The wheat grain may be used as a food in its entirety. It is soaked in water till it swells up and bursts; it is then boiled in milk with the addition of sugar, so forming a nourishing dish called frumenty.

Wheaten greats are made by crushing, and this can be made into porridge, used like oatmeal.

Wheatna is a nutritious food containing all the wheat germ excepting the husk, and is finer than crushed wheat, and more easily digested. The starch granules are partially cooked. It is eaten as a porridge.

Granose and Granola are flaky forms of the entire wheat grain. They are palatable and nutritious, are ready cooked, and are eaten with cream or hot milk.

Shredded wheat, Trishet, and pulled bread are all prepared much in the same way. The shredded wheat biscuit is made of wheat, thoroughly cleansed and cooked, and treated by machinery, which draws out the wheat kernels into long continuous filaments without separation of the parts. The shreds are folded into oblong biscuits, which are cooked at successive temperatures until they are quite dry and ready for use. They may be eaten with butter, or soaked in milk, cream, or soup. They are easily digested; they require mastication, and are quite palatable.

Farina is a general name meaning flour, but sometimes it is also applied to potato flour, which forms a jelly like arrowroot when cooked.

Farola is another granular preparation, but is made from the endosperm or germ, and is specially rich in proteins and mineral matters.

Florador, another granular wheat preparation, is recommended for puddings and shapes; it is certainly more nutritious than cornflour.

Semolina is prepared from the central part of hard wheat, and is rich in gluten. It contains about 11 per cent, of protein, or half the amount contained in an equal weight of beef. It is thus a fairly rich nitrogenous food, and is used for making puddings and for thickening soups. It is also used extensively in the manufacture of the alimentary pastes, such as macaroni.

Macaroni, vermicelli, and spaghetti, etc., are made from mixing different flours rich in gluten (e.g. semolina). The flour is made into a paste, kneaded, put into a cylinder the bottom of which is pierced with holes. A piston descends in the cylinder and the paste comes out from the perforations in the form of long tubes, which are cooled, cut in lengths, and dried. It contains 16 to 18 per cent, of gluten as against 10 and 11 per cent, in the case of white bread.

Weight for weight, macaroni may be regarded as not less valuable for fleshmaking purposes than beef or mutton. Most people can digest it easily and rapidly.

After thorough soaking, and when well cooked by boiling or stewing in milk or stock, it is very nutritious, and it is often agreeably combined with cheese. The other pastes are much the same in composition; they are wholesome, but tough, and require prolonged cooking.