Buckwheat used as food

Cooked and roasted buckwheat grains a good source of magnesium; they also contain potassium, copper, zinc, phosphorus, folic acid, iron and panthotenic acid. Most of the buckwheat grain utilized as human food is sold in the form of groats and flour.

Groats are of white, beige, light brown or dark brown colour, depending on the method of hulling. The color of buckwheat four is darker than wheat flour due to a higher crude fiber content and because the hull fragment cannot to be totally removed by the direct milling of the grain.

Buckwheat seeds

The main product is the grain which is widely used for flour and porridge and in a wide range of cooked products such biscuits, noodles, pancakes and ready to eat breakfast cereals. The chief food use of buckwheat in the United States and Canada is griddle cakes made from the flour, often mixed with wheat flour.

Buckwheat cakes are brown, palatable, and nutritious. Buckwheat is very suitable for replacing rice, and it is used as a popular replacement for rice in white or black pudding preparations.

Buckwheat cake

It is used in its hulled grain form for enriching soup, in industrial meat products (sausages) and slice cold sausages It can also be used for decoration of foods. In Japan, 10 – 50% what flour is added to buckwheat flour, and the mixture to make Soba or buckwheat noodles.

In India flour from the grain is staple food used for making ‘chillare’ an unleavened bread. Buckwheat grain is also fed to livestock. In England, buckwheat is a popular feed for pheasants.
Buckwheat used as food

Corn flour

Corn is a primary ingredient for corn collets and many pellet products.  Cornmeal, corn grits, corn flour and corn cones are all a different form of dry-milled dent corn, and in general vary only in particle size distribution.

Corn meal which has been leached with lye is called masa harina and is used to make tortillas and tamales in Mexican cooking.

Corn flour, a finer form of corn meal, is yellow four milled form corn. It is very popular in the southern United States and in Mexico. Coarse whole-grain corn flour is usually called corn meal.

Corn flour on its own produces a denser, drier product because it absorbs greater amount of liquid due to the higher carbohydrate content and the type of carbohydrate.

It adds strength to dough and batters and a nice depth of flavor. It tastes sweet, and slightly nutty.
The flour can be used in all baked goods such as breads, tortilla, muffins, loaves, cakes, biscuits, pancakes, crepes, waffles, cookies, pie dough and pasta.

Corn flour is suitable for yeast bread baking when used in conjunction with wheat flour.
Corn flour

Pseudocereal of buckwheat

Buckwheat belongs to the family Polygonaceae. Common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) has been a crop of secondary importance in many countries.

It has persisted through centuries of civilization and enters into the agricultures of nearly every country where cereals are cultivated. Buckwheat is a plant cultivated for its grain-like seeds and also used as a cover crop. Despite the name, buckwheat is not related to wheat, as it is not a grass.

This plant makes an aromatic flower and subsequently the buckwheat groats which are small triangle-shaped grain-like seeds covered by a hard shell.

In the United States the two buckwheat varieties are the common and Tartary types. The color can be anywhere from a tan-pink hue to brown. Buckwheat so also sold as roasted kasha, which is known for its subtler flavor.

Tartary buckwheat is known in various localities under such names as Duckwheat, Rye buckwheat, Marino, Mountain, Siberian, Wild Goose, Hull-less and Bloom-less.

The seed of buckwheat is cooked like rice or made into flour for the preparation of noodles, pancakes, porridge, cakes and biscuits.
Pseudocereal of buckwheat

Utilization of wheat as human food

Wheat and wheat products contribute substantially to the world’s food supply by providing energy, protein that contains a fairly good assortment of amino acids, fats, minerals and vitamins.

The specific use of wheat varieties in food and non-food applications is dependent on functional characteristics of the wheat.

Most of the wheat for human consumption is used to produce flour for use in making bread and other bakery products.

Smaller quantities are processed into breakfast foods or edible pastes, such as macaroni, spaghetti and noodles.

In the normal flour milling process, about 25% of the total wheat is taken off as animal feed.

The aleurone and outer layer of the wheat kernel have superior nutritive value because of the greater quantity and quality of their protein.

These are the constituent that are at least partially removed from the flour fractions in milling.

In many countries, wheat is the major component of the diet, it is non-perishable, easy to store and transport, has a good nutritional profile and allows the manufacture of a wide variety of interesting, enjoyable and satisfying products.
Utilization of wheat as human food

The Economy of Cereal Grains

The Economy of Cereal Grains
Of all the plants on which humans have depended for food, those that produce the cereal grains are by far the most important, as they have been since earliest recorded time. Cereal grains are the seeds of cultivated grasses that include wheat, corn, oats, barley, rye, rice, sorghum, and millet. There are a number of reasons why cereals have been so important in our diet. They can be grown in a variety of areas, some even in adverse soil and climatic conditions. They give high yields per acre as compared to most other crops, and once harvested, their excellent stored stability combined with their nutritional value makes them the most desirable of foods for holding in reserve. They are easy to package and transport and they can be used to produce a large variety of highly desirable foods both for humans and animals, as well as beverages for human consumption.

Cereal grains are the most important source of the world’s total food. Rice alone is reported to supply the major part of the diet for more than one half of the world’s population. Cereal grains are the staple food of the peoples of developing countries, providing them, with about 75% of their total caloric intake and about 67% of their total protein intake. The grains are eaten in many ways, sometimes as a paste or other preparation of the seed, more often milled and further processed into flour, starch, oil, bran, syrup, sugar, dried breakfast forms, and so forth. They are also used to feed the animals that provide us with meat, eggs, milk, butter, cheese, and a host of other foods.
The Economy of Cereal Grains