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Throughout the world, there is a great variety of types and amounts of grain products that are selected to be consumed by individuals. The World Health Organization (WHO) and many countries including the United States stress the nutritional importance of
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Grains
Introduction Throughout the world, there is a great variety of types and amounts of grain products that are selected to be consumed by individuals. The World Health Organization (WHO) and many countries including the United States stress the nutritional importance of grains as a foundation of a good diet. From a culinary point of view, consumers see a great variety of grains included in menu offerings—from soups and salads to desserts. Grain consumption has risen substantially in popularity due in part to a committed number of Americans making more nutritious food selections. Specific grain choices may be based on food intolerances or allergies. In this chapter the physical and chemical properties of grains are addressed. The variety of cereals, milling, type of flours used in bread making, pasta products, safety, and nutritional value are presented. Further discussion of quick breads, yeast breads, the functions of various added ingredients, and details of gluten appear in the chapter on Baked Products.
Cereals Definition Cereal is a cultivated grass, such as wheat, corn, rice, and oats, which produces an edible seed (grain or fruit). By definition, cereal comprises
all the cereal products prepared from grain, not merely cold, sweetened, boxed breakfast cereal! Depending on the composition, the cereal crops may be processed into various items such as the following:
• Bread, using flour or meal from various grains (Chap. 15) • Cereal, ready-to-eat, or cooked breakfast cereal varieties; such as oatmeal • Oil, from germ processing (Chap. 12) • Pasta, a dried paste of various flours (and perhaps legumes, herbs, and spices) • Starch, from the starchy component of endosperm (Chap. 4)
When stored properly, and thus protected from adverse environmental impact, insect, and animal pests, grains are extremely resistant to deterioration during storage, especially when compared to the perishable dairy, eggs, meats, or fruit and vegetable crops. Grains are utilized extensively in developing and less affluent countries where animal products are either not available or not used. In more affluent countries, many varieties of grains and whole grains, processed ready-to-eat (r-t-e) breakfast cereals, cereal bars, and so forth are routinely consumed along with animal products.
V.A. Vaclavik and E.W. Christian, Essentials of Food Science, 4th Edition, Food Science Text Series, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4614-9138-5_6, # Springer Science+Business Media New York 2014
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Grains
Fig. 6.1 Structure of a wheat kernel (Source: Wheat Foods Council)
Structure of Cereal Grains The structure is similar in all grains. Each kernel of grain is composed of three parts: the germ, endosperm, and bran, and if all are present in a grain, it is a whole grain, such as whole wheat. When the bran and/or germ of the seed are removed or separated from the kernel in milling, a product is no longer “whole grain,” however refined (Fig. 6.1). Most likely, these two terms are familiar to the reader. It is recommended by the USDA to “make half your
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