of maize flour under polarized light present a black cross, very marked and very distinct when the field is obscured. When viewed under polarized light with a selenite plate the starch grains of maize are colored red with a green cross or reciprocally, and this coloration is very brilliant.
As has already been said, the composition of Indian corn meal made by the old-fashioned method of grinding and removing only the bran is practically that of the whole grain itself.
The composition of degerminated maize meal (Indian corn flour) is shown by the following average data:
Moisture, 12.57 percent
Protein, 7.13 "
Ether extract, 1.33 "
Ash, .61 "
Fiber, .87 "
Starch and sugar, 78.36 "
Calories calculated on the moist meal, 3,837
