Cereals Classification: Types and Characteristics Quiz and Flashcards

Study Notes

Cereals are named after Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, and are cultivated members of the Poaceae family.
Cereals are grown for food, drink, and animal feed, with their seeds or grains being the main product.

Three groups of cereals are recognized: major cereals, minor cereals, and wild cereals.
Wild cereals refer to the edible seeds of wild grasses.
Pseudocereals are grains from non-Poaceae species, such as Amaranthaceae, Chenopodiaceae, and Polygonaceae.

Cereals are energy-rich, easily grown, stored, and prepared.
They can be stored throughout the year, making them available at all times.
Cereal grains are usually ground to a flour for making bread or other cook products.
They can also be processed for breakfast cereals, or fermented or distilled for alcoholic beverages.

Regional differences exist in cereal use, with millets and sorghums being staple foods in Africa and Asia, while in Europe and North America, they are grown chiefly for feeding to livestock and poultry.

Rice is the second most important cereal in terms of global production.
It is a staple diet for close to 1.6 billion people and is the primary source of human energy.
Rice differs from other cereals in that it is usually cooked and eaten boiled as a whole grain and not milled.
There are 7000 varieties of rice planted around the world.
The Chinese were the first to cultivate rice (approximately 4000 B.C.).
Rice is associated with low-income earners and poverty.

Polishing removes the thiamine (vitamin B1) from the outer layers of the grain, leading to thiamine deficiency and beriberi.
Polished rice has its pericarp removed/destroyed, resulting in loss of nutrients.
Throwing away the gruel after cooking results in further loss of nutrients.
Brown rice is less popular than polished rice because it requires more time for cooking and consequently more fuel.
Rice contains 70 to 80% starch, 7% protein, 1.5% oils, some vitamins (mainly A, B, and C), and some essential minerals.

Grain appearance is assessed in terms of moisture content, grain size, shape, colour, gloss, translucency, uniformity, cleanliness, and freedom from empty hulls, straw, and other seeds.
Milling quality is based on the yield of whole grain after the milling process has removed the hull, bran, and germ with minimum breaking of the endosperm.
Cooking quality varies according to ethnic and regional preferences, and is associated with grain size and shape.
The two most important physiochemical cooking properties are gelatinization temperature and amylase content.