BUCKWHEAT STARCH.

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tion takes place. The proteins of buckwheat have some agglutinating power,

and thus, when treated as above, make a cake capable of a considerable degree

of aeration. Baking powders are often used as a substitute for yeast and per-

mit of preparation in a few minutes instead of waiting for the fermentation

above mentioned. The product made in this way cannot be considered so

palatable or nutritious as the old-fashioned product. The batter is baked

on a smooth hot iron or soapstone, polished and kept bright in order

to prevent the sticking of the cake. The proper polishing of the iron

is a better means of preventing sticking than greasing. The batter is

poured over the smooth iron and is of a consistency to flatten out without

help and to form a film over the baking iron, which produces a cake about one-

fourth of an inch in thickness. The cake is to be turned as soon as the side

in contact with the iron is brown. It is evident that in this baking process

there can be no very profound change in the starch granules, but this does not

appear to materially interfere with the digestibility of the product. Buck-

wheat cakes are eaten hot, usually with butter and sirup. Maple sirup, sorghum

sirup, or cane sirup in a pure state are highly prized for use with buckwheat

cakes. These sirups are both condimental and nutritious. Mixed sirups

made of glucose, melted brown sugar, or molasses, or mixtures of all these bodies

are more commonly furnished to the consumer than the pure sirup mentioned

above. Honey is also used very extensively as a condimental flavor for cakes

of this kind.

Adulterations.There is probably no bread or cake making material

which is subjected to more extensive adulteration than buckwheat flour.

Much of what is sold as buckwheat flour may be regarded as imitations

of that substance. Mixtures of rye flour, Indian corn flour, wheat flour, and

other ground cereals are used as a substitute for buckwheat. There can be no

objection from the hygienic point of view to such substitutes but the use of

these mixtures under the name of buckwheat can be regarded in no other

light than as an unpardonable fraud.

Detection of Adulterations.There is rarely any mineral adulteration

practiced with buckwheat flour and if so it is easily detected by incineration.

Any content of ash, unless baking powder has been used, above 2 percent may

be regarded with suspicion as indicating an admixture of some mineral sub-

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stance. The cereal flours used for adulteration are readily detected by the

microscope in the hands of an experienced observer. The field of the micro-

scope has only to be compared with the microscopic appearance of genuine

buckwheat starch in order to detect the added substance.

Buckwheat Starch.The microscopic appearance of buckwheat starch

is shown in the accompanying figure. The granules of buckwheat starch

are very characteristic. They consist of chains or groups of more or less

angular granules with a well defined nucleus, and without rings or with