Where did the flour come from, and how was it made?

面粉从何而来? 又是如何制成的呢?

There are several kinds of flour—such as oat-flour, barley-flour, rice-flour, and maize-flour or corn-flour.

面粉的种类有很多, 例如燕麦粉、大麦粉、米粉、玉米粉。

But most of the flour used in Great Britain is wheat-flour.

然而, 英国使用的大部分面粉都是小麦粉。

Wheat-flour, of course, comes from the plant called "wheat. "

小麦粉当然就是由一种名叫“小麦”的植物制成。

The farmer sows the wheat in his ploughed fields in the late autumn or in the early spring.

晚秋或早春时分, 农民们在犁过的农田里种下小麦。

When the wheat plant comes up, it looks like a little blade of grass.

小麦破土而出时, 看起来就像是野草一样。

During the summer the plant grows tall, with a long, hollow stem, and a head or ear of little green scaly¹ flowers.

到了夏天, 小麦就已经长得很高了, 带着一个长长的中空茎干以及一簇或一穗绿色的鳞状小花。

They do not look much like flowers, as they have no brightly-coloured leaves.

它们看起来并不像花朵, 因为没有颜色明亮的花瓣。

Each flower turns into a seed or grain, which becomes hard and round as it ripens². When it is ripe, it turns yellow.

每一个花朵都会长成种子或谷粒, 一旦成熟, 就会变得又硬又圆, 而颜色则会泛黄。

Then the farmer cuts it down, or "reaps" it.

随后, 农民们就会将其割下, 或者说是“收”麦子。

He carries the wheat to his barn, and there he thrashes it, or beats all the grains of corn out of the ears.

农民将麦子运到谷仓并打谷, 也就是将谷粒从麦穗中敲打出来。

The corn is then put into sacks and sold to a man called a miller³.

随后, 农民将这些谷物捆装在麻袋中贩卖给磨坊主。

The miller grinds the corn between two large fiat⁴ stones which are called mill-stones, or between steel rollers.

磨坊主使用两块扁平的石头（磨石）或钢辊对这些谷物进行碾磨。

The husks or skins of the grains of corn are first rubbed off, and then the white inside or kernel⁵ of each grain is ground down to a fine powder.

谷物的外皮首先掉落下来, 然后, 里面的白色谷粒就被碾磨成了精细的粉末。

This powder has to be sifted⁶, to separate the husks from the flour.

 

然后, 人们利用筛子将面粉与外皮分离。

The husks are hard and coarse, and they would not be good food for us, for we could not digest them.

外皮坚硬且粗糙, 我们消化不了, 因此不适合用作食物。

Last of all, the miller puts the white flour into sacks, and sells it to the baker⁷.

最后, 磨坊主将白色的面粉装在麻袋中销售给面包房。

Shall we try to find out what wheat-flour is made of?

你是否想要知道小麦粉是由什么构成的呢?

Put a handful of the flour into a small bag made of fine muslin:

拿起一把面粉, 放入精致的棉布中；

tie up the mouth of this bag tightly, and then squeeze it for about five minutes in a basin of water.

将棉布做成口袋装并收紧袋口, 然后在一盆清水中用力挤压五分钟。

You will see that the water becomes quite white.

你会发现清水将变成非常浓厚的白色。

Something must be coming out of the flour and passing through the muslin into the water. What can it be?

肯定有什么东西从面粉中分离出来, 透过棉布进入了水中。到底是什么呢?

Let the water in the basin stand for an hour, and you will then find a white powder at the bottom.

将盆中的水静置一小时, 就会看到水底有一层白色粉末。

Pour off the water, and put the white stuff into a saucer to dry on the hob or in the oven.

将水倒掉, 把白色物质放入浅碟之中, 利用铁架或火炉进行烘干。

If you mix a little of this dry white powder with a spoonful of boiling water, it swells⁸ up into a jelly just like starch⁹;

如果你将少量这种干燥的白色粉末与一勺开水相混合, 它就会像淀粉一样膨胀成胶状物；

indeed, the white powder is starch and nothing else.

实际上, 这种白色粉末正是淀粉。

So we see that flour contains a great deal of starch.

由此我们知道, 面粉中含有大量的淀粉。

Now open the muslin bag in which you washed the flour.

现在, 打开那个冲洗过面粉的棉布包。

Is there anything left inside it ?

里面还有什么剩余物质吗?

Yes; there is a small quantity of a yellowish-white and very sticky substance.

有, 我们可以看到少量黄白色的粘稠物质。

The proper name for this sticky stuff is gluten.

这种东西的正式名称就是面筋。

We may say, then, that flour consists of starch and gluten.

由此我们就可以说, 面粉中包括淀粉与小麦蛋白。

But it also contains some water, and a very little lime which the roots of the wheat plant sucked in from the soil.

不过, 这其中还有一些水分以及小麦的根部从土壤中吸收到的极少量碳酸盐。

Of what use is flour? Every child knows that it is made into bread and puddings and pastry¹⁰.

面粉有什么用处呢? 孩子们都知道, 面粉可以用来制作面包、布丁与糕点。