Cereals (processed by means of hulling, crushing, and)

CEREALS, processed by means of hulling, crushing, and grinding grains of cereal plants. To obtain cereals, grains are first cleaned in separators and triers from sand, dust, and impurities, then their husks are removed and the germ is discarded using special millstones or rollers. After sifting out the chaff and floury particles, the clean hulled grains remain, which are called cereals and are either consumed directly or undergo further processing. This processing consists of sorting cereals by grain size, rounding the grains, polishing them, crushing grains into 2-3 parts, etc. Depending on the degree of cleaning and perfection of processing, cereals are divided into higher and lower grades, and by grain size—into coarse, medium, and fine. In the USSR, buckwheat and millet are most widely distributed, while cereals made from barley, oats, wheat, corn, rice, and sago are less common. In some regions of the USSR, cereals made from panic grass, Japanese millet, floating manna, sorghum, and other plants belonging to the grass family can be found. In terms of nutritional value, cereals are close to bread. The nutritional value of cereals is determined mainly by their abundant carbohydrate content, the amount of which in some varieties reaches 84% (Table 1). Proteins and other nitrogen-containing substances in cereals range from 0.74% to 17.69%, and fats from 0.16% to 6.56%. Cereals are not rich in vitamins; the higher the grade of cereal, the fewer vitamins it contains. White polished rice, semolina, and sago contain no vitamins; in other cereals there is mainly vitamin B and in very small amounts vitamin A. The taste of cereals depends to a large extent on their freshness. Dampness and poor ventilation greatly accelerate spoilage of cereals. Cereals are often attacked by insects that destroy and contaminate them. Of these, the granary weevil poses the greatest danger to granaries (see). The chemical composition and digestibility of various types and varieties of cereals can be seen in Tables 1 and 2. The following varieties of cereals are on the market. Buckwheat is made from buckwheat seeds (Polygonum Fagopyrum). To remove the husk, the seeds are dried and then hulled in buckwheat mills. Depending on the drying temperature, the cereal is obtained in greenish-white, yellowish, reddish, and brown colors. Too green a color indicates immaturity of buckwheat grain, while too brown a color indicates excessive drying of the grain or intentional roasting of the cereal to eliminate the musty taste of stored cereal. There are two main varieties of buckwheat: whole groats—whole hulled buckwheat grains, and cracked (small)—hulled grains split into 2-3 parts. The most common impurity in buckwheat is unhulled buckwheat grains, so-called 'galkas,' followed by husk remains, various weed seeds, lumps of dry earth, and mouse droppings. Standard specifications for buckwheat whole groats are as follows: the cereal must be cleaned, with moisture content not exceeding 13.5%, with not more than 1% unhulled grains, not more than 0.5% floury dust, not more than 0.5% foreign impurities, and not more than 5% broken grains allowed. - Millet, or millet cereal, is made from seeds of common millet (Panicum miliaceum) or less commonly from seeds of Italian millet—tomi, or Japanese millet (Panicum italicum, Setaria italica). Millet grains are cleaned of the outer hard husk, the inner thin shell, and the germ parts. Millet cleaned only of the outer husk is commercially called 'dranets'; if the inner shell and germ are also removed, it is called 'tolchenoye' (processed in mortars). Dranets is valued significantly lower than tolchenoye, because grains from which the inner thin shell and germ have not been removed have a bitter taste and are more difficult to cook. Three main varieties of millet are distinguished: first, second, and third, differing from each other in grain size, degree of cleaning, and amount of impurities. Standard millet should have a moisture content not exceeding 13.5%; not more than 1% unhulled grains, not more than 0.5% foreign impurities and floury dust are allowed. In millet, the yellow color, characteristic of the best varieties, is highly valued; therefore, whitish millet is often dyed to give it the appearance of a high-grade product. For dyeing, various coloring substances are used: turmeric, saffron, marigolds, picric acid, aniline dyes, ochre, red lead, chrome yellow, and others. Dyeing millet with picric acid, chrome yellow, and red lead can cause severe poisoning in consumers. To detect dyeing, in addition to laboratory research methods, a simple method is used: if a few grains of millet are placed on a white porcelain plate and moistened with a solution of caustic soda, then dyed grains will acquire a characteristic coloration. Millet is somewhat inferior in nutritional value to buckwheat (Golunsky. Kurchenin). Cereals close to millet are made from certain varieties of sorghum: in Turkestan—jowar (Sorghum cernuum), in Manchuria—sorghum. Panic grass (Panicum sanguineum or Digitaria sanguinalis) also belongs to the same type of millet-like cereals. Table 1. Composition of cereals (according to the Central Statistical Administration of the USSR). Chemical composition in % of raw matter

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Patented »

Hercules »

Champion »

Athlete, Finnish Buckwheat cereal . . . . '

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Japanese millet Polished rice . . . |

General standard Corn cereal . . . !

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Wheat -(grains) Emmer....... Semolina . . Barley cereal Oat cereal Buckwheat cereal Millet Rice polished Corn cereal Sago........ Arrowroot (tapioca) General norm Russian General norm Russian General norm Russian Patent flour General norm Russian General norm Russian General norm Russian 7.83 9.20 9.62 I 12.88 I 8.29 ! 8.01 ! 6.65 ! 9.60 ! 9.10 ! 12.95 i 8.00 ! 9.64 | 7.06 ! 6.31 | 7.37 ! 6.50 ! 7.07 | 0,76 j 0,52 1,43 1,26 1,57 1,46 1,57 0,80 0,80 5,22 4,92 6,03 1,57 2,40 1,23 3,62 1,86 1,16 0,89 0,14 62,42 61,42 65,24 62,91 61,40 73,64 67,35 63,04 61,11 65,13 64,44 61,47 62,22 64,75 62,37 71,72 74,14 75,62 75,92 10 10 10 10 10 2.865 2.880 3.055 3.080 2.705 3.422 3.110 3.465 3.335 3.780 3.115 3.140 2.955 2.925 2,730 3,315 3,410 3,135 3,145 Koenig TsU Khlopin Golunsky TsU » Koenig Literary source or author of analysis Khlopin TsU the following practical method is applied: millet is rubbed on a sheet of white paper or on cloth; in this case, natural cereal does not stain the paper and cloth, while colored cereal dyes them yellow or brown. To remove the dye and floury dust from millet, it is recommended before cooking the cereal to thoroughly wash it several times with water with friction. Millet does not withstand prolonged storage, loses its good taste and becomes bitter. The digestibility of millet cereal- Barley cereal. From barley (Hordeum) up to 8 varieties of cereal are produced, differing in grain size, degree of cleaning, whiteness, and impurity content. Simple varieties are called barley cereal, the best-pearl cereal. The best varieties of pearl cereal are called "Dutch" and "semi-Dutch". Barley cereal is used to prepare porridge, pearl cereal-for soups and decoctions. In terms of calories and digestibility, barley cereal is close to buckwheat.- Oat cereal. From common oats (Avena sativa) two varieties (first and second) of simple cereal and several varieties of so-called pre-steamed cereal are produced. Simple oat cereal is prepared by the usual hulling of oat grains. To prepare pre-steamed cereal, large sorted oats are slightly roasted in pans or rotating drums, then all husks are removed from them; the resulting cereal is steamed with steam, dried, and crushed or flattened with rollers. The purpose of roasting and steaming is to give the cereal a pleasant aroma and eliminate the bitter taste characteristic of oats. Varieties of oat cereal bearing the names "Hercules", "Champion", "Silach", "American patented" belong to pre-steamed flattened cereals. According to Khlopin's research, porridge prepared from simple oat cereal on water with oil is digested no better than coarse varieties of rye bread. Porridge from "Hercules" cereal is digested better, approaching in protein digestibility simple varieties of wheat bread. A feature of oat cereal is its richness in easily digestible fat. Kestner and Knipping note that soups and porridges from oat cereal and flour are beneficial for diseases of the digestive organs due to the high content of mucilaginous substances in oats, which coat the gastric and intestinal mucosa and protect it from excessive irritation by food. From roasted pre-steamed oat cereal, "tolokno"-a special type of flour-is prepared by grinding, which is used as food in the form of a mush with milk, dough with oil, koloboks (small flatbreads) and so on. Wheat cereal is produced in two varieties: simple and semolina. Simple consists of slightly crushed wheat grains (Triticum); semolina is prepared from the innermost parts of the wheat grain and has the appearance of small yellowish-white granules. Simple wheat cereal is little distributed in the USSR; in some areas of the Volga region and Transcaspian region it serves as a substitute for buckwheat cereal. Of the varieties of wheat for making simple cereal, so-called emmer is often used. Semolina, due to its high taste qualities, tenderness and high digestibility, has received widespread use as a first-class food product for children, the sick and the elderly. The coefficient of digestibility of porridge cooked from semolina can be equated to the coefficient of digestibility of the best varieties of white wheat bread, namely: proteins-85%, carbohydrates-97%, fats-85%. With prolonged storage, semolina loses its delicate taste, often acquires a musty odor and cakes into lumps.- Rye cereal. From rye (Secale cereale) no special varieties of cereal are produced, and if porridge is sometimes made from rye, ordinary rye grains, cleaned from impurities, are used as cereal. In lean years in the USSR, rye was often issued in the food ration instead of buckwheat and millet cereal. Porridge from rye is unsatisfactory in taste and consistency.--Corn cereal consists of crushed parts of corn or maize seeds (Zea mays). Depending on the degree of crushing, large and small varieties of this cereal are distinguished. The smallest and purest variety resembles semolina in appearance and sometimes serves to adulterate it. In the USSR, corn cereal is mainly distributed in some southern regions. The taste qualities of corn cereal are not high. Monotonous nutrition with corn, especially stale and spoiled, causes pellagra, sometimes taking the form of extensive epidemics. Rice is obtained from the seeds of the annual cereal of the same name (Oryza sativa). To produce cereal, ripe rice seeds are cleaned from the upper hard shell, polished by friction and sorted. Broken grains are discarded and go to produce rice starch. The better the rice is cleaned from shells and the whiter its color, the higher it is valued. When polishing rice, talc powder is often added to it, which facilitates polishing and gives the cereal a special whiteness. The content of more than 0.3% talc in rice is considered excessive and should not be allowed. Recently, abroad, for bleaching rice and other types of cereal, the use of sulfuric acid is often practiced. Such a bleaching method is considered unacceptable from a sanitary point of view if it aims to mask the spoilage of the cereal and give it the appearance of a fresh product. A significant content of sulfuric acid itself can have a harmful effect on health. Sometimes rice is colored with dyes, among which there may be harmful ones. To remove talc and dye, rice should be vigorously washed with water with friction before cooking. The best variety of rice is considered caroline (American); varieties "sadri"-with thin long glassy grain and "akula"-with large white grain, exported from Persia, are also highly valued. Turkestan and Transcaucasian varieties of rice are inferior in quality to imported ones from Persia and India. Due to its excellent taste qualities, easy digestibility and high digestibility, rice plays a very important role in dietary nutrition. White polished rice contains no vitamins at all, and with monotonous nutrition with it, an avitaminosis disease beriberi (see) can develop, depending on the lack of vitamin B in food. Sago. This type of cereal is not produced from grains of bread plants, but is prepared industrially or artisanally from starch. Two main varieties of sago are distinguished: "real" and "artificial". Real sago is produced from starch obtained from the pith of sago palms growing in the East Indies and on the islands of the Sunda Archipelago. Sago starch slightly gelatinizes, is rolled into balls and dried-sago cereal is obtained. Artificial sago is prepared in a similar way from potato starch. The nutritional value of sago is lower than other cereals, as it consists almost exclusively of one carbohydrate-starch, while proteins and fats are found in it only in traces; sago contains no vitamins.-Tapioca represents Brazilian sago, produced from the starch of arrowroot, obtained from plants Tapioca, Manihot and others.