Transcript The Other Cereals

The Other Cereals – then Onward
The other cereals mentioned in the text are Rye, Triticale,
Oats, Barley, Sorghum and Millet. We can add proso-millet to
the list.
Rye
Rye probably was first cultivated unintentionally as a weed in
wheat fields. It is still listed as a “noxious weed” in 46 of the
United States, but grows in even more:
It was formally noted as a weed by Theophrastus during Greek
times, but was recognized 5,000 YBP.
It is highly tolerant of soil acidity and is more tolerant of dry
and cool conditions than wheat, though not as tolerant of cold
as barley. Its broader tolerances led to cultivation instead of
wheat in northern Europe. That cultivation only began (welldocumented) during the Bronze Age of central Europe, c.
1800-1500 BC.
There is only one cultivated species,
Secale cereale.
Its protein content is relatively high,
including measurable, useful amounts
of 13 amino acids.
Rye flour is used in bread, though its lower gluten content
means it is rarely used alone. Usually is used with bread wheat
in a mixed dough. Rye bread is still the most popular bread in
northern Europe and in immigrant communities from those
countries.
Rye grains are eaten boiled (like rice) and as rolled rye (like
rolled oats).
Rye is also used in alcoholic beverages: rye beer (never tried),
rye whiskies (including Canadian Club whisky, partially from
rye, though the larger carbohydrate source is corn), and even
vodka.
It is also an important component of animal fodder, though
lower digestibility indicates that it should not be the exclusive
feed used.
Rye is highly susceptible to the ergot fungus. Consumption of
ergot-infected rye by humans and animals results in a serious
medical condition known as ergotism. Ergotism (common
name St. Anthony’s fire after burning sensations in limbs,
even the subject of an episode of House durin the 2010-1
season) can cause both physical and mental harm, including:
• (through vasoconstriction) gangrene,
• convulsions or dementia (same reason, but now lack of
circulation to the brain),
• miscarriage (it was used to cause abortion), and
• hallucinations (LSD was first produced as an ergot
derivative, lysergic acid is still produced from ergot).
Historically, damp northern countries that have depended on
rye as a staple crop were subject to periodic epidemics of this
condition.
Triticale
Triticale is a man-made hybrid of wheat (Triticum aestivum)
and rye (Secale cereale). The wheat is used as the female and
rye as the male parent of the hybridizing cross. Hybrids were
first produced during the latter half of the 19th century, but
were sterile. More recently (post-War), hybrids that are not
only viable, but fertile have been developed.
This fertile triticale is a second-generation hybrid, produced
by crossing two hybrid triticales.
In formal terminology, triticale is an allopolyploid plant.
Earlier triticale hybrids had four reproductive disorders
namely, meiotic instability (you would expect this in a new
hybrid with non-matching chromosomes), high aneuploid
frequency (random loss of whole chromosomes for closely
related reasons), low fertility (unstable meiosis and an
unmatched genome would likely cause this) and shriveled
seed.
However, triticale has long been considered excellent animal
forage, due to its higher protein content than rye and high
digestibility.
Protein content: wheat average 12.9%
rye
10.75% (high lysine)
triticale
~12.9% (also high lysine)
Triticale has some of the resistance to disease that
characterizes rye, but, to improve that, reverse hybridization
has also been done: rye as female parent, wheat as male.
For human consumption, you have to try health food stores.
Like rye it has a limited gluten content, and is usually mixed
with wheat flour to prepare bread.
Research into selection is ongoing to improve triticale.
Selection has produced yields of more than 2 tons/hectare in
northwest Mexico and an even higher yield line that gives 10
tons/hectare under optimum (and therefore not natural)
conditions. That’s remarkable!
World total production is 13.5 million metric tons/year.
Leading producers:
Poland
3.7 million metric tons
Germany 2.7 million metric tons
Oats
Oats (Avena sativa) is only rarely turned into a flour, and even
then the grain is not refined. Oats, therefore, is a high protein
grain (~15%). Oats has long spikelets with multiple florets per
spikelet.
Oats are supposed to be a very healthy food, and not just
because the bran and germ are included. The bran, and the
soluble fiber in it, are believed to have cholesterol-lowering
properties.
We consume it as rolled oats in a porridge, as an additive in
dough for bread or cookies, in muesli and granola, and beer
(oatmeal stout, where ~5% of the grain used is oatmeal).
Oats are native to Eurasia and appear to have been
domesticated relatively late. They are now grown throughout
the temperate zones. They have a lower summer heat
requirement and greater tolerance of rain than other cereals
like wheat, rye, or barley, so are particularly important in
areas with cool, wet summers such as northwest Europe and
parts of Canada. Leading producers:
Russia
Canada
United States
5.1 million metric tons
3.3 million metric tons
1.7 million metric tons
Oats are considered to be a ‘health food’ for a number of
reasons:
1. The soluble fiber in oats is in the form of β-glucans that are
glucose molecules linked in a way that makes the molecule
flexible. They are not digestible. They come from
endosperm cell walls that represent 5 – 23% of whole oat
products. You need 3 g of soluble fiber in a healthy diet
(according to the U.S. F.D.A.). You can probably get all of it
from a bowl of oatmeal. Remember, they may help to lower
LDL in circulation.
2. After corn, oats has the highest lipid content of any cereal.
It’s >10%. Much of it is phospholipid, the same stuff our
cell membranes are mode from.
3. The protein content of oats is 17%. The protein content of
hull-less oats (12-24%) is the highest among cereals.
4. The quality of this protein also is nearly equal to that from
meat or eggs.
5. Oats also contain a variety of vitamins and minerals. 100 g
of oats includes:
Pantothenic acid (B5)
1.3 mg or 26% of RDI
Folic acid (B9)
56 g or 14% “
Fe
5 mg or 40% “
Mg
177 mg or 48% “
Oats are sown in the spring, as soon as soil can be worked.
The young plants are cold-tolerant, and unaffected by late
frosts. The oats can be harvested just before the grain is
completely ripe. A good yield is about 3000 kg/hectare.
There are two main varieties of basic oat products:
steel cut oats, in which the whole oat kernel is cut into
two or three pieces . This type is also called Scotch oats
or Irish oats.
rolled oats are flake oats that have been steamed,
rolled, re-steamed and toasted.
Steel cut oats take longer to cook and are claimed to have
more flavor, but let’s leave it at: either kind is good for you.
Barley
Barley as a domesticated crop is approximately as old as
wheat. Hordeum vulgare even looks a lot like wheat. Time of
domestication varies among sources, but 9,000 YBP is a good
estimate.
Today barley has two main uses: as forage for animals and to
produce malted barley in making beer. A secondary use is to
make “pearl barley” which is like polished rice (most
nutritional value removed) for use in soups.
Barley ranks 4th in the global area devoted to its cultivation,
560,000 km2 with a total production of 138 million metric
tons. The world’s major barley producers are:
Russia
16.7 million metric tons
Canada
12.1
Germany
11.7
France
10.4
Modern barley, H. vulgare, a 6-rowed barley, is derived from a
wild species, H. spontaneum. The wild species apparently has
shattering heads. It is a two-rowed form. There is still some
two-rowed barley grown, now called H. distichum, as well as
some four-rowed barley, H. tetrastichum.
There is a difference in protein (enzyme) content among these
types: 6-rowed has the highest protein levels, 2-rowed the
lowest. 2-rowed is used in English-style ales. 6-rowed is used
in animal feed and in German and American lagers.
Barley is malted to be used in the production of alcoholic
beverages, both beer and whisky. Grains are made to
germinate and then are quickly dried before the plant
develops. Malting grains develops the enzymes that are
required to modify the grain's starches into sugars.
Barley is grown in many regions of the world due to its
tolerance to cold temperature, low humidity, and even to saline
soils.
Barley has been subjected to genetic modification, introducing
genes from soil bacteria, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, that
produce an enzyme, glucanase. This enzyme breaks down
plant cell walls (β-glucans), and makes the grain more
digestible to animals (chickens, pigs, cattle), as well as
improving brewing characteristics for beer-makers.
Sorghum
Sorghum is grown for food in many parts of the world, but
in North America it is largely grown for its sap (or syrup).
Sorghum originated in East Africa. Wild sorghum was present
(and probably harvested) 8,000 YBP, but was not
domesticated until less than 5,000 YBP. There are a number of
varieties of the single domesticated species, Sorghum bicolor),
chosen for different characteristics:
grain sorgum (common name milo, used as food),
grass sorghum (as pasture fodder),
sweet sorghum (formerly called “Guinea corn”, and the
source for syrup), and
broom sorghum (as the name suggests, grass used to
make brooms).
As might be expected from the original source area, sorghum
is heat and drought tolerant. It is a C4 plant.
It is an important food in Africa, Central America, and south
Asia. Sorghum is the grain in ‘real’ couscous.
Total world production of sorghum in 2005 was 58.6 million
metric tons. Leading producers:
United States
9.8 million metric tons
India
8.0
Nigeria
8.0
Mexico
6.3
Sudan
4.2
Sorghum produces as much alcohol as corn for use in fuel. As
the use of ‘gasohol’ increases, it is likely sorghum production
will increase.
In sub-Saharan Africa, sorghum is used to produce beer. In
North America a few breweries produce sorghum beer because
it is gluten free (drinkable by those with celiac disease) and is
a “low-carb” beverage.
The original source also suggests that it requires relatively
high soil and air temperatures to grow well. That pretty much
eliminates Canada.
It also has a fairly high Nitrogen requirement (fertilization!),
but is not vulnerable to many diseases, and is highly
competitive (weeds are suppressed!). However, there are some
insect pests:
Sorghum webworm
Sorghum midge pupal cases
To improve harvesting, genes for dwarfism (reducing lodging)
have recently been selected. Without the dwarfing genes you
can see that it grows to about 2m.
With the genes it grows only to 60 – 120 cm.
Millet
Millet is a collective term that represents a group of
unrelated species. The major representatives are:
Pearl millet – Pennisetum glaucum
Foxtail millet – Setaria iltalica
Proso millet – Panicum miliaceum
Finger millet – Eleusine coracana
A field of pearl millet
While millet domestication is not so old as rice, charred
remains of grain indicate that millet was more extensively
used than rice in Asia from ~7,000 – 4,000 YBP.
Millet can replace wheat and buckwheat (see next grain), with
a protein content (11%) much like wheat. Millet contains no
gluten, so can’t be used for bread, but is a good source of
vitamins and minerals (niacin, folic acid, B6, Ca, Fe, K, Mg,
zinc).
Pearl millet, like sorghum, can be grown under ‘difficult’
conditions like low rainfall, high temperature, and low soil
fertility. It is widely grown in sub-Saharan Africa.
Pearl millet accounts for ~50% of all millet grown, and is
cultivated on 26 million hectares worldwide. In North
America it is grown for green forage, for grain to feed cattle
and pigs, and more recently for ethanol production. In Africa
it is a staple food as a porridge and mixed with wheat in both
leavened and unleavened bread.
Buckwheat
Buckwheat is formally not a cereal grain, and the plant is not
a grass. It’s a dicot. Depending on the source it falls into
different genera. We’ll go with Polygonum esculentum. The
other genus name is Fagopyrum. It is related to wild lettuce
(Rumex) and other weedy polygonums that grow locally.
The seeds are ‘triangular’, and are available at most bulk food
stores both raw and toasted (commonly called ‘groats’ or
‘kasha’, a Russian name), and as a pancake flour.
Buckwheat ‘grain’ contains up to 11% protein. One (possibly)
familiar use is in Japanese soba noodles. Buckwheat contains
rutin, a medicinal chemical used for vascular disorders.
Buckwheat is also a good honey plant, producing a dark,
strong honey.
Unlike the widely consumed seeds, buckwheat greens are
toxic to humans.
It is considered a major pest (along with its dicot weed
relatives) in Western agriculture.
Buckwheat was first domesticated and cultivated in southwest
Asia around 6000 BC, then spread both eastward into China,
Tibet and central Asia, and westward to Europe. It has become
(sadly) less popular in North America, and the area used for
cultivation in the U.S. has declined from one million acres in
1918 to 50,000 acres in 1964, after which records haven’t been
kept. That means we import a lot (perhaps most) of the
buckwheat we use.
Amaranth
Amaranths are also called pigweeds. They are also not
grasses, but may represent a source of food of increasing
importance for the growing human population. There are
about 60 species. The important ones are grown as leaf
vegetables and cereals. The grain is important in Asia (the
Himalayas particularly), but it was also a staple for the Incas
and Aztecs.
Amerindians of Mexico still toast amaranth grain like
popcorn and mix it with honey or molasses as a special treat
called alegria (literal translation: joy).
Amaranth leaves are a very good source of vitamins, including
A, B6, C, riboflavin, and folic acid, and dietary minerals
including Ca, Fe, Mg, P, K, zinc, Cu, and Mn. Amaranth seeds,
like buckwheat and quinoa, contain protein that is unusually
complete for plant sources.
Cultivation as an edible grain dates to 4,000 years ago.
Geographic origins are in Central and South America, also
India.
Amaranths are also C4 photosynthetic plants (like maize,
sorghum, sugar cane..)
The protein content is up to 17% and is high in essential
amino acids, especially lysine. Therefore, it offers good
complimentary nutritional value in combination with maize.
Amaranthus is making a comeback as an alternative crop.
Kamut
Kamut is a late addition to the list. You find it in the list of
ingredients in many multi-grain cereals. It is really a
variety of durum wheat, in the species Triticum turgidum
subspecies turanicum. The name kamut comes from an
ancient Egyptian word for wheat.
Compared to common wheat, Kamut is richer in protein
(by between 15% and 40%), minerals such as magnesium
and zinc, Vitamin Bs and Vitamin E and unsaturated fatty
acids.
Kamut flour, used in breads, etc.
and kamut used as a breakfast
cereal are both unrefined, and
therefore retain essentially all
nutrients in the grain.
Quinoa
One last ‘grain’ – quinoa, which is actually the seed of a
species in the same genus as the local weed ‘lamb’s quarters’.
The species that provides the grain is Chenopodium quinoa. It,
like amaranth, is not a grass; rather it is a dicot. It is also in the
same family, Amaranthaceae.
C. quinoa, like C. album (lamb’s quarters) can be consumed as
a green leafy vegetable, although that isn’t done very much.
Quinoa originated in Andean South America, and has been
used for around 6,000 years. The Incas called it “the mother of
all grains” (chisaya mama).
It is climate hardy, grown up to 4000 m elevation, but in North
America it is susceptible to a leaf miner (an insect) that
probably spread to it from lamb’s quarters.
Quinoa was a key component of the pre-Columbian Andean
diet (second to potato, and ahead of maize). The reason: it
contains a high protein content (12 – 18%) and all the
essential amino acids. It is also gluten-free (and not useful for
bread).
Quinoa has a surface coating of saponins (natural detergents)
that can be mildly toxic. However, commercial quinoa either
has been pre-soaked or comes with instructions to remove it.
Quinoa can be cooked like rice, and used in many of the same
dishes, but taking advantage of its higher protein content and
inclusion of essential amino acids.