Malt loaf.jpeg

Malt is germinated cereal grain that has been dried in a process known as "malting". The grain is made to germinate by soaking in water and is then halted from germinating further by drying with hot air.
Malted grain is used to make beer, whisky, malted milk, malt vinegar, confections such as Maltesers and Whoppers, flavored drinks such as Horlicks, Ovaltine, and Milo, and some baked goods, such as malt loaf, bagels, and Rich Tea biscuits. Malted grain that has been ground into a coarse meal is known as "sweet meal".

Malting grain develops the enzymes (α-amylase, β-amylase) required for modifying the grains' starches into various types of sugar, including monosaccharide glucose, disaccharide maltose, trisaccharide maltotriose, and higher sugars called maltodextrines.
It also develops other enzymes, such as proteases, that break down the proteins in the grain into forms that can be used by yeast. The point at which the malting process is stopped affects the starch-to-enzyme ratio, and partly converted starch becomes fermentable sugars.
Malt also contains small amounts of other sugars, such as sucrose and fructose, which are not products of starch modification, but which are already in the grain. Further conversion to fermentable sugars is achieved during the mashing process.

Various cereals are malted, though barley is the most common. A high-protein form of malted barley is often a label-listed ingredient in blended flours typically used in the manufacture of yeast bread and other baked goods.
The term "malt" refers to several products of the process: the grains to which this process has been applied, for example, malted barley; the sugar, heavy in maltose, derived from such grains, such as the baker's malt used in various cereals; or a product based on malted milk, similar to a malted milkshake (i.e. "malts").

History and traditional usage

Malted grains have probably been used as an ingredient of beer since ancient times, for example in Egypt (Ancient Egyptian cuisine), Sumer, and China.

In Persian countries, a sweet paste made entirely from germinated wheat is called '' samanū'' ( fa, سمنو) in Iran, ''samanak'' ( fa, سمنک) in Afghanistan, ( tg, суманак); ( uz, sumalak) or ''sümölök'' ( ky, сүмөлөк), which is prepared for Nowruz (Persian new year celebration) in a large pot (like a ''kazan''). A plate or bowl of ''samanu'' is a traditional component of the Haft sin table symbolising affluence. Traditionally, women have a special party to prepare it during the night, and cook it from late in the evening until the daylight, singing related songs. In Tajikistan and Afghanistan, they sing: ''Samanak dar Jūsh u mā Kafcha zanēm – Dīgarān dar Khwāb u mā Dafcha zanēm'' (meaning: ''"Samanak is boiling and we are stirring it, others are asleep and we are playing daf"''). In modern times, making ''samanu'' can be a family gathering. It originally comes from the Great Persian Empire.

'' Mämmi'', or Easter Porridge, is a traditional Finnish Lenten food. Cooked from rye malt and flour, ''mämmi'' has a great resemblance (in the recipe, color, and taste) to ''samanū''. Today, this product is available in shops from February until Easter. A (nonrepresentative) survey in 2013 showed that almost no one cooks'' mämmi'' at home in modern-day Finland.

Malting

Malting is the process of converting barley or other cereal grains into malt for use in brewing, distilling, or foods, and takes place in a maltings, sometimes called a malthouse, or a malting floor. The cereal is spread out on the malting floor in a layer of depth.

;Drying
:The malting process starts with drying the grains to a moisture content below 14% and then storing for around six weeks to overcome seed dormancy.
;Steeping
:When ready, the grain is immersed or steeped in water two or three times for two or three days to allow the grain to absorb moisture and to start to sprout.
;Germination
:When the grain has a moisture content of around 46%, it is transferred to the malting or germination floor, where it is constantly turned over for about four to six days while it is air-dried.
;Pre-toasting
:The grain at this point, called "green malt", is then dried and toasted in an oven (or kiln) to the desired color and specification. Malts range in color from very pale through crystal and amber to chocolate or black malts.
;Smoking
:The sprouted grain is then further dried and smoked by spreading it on a perforated wooden floor. Smoke coming from an oasting fireplace (via smoke channels) is then used to heat the wooden floor and the sprouted grains. The temperature is usually around .

A "maltings" is typically a long, single-storey building with a floor that slopes slightly from one end of the building to the other. Floor maltings began to be phased out in the 1940s in favor of "pneumatic plants", where large industrial fans are used to blow air through the germinating grain beds and to pass hot air through the malt being kilned. Like floor maltings, these pneumatic plants use batch processes, but of considerably greater size, typically 100-ton batches compared with 20-ton batches floor maltings.

, the largest malting operation in the world was Malteurop, which operates in 14 countries.

Production

Barley is the most commonly malted grain, in part because of its high content of enzymes, though wheat, rye, oats, rice, and corn are also used. Also very important is the retention of the grain's husk, even after threshing, unlike the bare seeds of threshed wheat or rye. This protects the growing acrospire