Download Wheat • Fruits of Ceres • Grass Flower and Fruit (grain)

The Fruits of Ceres
The term, Cereal,
probably came from the Roman
goddess, Ceres
Important Grains: Wheat
Statue of Ceres – atop
the Chicago Board of
Trade Building
• Fruits of Ceres
• Grass Flower and Fruit (grain)
• Important Cereals
• Wheat
• Cereals actually a group of
cultivated grasses with edible grains
• Grains are also often referred to as
cereals
Ceres – Roman goddess
of agriculture
• The grain is actually the fruit of a
grass flower
Generalized grass Inflorescence and flower
Grass Fruit (Grain)
flour
endosperm (starches, sugars)
ovary wall (fiber)
seed coat (fiber)
aluerone layer (protein)
bran
germ
embryo (proteins, oils)
Three most cultivated grains
Other important grains
Wheat (Triticum aestivum)
557 million metric tons
Rye
Maize (Zea mays)
636 million metric tons
Barley
Rice (Oryza sativa)
585 million metric tons
Oats
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Tropical Grains
Wheat is among the earliest cultivated grains
(rye and barley were probably earlier)
Millet
Sorghum
2000 Global Wheat Production (million tons)
Wheat originated in the fertile crescent and
spread throughout dry temperate climates
64
105
26
28
204
63
31
17
Egyptian field workers carrying
wheat
15
21
Ancient Roman coin with
cornucopia and wreath of wheat
Modern Wheat varieties are polyploids (3 or more sets of
chromosomes
Einkorn (2n)
diploid
14 chromosomes
Emmer and Durum (4n)
tetraploid
28 chromosomes
Bread Wheat (6n)
hexaploid
42 chromosomes
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Harvesting Wheat Grain
cutting
winnowing
threshing
Nutrition, Pasta and Bread
• nutrient content high (relative to other grains)
• 12 -13% protein
• many essential amino acids (low in lysine and tryptophan)
• most wheat eaten as refined flour
• refined flour has germ (30% protein) and bran (fibers)
removed
• results in loss of nutrition
• enriched wheat adds
iron and B vitamins
Milling Wheat and Processing Flour
• moisten to soften wheat grains
• crush grain to separate bran, germ and
endosperm
• sieve off coarse particle (germ and
bran)
• endosperm ground to flour
• whole wheat flour has
bran and germ added
back later
small portable mill
Why refine flour?
• oil in germ oxidizes and produces a rancid taste after a few
weeks
• germ and bran dilutes bread making qualities
Breads
• made from bread wheat
• high in gluten (proteins –
glutenin and gliaden)
• glutens sticky and allow for
breads to rise (w/ yeast)
• hard wheat – high
protein:starch ratio - bread
• soft wheat more starch pastries
Pasta
• made from durum wheat
(semolina)
• lower gluten content
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