BROWNED RICE.—­Spread a cupful of rice on a shallow baking tin, and put into a moderately hot oven to brown.  It will need to be stirred frequently to prevent burning and to secure a uniformity of color.  Each rice kernel, when sufficiently browned, should be of a yellowish brown, about the color of ripened wheat.  Steam the same as directed for ordinary rice, using only two cups of water for each cup of browned rice, and omitting the preliminary soaking.  When properly cooked, each kernel will be separated, dry, and mealy.  Rice prepared in this manner is undoubtedly more digestible than when cooked without browning.

RYE.

DESCRIPTION.—­Rye is much more largely grown and used in European countries that in America.  In appearance it closely resembles wheat, although somewhat darker in color and smaller in size.  Bread made from rye constitutes the staple food of the people in many parts of Europe.  In nutritive value such bread nearly equals that made from wheat, but it has an acid taste not relished by persons unaccustomed to its use.

Rye is found in market deprived of its husk and crushed or rolled, and also in the form of meal and flour.

RECIPES.

ROLLED RYE.—­Into three parts water boiling in the inner dish of a double boiler, stir one part rolled rye.  Boil rapidly until set, stirring meanwhile, then place in the outer boiler, and cook for three or more hours.

RYE MUSH.—­Stir a cupful of rye meal to a smooth batter with a cupful of water, then turn it slowly into three cupfuls of water, which should be boiling on the range, in the inner dish of a double boiler.  Stir until thickened, then place in the outer boiler, and cook for an hour or longer.

MAIZE, OR INDIAN CORN.

DESCRIPTION.—­There can be little doubt that maize is of American origin.  The discoverers of the new world found it cultivated by the aborigines, and from the fact that corn was the generic term then largely used to designate grain (in old English, “corn” means grain), they named it “Indian corn.”  Since that time it has been carried to nearly every part of the globe, and probably it is more extensively used than any other one of the cereals, with the exception of rice.  This is undoubtedly due to the fact that it is the most prolific of the grains, and is adapted to the widest range of climate.

Maize was the chief food of the slaves of Brazil, as it used to be of those in our own Southern States, and is very largely consumed in Mexico and Peru.  It was used very little in Europe until the Irish famine in 1847; since then, it has become a staple food with the poorer classes.

The varieties of corn are almost too numerous to be counted.  For general purposes, however, they may be classified as field corn, sweet corn, and pop corn.

Corn is characterized by an excess of fatty matter, containing upwards of three times the amount of that element to be found in wheat.  Corn requires stronger powers of digestion than wheat, and is unsuited to some stomachs.