A cereal is any
grass
Poaceae () or Gramineae () is a large and nearly ubiquitous family of monocotyledonous flowering plants commonly known as grasses. It includes the cereal grasses, bamboos and the grasses of natural grassland and species cultivated in lawns and ...
cultivated for the edible components of its
grain (botanically, a type of
fruit called a
caryopsis
In botany, a caryopsis (plural caryopses) is a type of simple fruit—one that is monocarpellate (formed from a single carpel) and indehiscent (not opening at maturity) and resembles an achene, except that in a caryopsis the pericarp is fused ...
), composed of the
endosperm
The endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seeds of most of the flowering plants following double fertilization. It is triploid (meaning three chromosome sets per nucleus) in most species, which may be auxin-driven. It surrounds the embryo and ...
,
germ
Germ or germs may refer to:
Science
* Germ (microorganism), an informal word for a pathogen
* Germ cell, cell that gives rise to the gametes of an organism that reproduces sexually
* Germ layer, a primary layer of cells that forms during embryo ...
, and
bran
Bran, also known as miller's bran, is the hard outer layers of cereal grain. It consists of the combined aleurone and pericarp. Corn (maize) bran also includes the pedicel (tip cap). Along with germ, it is an integral part of whole grains, ...
. Cereal
grain crops are grown in greater quantities and provide more food energy worldwide than any other type of crop and are therefore
staple crops. They include
wheat,
rye
Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...
,
oats, and
barley. Edible grains from other plant families, such as
buckwheat
Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum''), or common buckwheat, is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. The name "buckwheat" is used for several other species, such as ''Fagop ...
,
quinoa
Quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa''; , from Quechua ' or ') is a flowering plant in the amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, ...
and
chia, are referred to as
pseudocereals.
In their unprocessed
whole grain form, cereals are a rich source of
vitamins,
minerals
In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ...
,
carbohydrates,
fat
In nutrition, biology, and chemistry, fat usually means any ester of fatty acids, or a mixture of such compounds, most commonly those that occur in living beings or in food.
The term often refers specifically to triglycerides (triple est ...
s, oils, and
protein. When processed by the removal of the bran and germ the remaining endosperm is mostly carbohydrate. In some
developing countries
A developing country is a sovereign state with a lesser developed industrial base and a lower Human Development Index (HDI) relative to other countries. However, this definition is not universally agreed upon. There is also no clear agree ...
, grain in the form of
rice, wheat,
millet
Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets also ...
, or
maize constitutes a majority of daily sustenance. In
developed countries, cereal consumption is moderate and varied but still substantial, primarily in the form of refined and processed grains. Because of this dietary importance, the
cereal trade is often at the heart of food trade – with many cereals sold as
commodities
In economics, a commodity is an economic good, usually a resource, that has full or substantial fungibility: that is, the market treats instances of the good as equivalent or nearly so with no regard to who produced them.
The price of a co ...
.
History
Prehistory
Agriculture
Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...
allowed for the support of an increased population, leading to larger societies and eventually the development of cities. It also created the need for greater organization of political power (and the creation of
social stratification
Social stratification refers to a society's categorization of its people into groups based on socioeconomic factors like wealth, income, race, education, ethnicity, gender, occupation, social status, or derived power (social and political). A ...
), as decisions had to be made regarding labor and
harvest allocation and access rights to water and land. Agriculture bred immobility, as populations settled down for long periods of time, which led to the accumulation of material goods.
Early
Neolithic villages show evidence of the development of processing grain. The
Levant is the ancient home of the ancestors of
wheat,
barley and
peas, in which many of these villages were based. There is evidence of the cultivation of cereals in
Syria approximately 9,000 years ago. Wheat, barley,
rye
Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is a member of the wheat tribe (Triticeae) and is closely related to both wheat (''Triticum'') and barley (genus ''Hordeum''). Rye grain is u ...
,
oats and
flaxseeds were all domesticated in the
Fertile Crescent during the early Neolithic. During the same period, farmers in
China began to farm rice and millet, using human-made floods and fires as part of their cultivation regimen.
Fiber crops were domesticated as early as food crops, with China domesticating
hemp,
cotton being developed independently in Africa and South America, and
Western Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...
domesticating flax. The use of
soil amendment
A soil conditioner is a product which is added to soil to improve the soil’s physical qualities, usually its fertility (ability to provide nutrition for plants) and sometimes its mechanics. In general usage, the term "soil conditioner" is often ...
s, including
manure
Manure is organic matter that is used as organic fertilizer in agriculture. Most manure consists of animal feces; other sources include compost and green manure. Manures contribute to the fertility of soil by adding organic matter and nutrie ...
, fish,
compost
Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by decomposing plant, food waste, recycling organic materials and manure. The resulting m ...
and
ashes
Ashes may refer to:
* Ash, the solid remnants of fires.
Media and entertainment Art
* ''Ashes'' (Munch), an 1894 painting by Edvard Munch
Film
* ''The Ashes'' (film), a 1965 Polish film by director Andrzej Wajda
* ''Ashes'' (1922 film), ...
, appears to have begun early, and developed independently in several areas of the world, including
Mesopotamia, the
Nile Valley
The Nile, , Bohairic , lg, Kiira , Nobiin: Áman Dawū is a major north-flowing river in northeastern Africa. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea. The Nile is the longest river in Africa and has historically been considered the longest ...
and Eastern Asia.
The first cereal grains were
domesticated by early primitive humans. About 8,000 years ago, they were domesticated by ancient farming communities in the Fertile Crescent region.
Emmer wheat
Emmer wheat or hulled wheat is a type of awned wheat. Emmer is a tetraploid (4''n'' = 4''x'' = 28 chromosomes). The domesticated types are ''Triticum turgidum'' subsp. ''dicoccum'' and ''Triticum turgidum ''conv.'' durum''. The wild plant is ...
,
einkorn wheat, and barley were three of the so-called
Neolithic founder crops
The founder crops (or primary domesticates) are the eight plant species that were domesticated by early Neolithic farming communities in Southwest Asia and went on to form the basis of agricultural economies across much of Eurasia, including South ...
in the development of agriculture. Around the same time, millets and kinds of rice were starting to become domesticated in East Asia.
Sorghum and millets were also being domesticated in sub-Saharan West Africa, which were both used primarily as feed for livestock.
Ancient history and the Middle Ages
Cereals were the foundation of
human civilization
A civilization (or civilisation) is any complex society characterized by the development of a state, social stratification, urbanization, and symbolic systems of communication beyond natural spoken language (namely, a writing system).
Civ ...
. Cereal frontiers coincided with civilizational frontiers. The term
Fertile Crescent implies the spatial dependence of civilization on cereals. The
Great Wall of China
The Great Wall of China (, literally "ten thousand ''li'' wall") is a series of fortifications that were built across the historical northern borders of ancient Chinese states and Imperial China as protection against various nomadic group ...
and the
Roman limes
(Latin, singular; plural: ) is a modern term used primarily for the Germanic border defence or delimiting system of Ancient Rome marking the borders of the Roman Empire, but it was not used by the Romans for that purpose. The term has been ex ...
demarcated the same northern limit of cereal cultivation. The
Silk Road stretched along the cereal belt of
Eurasia. Numerous Chinese imperial edicts stated: "Agriculture is the foundation of this empire,"
while the foundation of agriculture were the
Five Grains
The Five Grains or Cereals () are a grouping (or set of groupings) of five farmed crops that were all important in ancient China. Sometimes the crops themselves were regarded as sacred; other times, their cultivation was regarded as a sacred boon ...
. The word ''cereal'' is derived from ''
Ceres
Ceres most commonly refers to:
* Ceres (dwarf planet), the largest asteroid
* Ceres (mythology), the Roman goddess of agriculture
Ceres may also refer to:
Places
Brazil
* Ceres, Goiás, Brazil
* Ceres Microregion, in north-central Goiás ...
'', the Roman goddess of harvest and agriculture.
Cereals determined how large and for how long an army could be mobilized. For this reason,
Shang Yang called agriculture and war "the One".
Guan Zhong,
Chanakya
Chanakya ( Sanskrit: चाणक्य; IAST: ', ; 375–283 BCE) was an ancient Indian polymath who was active as a teacher, author, strategist, philosopher, economist, jurist, and royal advisor. He is traditionally identified as Kauṭi ...
(the author of ''
Arthashastra
The ''Arthashastra'' ( sa, अर्थशास्त्रम्, ) is an Ancient Indian Sanskrit treatise on statecraft, political science, economic policy and military strategy. Kautilya, also identified as Vishnugupta and Chanakya, is t ...
'')
and
Hannibal expressed similar concepts. At the dawn of history, the Sumerians believed that if the agriculture of a state declines,
Inanna
Inanna, also sux, 𒀭𒊩𒌆𒀭𒈾, nin-an-na, label=none is an ancient Mesopotamian goddess of love, war, and fertility. She is also associated with beauty, sex, divine justice, and political power. She was originally worshiped in Su ...
, the goddess of war, leaves this state.
Several gods of antiquity combined the functions of what Shang Yang called "the One" – agriculture and war: the Hittite
Sun goddess of Arinna, the Canaanite
Lahmu
Laḫmu ( or , ) is a class of apotropaic creatures from Mesopotamian mythology. While the name has its origin in a Semitic language, Lahmu was present in Sumerian sources in pre- Sargonic times already.
Iconography and character
Laḫmu is ...
and the Roman
Janus. These were highly important gods in their time leaving their legacy until today. We still begin the year with the month of Janus (January). The Jews believe that
Messiah's family will originate in the town of Lahmu (
Bethlehem
Bethlehem (; ar, بيت لحم ; he, בֵּית לֶחֶם '' '') is a city in the central West Bank, Palestine, about south of Jerusalem. Its population is approximately 25,000,Amara, 1999p. 18.Brynen, 2000p. 202. and it is the capital of ...
); in Hebrew, ''beit lehem'' literally means "house of bread". Christians believe that
Jesus Christ, who is said to have been born in Bethlehem, is the
Messiah. In Hebrew, ''bread'' (''lehem'') and ''warfare'' (''milhama'') are of the same root.
In fact, most persistent and flourishing empires throughout history in both hemispheres were centered in regions fertile for cereals.
Early modern period
This historic pattern did not change, not even in the
Industrial Age.
All modern great powers have traditionally remained first and foremost great ''cereal'' powers. The "finest hour" of the Axis powers "ended precisely the moment they threw themselves against the two largest cereal lebensraums" (the United States and the USSR).
The outcome of the
Cold War followed the Soviet grave and long-lasting cereal crisis, exacerbated by the cereal embargo imposed on the USSR in 1980.
And, called "the grain basket of the world," the most productive "cereal lebensraum" dominates the world ever since.
Having analyzed the mechanism at work behind this pattern, Ostrovsky outlined that the cereal power determines the percentage of manpower available to non-agricultural sectors including the
heavy industry vital for military power. He emphasized that chronologically the
Industrial Revolution follows the modern Agricultural Revolution and spatially the world's industrial regions are bound to cereal regions. Taken from space, map of the global illumination is said to indicate by its brightest parts the industrial regions. These regions coincide with cereal regions. Ostrovsky formulized a universal indicator of national power valid for all periods: total cereal tonnage produced by one percent of nation's manpower. For the present, this indicator demonstrates a unipolar international
hierarchy.
Green Revolution
During the second half of the 20th century there was a significant increase in the production of high-yield cereal crops worldwide, especially wheat and rice, due to an initiative known as the Green Revolution.
The strategies developed by the Green Revolution focused on fending off starvation and increasing yield-per-plant, and were very successful in raising overall yields of cereal grains, but did not give sufficient relevance to nutritional quality.
These modern high-yield cereal crops tend to have low
quality proteins, with
essential amino acid
An essential amino acid, or indispensable amino acid, is an amino acid that cannot be synthesized from scratch by the organism fast enough to supply its demand, and must therefore come from the diet. Of the 21 amino acids common to all life form ...
deficiencies, are high in
carbohydrates, and lack balanced
essential fatty acids,
vitamins,
minerals and other quality factors.
So-called ancient grains and heirloom varieties have seen an increase in popularity with the "organic" movements of the early 21st century, but there is a tradeoff in yield-per-plant, putting pressure on resource-poor areas as food crops are replaced with cash crops.
Common features
Botanical
Cereals belong to the family
Poaceae, commonly known as grass.
Grasses have
stems that are hollow except at the
nodes and narrow alternate leaves borne in two ranks.
The lower part of each leaf encloses the stem, forming a leaf-sheath. The leaf grows from the base of the blade, an adaptation allowing it to cope with frequent grazing.
The flowers are usually
hermaphroditic
In reproductive biology, a hermaphrodite () is an organism that has both kinds of reproductive organs and can produce both gametes associated with male and female sexes.
Many taxonomic groups of animals (mostly invertebrates) do not have sepa ...
—
maize being an important exception—and mainly
anemophilous
Anemophily or wind pollination is a form of pollination whereby pollen is distributed by wind. Almost all gymnosperms are anemophilous, as are many plants in the order Poales, including grasses, sedges, and rushes. Other common anemophilous plan ...
or wind-pollinated, although insects occasionally play a role.
Some of the most-well known cereals are maize,
rice, wheat, barley,
sorghum,
millet
Millets () are a highly varied group of small-seeded grasses, widely grown around the world as cereal crops or grains for fodder and human food. Most species generally referred to as millets belong to the tribe Paniceae, but some millets also ...
, oat, rye and
triticale.
Some
pseudocereals
A pseudocereal or pseudograin is one of any non-grasses that are used in much the same way as cereals (true cereals are grasses). Pseudocereals can be further distinguished from other non-cereal staple crops (such as potatoes) by their being proc ...
are colloquially called cereal, even though botanically they do not belong to the Poaceae family; these include
buckwheat
Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum''), or common buckwheat, is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. The name "buckwheat" is used for several other species, such as ''Fagop ...
,
quinoa
Quinoa (''Chenopodium quinoa''; , from Quechua ' or ') is a flowering plant in the amaranth family. It is a herbaceous annual plant grown as a crop primarily for its edible seeds; the seeds are rich in protein, dietary fiber, B vitamins, ...
, and
amaranth
''Amaranthus'' is a cosmopolitan genus of annual or short-lived perennial plants collectively known as amaranths. Some amaranth species are cultivated as leaf vegetables, pseudocereals, and ornamental plants. Catkin-like cymes of densely pack ...
.
Nutritional
Some grains are deficient in the essential amino acid
lysine
Lysine (symbol Lys or K) is an α-amino acid that is a precursor to many proteins. It contains an α-amino group (which is in the protonated form under biological conditions), an α-carboxylic acid group (which is in the deprotonated −CO ...
. That is why many vegetarian cultures, in order to get a balanced diet, combine their diet of grains with
legumes. Many legumes, however, are deficient in the essential amino acid
methionine, which grains contain. Thus, a
combination
In mathematics, a combination is a selection of items from a set that has distinct members, such that the order of selection does not matter (unlike permutations). For example, given three fruits, say an apple, an orange and a pear, there are t ...
of legumes with grains forms a well-balanced diet for vegetarians. Common examples of such combinations are
dal
In Indian cuisine, ''dal'' (also spelled ''daal'' or ''dhal''; pronunciation: , Hindi: दाल, Urdu: ) are dried, split pulses (e.g., lentils, peas, and beans) that do not require soaking before cooking. India is the largest producer of pu ...
(lentils) with rice by
South Indians and
Bengalis
Bengalis (singular Bengali bn, বাঙ্গালী/বাঙালি ), also rendered as Bangalee or the Bengali people, are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group originating from and culturally affiliated with the Bengal region of S ...
, dal with wheat in
Pakistan and
North India,
beans
A bean is the seed of several plants in the family Fabaceae, which are used as vegetables for human or animal food. They can be cooked in many different ways, including boiling, frying, and baking, and are used in many traditional dishes thr ...
with
corn tortillas
In North America, a corn tortilla or just tortilla (, ) is a type of thin, unleavened flatbread, made from hominy, that is the whole kernels of maize treated with alkali to improve their nutrition in a process called nixtamalization. A simple d ...
,
tofu with rice, and
peanut butter with wheat bread (as sandwiches) in several other cultures, including the Americas.
[.] The amount of
crude protein measured in grains is expressed as grain crude protein concentration.
Cereals contain
exogenous
In a variety of contexts, exogeny or exogeneity () is the fact of an action or object originating externally. It contrasts with endogeneity or endogeny, the fact of being influenced within a system.
Economics
In an economic model, an exogen ...
opioid food peptides called
exorphins such as
gluten exorphin. They mimic the actions of
endorphines because they bind to the same
opioid receptor
Opioid receptors are a group of inhibitory G protein-coupled receptors with opioids as ligands. The endogenous opioids are dynorphins, enkephalins, endorphins, endomorphins and nociceptin. The opioid receptors are ~40% identical to somatostatin ...
s in the brain.
Cultivation
While each individual species has its own peculiarities, the cultivation of all cereal crops is similar. Most are
annual plant
An annual plant is a plant that completes its life cycle, from germination to the production of seeds, within one growing season, and then dies. The length of growing seasons and period in which they take place vary according to geographical l ...
s; consequently one planting yields one harvest. Cereals that are adapted to grow in
temperate climate are called warm-season cereals, and those grow in
tropical climate are called cold-season cereals.
Wheat, rye, triticale, oats, barley, and
spelt
Spelt (''Triticum spelta''), also known as dinkel wheat or hulled wheat, is a species of wheat that has been cultivated since approximately 5000 BC.
Spelt was an important staple food in parts of Europe from the Bronze Age to medieval times. No ...
are the "cool-season" cereals. These are hardy plants that grow well in moderate weather and cease to grow in hot weather (approximately , but this varies by species and variety). The "warm-season" cereals are tender and prefer hot weather. Barley and rye are the hardiest cereals, able to overwinter in the
subarctic and
Siberia.
Many cool-season cereals are grown in the tropics. However, some are only grown in cooler highlands, where it may be possible to grow multiple crops per year.
For the past few decades, there has also been increasing interest in
perennial
A perennial plant or simply perennial is a plant that lives more than two years. The term ('' per-'' + '' -ennial'', "through the years") is often used to differentiate a plant from shorter-lived annuals and biennials. The term is also wide ...
grain plants. This interest developed due to advantages in
erosion control, reduced need for fertilizer, and potentially lowered costs to the farmer. Though research is still in early stages,
The Land Institute
The Land Institute is an American nonprofit research, education, and policy organization dedicated to sustainable agriculture, based in Salina, Kansas. Their goal is to develop an agricultural system based on perennial crops that "has the ecolog ...
in
Salina, Kansas, has been able to create a few cultivars that produce a fairly good crop yield.
Planting
The warm-season cereals are grown in tropical lowlands year-round and in temperate climates during the frost-free season. Rice is commonly grown in flooded fields, though some strains are grown on dry land. Other warm climate cereals, such as sorghum, are adapted to arid conditions.
Cool-season cereals are well-adapted to temperate climates. Most varieties of a particular species are either winter or spring types. Winter varieties are sown in the autumn, germinate and grow vegetatively, then become
dormant during winter. They resume growing in the springtime and mature in late spring or early summer. This cultivation system makes optimal use of water and frees the land for another crop early in the growing season.
Winter varieties do not flower until springtime because they require
vernalization: exposure to low temperatures for a genetically determined length of time. Where winters are too warm for vernalization or exceed the hardiness of the crop (which varies by species and variety), farmers grow spring varieties. Spring cereals are planted in early springtime and mature later that same summer, without vernalization. Spring cereals typically require more irrigation and yield less than winter cereals.
Harvesting
Once the cereal plants have grown their seeds, they have completed their
life cycle
Life cycle, life-cycle, or lifecycle may refer to:
Science and academia
*Biological life cycle, the sequence of life stages that an organism undergoes from birth to reproduction ending with the production of the offspring
*Life-cycle hypothesis, ...
. The plants die, become brown, and dry. As soon as the parent plants and their seed kernels are reasonably dry, harvest can begin.
In developed countries, cereal crops are universally machine-harvested, typically using a
combine harvester
The modern combine harvester, or simply combine, is a versatile machine designed to efficiently harvest a variety of grain crops. The name derives from its combining four separate harvesting operations—reaping, threshing, gathering, and winnow ...
, which cuts,
threshes, and
winnows the grain during a single pass across the field. In developing countries, a variety of harvesting methods are in use, depending on the cost of labor, from combines to hand tools such as the
scythe
A scythe ( ) is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or harvesting crops. It is historically used to cut down or reap edible grains, before the process of threshing. The scythe has been largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor m ...
or
grain cradle.
Preprocessing and storage
If a crop is harvested during
humid weather, the grain may not dry adequately in the field to prevent spoilage during its storage. In this case, the grain is sent to a dehydrating facility, where artificial heat dries it.
In North America, farmers commonly deliver their newly harvested grain to a
grain elevator, a large storage facility that consolidates the crops of many farmers. The farmer may sell the grain at the time of delivery or maintain ownership of a share of grain in the pool for later sale. Storage facilities should be protected from small grain pests,
rodents
Rodents (from Latin , 'to gnaw') are mammals of the Order (biology), order Rodentia (), which are characterized by a single pair of continuously growing incisors in each of the upper and lower jaws. About 40% of all mammal species are roden ...
and
birds
Birds are a group of warm-blooded vertebrates constituting the class Aves (), characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight ...
.
Uses
Direct consumption
An example of a cereal that require little preparation before human consumption is rice. For example, to make plain
cooked rice
Cooked rice refers to rice that has been cooked either by steaming or boiling. The terms steamed rice or boiled rice are also commonly used. Any variant of Asian rice (both Indica and Japonica varieties), African rice or wild rice, glutinous ...
, raw
milled rice needs to be washed and submerged in
simmering water for 10–12 minutes.
Flour-based foods
Cereals can be
ground
Ground may refer to:
Geology
* Land, the surface of the Earth not covered by water
* Soil, a mixture of clay, sand and organic matter present on the surface of the Earth
Electricity
* Ground (electricity), the reference point in an electrical c ...
to make flour. Cereal flour, particularly
wheat flour
Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. Wheat varieties are called "soft" or "weak" if gluten content is low, and are called "hard" or "strong" if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or ''bread ...
, is the main ingredient of
bread
Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made food ...
, which is a
staple food
A staple food, food staple, or simply a staple, is a food that is eaten often and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a standard Diet (nutrition), diet for a given person or group of people, supplying a large fraction of ...
for many cultures. Corn flour has been important in
Mesoamerican cuisine since ancient times and remains a staple in the Americas. Rye flour is a constituent of bread in central and northern Europe, while
rice flour
Rice flour (also rice powder) is a form of flour made from finely milled rice. It is distinct from rice starch, which is usually produced by steeping rice in lye. Rice flour is a common substitute for wheat flour. It is also used as a thickening ...
is common in Asia.
Cereal flour consists either of the
endosperm
The endosperm is a tissue produced inside the seeds of most of the flowering plants following double fertilization. It is triploid (meaning three chromosome sets per nucleus) in most species, which may be auxin-driven. It surrounds the embryo and ...
,
germ
Germ or germs may refer to:
Science
* Germ (microorganism), an informal word for a pathogen
* Germ cell, cell that gives rise to the gametes of an organism that reproduces sexually
* Germ layer, a primary layer of cells that forms during embryo ...
, and
bran
Bran, also known as miller's bran, is the hard outer layers of cereal grain. It consists of the combined aleurone and pericarp. Corn (maize) bran also includes the pedicel (tip cap). Along with germ, it is an integral part of whole grains, ...
together (whole-grain flour) or of the endosperm alone (refined flour). ''Meal'' is either differentiable from flour as having slightly coarser particle size (degree of
comminution
Comminution is the reduction of solid materials from one average particle size to a smaller average particle size, by crushing, grinding, cutting, vibrating, or other processes. In geology, it occurs naturally during faulting in the upper part ...
) or is synonymous with flour; the word is used both ways.
For example, the word ''
cornmeal
Cornmeal is a meal (coarse flour) or a cell membrane ground from dried corn. It is a common staple food, and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but not as fine as wheat flour can be.Herbst, Sharon, ''Food Lover's Companion'' ...
'' often connotes a grittier texture whereas ''corn flour'' connotes fine powder, although there is no codified dividing line.
Alcohol
Because of cereals' high starch content, they are often used to make
Industrial alcohol
Ethanol (abbr. EtOH; also called ethyl alcohol, grain alcohol, drinking alcohol, or simply alcohol) is an organic compound. It is an alcohol with the chemical formula . Its formula can be also written as or (an ethyl group linked to a hy ...
and
alcoholic drinks
An alcoholic beverage (also called an alcoholic drink, adult beverage, or a drink) is a drink that contains ethanol, a type of alcohol that acts as a drug and is produced by fermentation of grains, fruits, or other sources of sugar. The cons ...
via
fermentation. For instance, beer is produced by the
brewing
Brewing is the production of beer by steeping a starch source (commonly cereal grains, the most popular of which is barley) in water and fermenting the resulting sweet liquid with yeast. It may be done in a brewery by a commercial brewer, ...
and
fermentation of
starches
Starch or amylum is a polymeric carbohydrate consisting of numerous glucose units joined by glycosidic bonds. This polysaccharide is produced by most green plants for energy storage. Worldwide, it is the most common carbohydrate in human diets, ...
, mainly derived from cereal grains—most commonly from
malted
Malting is the process of steeping, germinating and drying grain to convert it into malt. The malt is mainly used for brewing or whisky making, but can also be used to make malt vinegar or malt extract. Various grains are used for malting, most ...
barley, though wheat, maize (corn), rice, and oats are also used. During the brewing process, fermentation of the starch
sugars
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or double s ...
in the
wort produces
ethanol and
carbonation
Carbonation is the chemical reaction of carbon dioxide to give carbonates, bicarbonates, and carbonic acid. In chemistry, the term is sometimes used in place of carboxylation, which refers to the formation of carboxylic acids.
In inorganic ...
in the resulting beer.
[Barth, Roger. ''The Chemistry of Beer: The Science in the Suds'', Wiley 2013: .]
Production statistics
The following table shows the annual production of cereals in 1961, 1980, 2000, 2010, and 2019/2020.
Maize, wheat, and rice together accounted for 89% of all cereal production worldwide in 2012, and 43% of the global supply of
food energy
Food energy is chemical energy that animals (including humans) derive from their food to sustain their metabolism, including their muscular activity.
Most animals derive most of their energy from aerobic respiration, namely combining the carbohyd ...
in 2009,
while the production of oats and rye have drastically fallen from their 1960s levels.
Other cereals not included in the U.N.'s
Food and Agriculture Organization statistics include:
*
Teff, an ancient grain that is a staple in
Ethiopia and grown in sub-Saharan Africa as a grass primarily for feeding horses. It is high in fiber and protein. Its flour is often used to make
injera. It can also be eaten as a warm breakfast cereal similar to
farina with a chocolate or nutty flavor.
*
Wild rice, grown in small amounts in North America.
See also
*
Chillcuring, grain ventilating process
*
Food price crisis
*
Food quality
Food quality is a concept often based on the organoleptic characteristics (e.g., taste, aroma, appearance) and nutritional value of food. Producers reducing potential pathogens and other hazards through food safety practices is another important fa ...
*
Food safety
Food safety (or food hygiene) is used as a scientific method/discipline describing handling, preparation, and storage of food in ways that prevent food-borne illness. The occurrence of two or more cases of a similar illness resulting from t ...
*
Lists of foods
This is a categorically-organized list of foods. Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is produced either by Plants or Animals, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vita ...
*
Nutrition
*
Post-harvest losses
*
Pulse
*
Push–pull technology
*
Zadoks scale
Notes
References
{{Authority control
Crops