Wheat. Uses of wheat

Wheat is the world's most important food crop. Hundreds of millions of people throughout the world depend on foods made from the kernels (seeds or grains) of the wheat plant The kernels are ground into flour to make breads, cakes, cookies, crackers, macaroni, spaghetti, and other foods.

Wheat is a member of the grass family. It belongs to the group of grasses called cereals or cereal grains. Other important cereals include rice, corn, barley, sorghum, oats, millet, triticale, and rye.

Wheat covers more of the earth's surface than any other food crop. The leading wheat-producing countries include Canada, China, France, India, Russia, and the United States. The world's farmers grow about 20 billion bushels of wheat a year. This amount could fill a freight train stretching around the world about 2 ½ times. A bushel of wheat weighs 60 pounds (27 kilograms).

Afield of ripened wheat is golden-brown. Wheat fields cover more of the world's farmland than any other food crop

Long before the beginnings of agriculture, people gathered wild wheat for food. Scholars believe that about 11 ,000 years ago people in the Middle East took the first steps toward agriculture. Wheat was one of the first plants they grew. In time, farmers raised more grain than they needed to feed themselves. As a result, many people did not have to produce their own food and were freed to develop other useful skills. These changes led to the building of towns and cities, the expansion of trade, and the development of the great civilizations of ancient Egypt, India, and Mesopotamia.

Early farmers probably selected kernels from their best wheat plants to use as seeds for planting the next crop. In this way, certain desired qualities were passed on from one generation of wheat to the next Such practices resulted in the gradual development of improved kinds of wheat During the 1900's, scientists developed many new wheat varieties that produce large amounts of grain and can resist cold, disease, insects, and other crop threats. As a result, wheat production rose dramatically.

Uses of wheat. Food for people. Wheat is the most important food for more than a third of the world's people. In many areas of the world, wheat appears in some form at nearly every meal. Wheat is eaten chiefly in bread and other foods prepared from wheat flour. People also eat wheat in macaroni, spaghetti, and other forms of pasta and in breakfast cereal.

Wheat flour is excellent for baking because it contains a protein substance called gluten that makes dough elastic. This elasticity allows dough containing yeast to rise. About two-thirds of all the wheat flour milled is used by commercial bakers to bake bread, buns, cakes, cookies, crackers, pies, rolls, and other goods. In addition, wheat flour and baking mixes containing wheat flour are sold for use at home.

To produce wheat flour, millers grind the wheat kernels into a fine powder. Wheat kernels are rich in nutrients (nourishing substances), including protein, starch, vitamin E, and the B vitamins—niacin, riboflavin, and thiamine. The kernels also contain such essential minerals as iron and phosphorus.

Food value of whole-grain wheat

Whole wheat flour is made from the entire kernel. It therefore contains the nutrients found in all parts of the kernel. To produce white flour, however, millers grind only the soft, white inner part of the kernel, which is called the endosperm. The endosperm contains the gluten and nearly all the starch in the kernel. But white flour lacks the vitamins and minerals found in the bran— the kernel's tough covering—and the germ, which is the embryo (undeveloped stage) of a new wheat plant inside the kernel. In the United States, Canada, and many other countries, millers and bakers add B vitamins and iron to most white flour to increase its food value. Such flour is called enriched flour.

Pasta. Wheat is the chief ingredient in macaroni, spaghetti, and other forms of pasta. Most pasta is made from semolina—the coarsely ground grain of durum wheat. Manufacturers of pasta products add water and other ingredients to the semolina to form a thick paste or dough. They force this paste through machines that form it into macaroni, noodles, spaghetti, and other shapes.

Breakfast foods. Many breakfast foods are made with wheat. Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals containing wheat include bran flakes, puffed wheat, shredded wheat biscuits, and wheat flakes. Cooked breakfast cereals made with wheat include cracked wheat, farina, malted cereals, rolled wheat, and whole wheat meal.

Foods made with wheat are a major part of the diet for over a third of the world's people. Such foods include bread, cake, breakfast cereal, cookies, crackers, and pasta

Livestock feed. Some wheat germ and bran that remain after white flour is milled are used in feeds for poultry and other livestock. Farm animals also eat wheat when it is economical to feed it to them.

Other uses. Wheat is also the source of certain substances that are used to improve the nutritional value or flavor of foods. Vitamin-rich wheat germ and wheat germ oil are added to some breakfast cereals, specialty breads, and other foods. Glutamic acid obtained from wheat is used in making monosodium glutamate (MSG). Monosodium glutamate is a salt that has little flavor of its own, but it brings out the flavor of other foods.

The stems of wheat plants are dried to make straw, which can be woven into baskets and hats, made into strawboard for boxes, or used as fertilizer. Industry uses the outer coatings of wheat kernels to polish metal and glass. Adhesives made from wheat starch hold layers of plywood together. Alcohol made from wheat is used as a fuel and in manufacturing synthetic rubber and other products.