Cereals, Sugar Crops and Basic Foods (Lectures 11-12)

• Cereals and sugar crops are vital plants that feed most of the world.
• Cereals are a group of grasses that provide a lot of energy.
• The three most important cereals worldwide are rice, corn (maize), and wheat.
• These grains contain seeds packed with more energy than most fruits and vegetables.

Rice (Oryza sativa)

• Rice is the most important plant, feeding more people than any other crop..
• Rice is grown in wetland production (flooded fields), dryland production (non-flooded fields), and deep-water production (where rice can float)

Corn (Maize)

• Corn, also known as maize, has a fascinating history, originating from teosinte.
• Corn is used for sweetcorn, animal feed, and fuel

Wheat

• Wheat needs gluten to be essential for making bread and pasta.

Sugar Crops

• Sugar crops like sugar cane and sugar beet give us sugar.
• Sugar cane prefers warm, sunny climates, whereas sugar beet thrives in cooler climates.

Cereals as Basic Foods

• Cereals from the grass family (Poaceae) are essential to the global food supply due to their high energy density.
• Cereals have more calories per kilogram than most fruits and vegetables, around 10-20 times more.
• The grass family (Poaceae) includes 9,000-10,000 species, sharing seed structures like the caryopsis enclosed in a husk.
• Caryopsis includes the starch-rich endosperm, the protein-rich germ, the husk, and the bran, affecting nutritional composition and processing.
• Rice, corn, and wheat are produced on a massive scale globally, feeding a substantial amount of the world's population.
• Cereal use varies by region due to agricultural practices, culinary traditions, and historical developments.

Rice (Oryza sativa)

• Independent origins are supported in East China and Southeast Asia, along with early terraces found in northern India.
• Its domestication occurred around 9000-6000 years Before Present (BP) in different regions.
• Its wild ancestors are Oryza rufipogon and Oryza nivara.
• Two main subspecies are Indica and Japonica, with thousands of varieties showing variations in aroma, starch content (glutinousness), grain shape, and ecological adaptation.
• Javanica is a less economically important subspecies.
• Three main ways to grow rice include:
  • Wetland production (flooded paddy fields, most important globally)
  • Dryland production (seasonally flooded or never flooded)
  • Deep-water production (floating rice in floodplains).
• Wetland production involves labor-intensive steps like puddling for transplanting, weed control, soil fertility, and water conservation.
• Post-harvest processing of rice involves threshing (removing the husk) to become brown rice, and milling removes the bran and germ, primarily leaving the starch-rich endosperm.
• Parboiling is a process that forces nutrients into the endosperm, retaining more nutrients after milling.

Corn (Maize)

• It was domesticated in Central or South America around 6000 years BP from teosinte.
• Domestication involved a few key genes and early farmers selecting desirable mutants through mass selection.
• Branches, seed covering, seed arrangement, and ear shattering are critical structural differences.
• Corn is used for sweet corn (direct human consumption), animal feed, starch, sugar, oil, popcorn, industrial products, and biofuel (ethanol).
• Corn is a genetically altered crop with many patents used for genetics

Wheat

• Wheat originated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 years BP.
• Domestication occurred through natural hybridization involving several closely related wild grasses, leading to changes in ploidy levels.
• Einkorn wheat (diploid), Emmer and durum wheats (tetraploid), and bread wheats (hexaploid) represent different ploidy levels.
• Key domestication traits include non-shattering ears, naked seeds, higher protein content (including gluten), a wider ecological range, and more and larger seeds.
• Bread wheat has high gluten content, which is crucial for trapping carbon dioxide during baking for a spongy texture.
• Durum wheat is good for making pasta due to its gluten properties.
• Processing wheat gives the same effect as rise as white flour removes the nutrients

Sugar Cane

• Sugar cane juice has a naturally high sugar content (17-20% at domestication).
• A perennial grass grown in tropical and subtropical climates
• Spread globally by Arabs and Columbus, linked to slavery and the trade triangle.
• The Netherlands got Suriname from GB for 'New Amsterdam' (Manhattan/NY) in 1674.

Suagr Beet

• Sugar beet is grown as an annual crop in temperate climates and had a low content of 5-6% in 1800
• The Napoleonic Wars and the British sea blockade of France in 1807 caused research to extract sugar from sugar beets.
• There is now a sugar content of 15-20% in existing breeds from this French research
• 20% of global sugar production is sugar beets

Specific Detials

• Cereals contain 10,000 - 15,000 kJ/kg, which is more caloric than most fruits and vegetables, emphasizing their energy density.
• The grass family (Poaceae) is vast, with 9,000-10,000 species.
• Rice feeds more people than any other crop and it is only grown for humans
• Independent origins in East China and Southeast Asia for rice.
• the exact years rice has existed have changed with time - 9000-6500 years BP at the Ganges river for the Indica subspecies and 9000 – 6000 years BP in China for Japonica.
• Common wild ancestors are Oryza rufipogon (wild perennial) and Oryza nivara (wild annual).
• 40,000 rice varities
• Main subspecies are listed: aroma, starch content (glutinous?), caryopsis shape (long/short-grain), and ecology. Specific examples like Basmati (aromatic, mostly wetland production), Sushi rice (short-grain, sticky, Japan), and Forbidden rice (high antioxidants, China) make the diversity more tangible.
• 75% of global rice is grown from wetland prodction
• Corn was domesticated from teosinte at about 6000 years BP
• Corn is the most genetically and patented crop, with the number one usage being ethanol at 40%
• The US in 2011 used corn for human food use by -20% , livestock with -40%, and the rest for ethanol with -40%.
• Wheat is one of the oldest domesticated plants - 9000 BP
• Bread flour or bread wheat provides 14-16% protein in baking.
• The Dutch get lands from Britain as France buys Caribbean islands for parts of frech Canada in parts of sugar trade
• Sugar cane can be grown in the tropics and subtropics while containing 17 to 20 percent of suagr.
• A Mediterranean plant ( sugar beets ) has a content in 1800 of 5-6% while only providing 20 % of sugar produce.
• the Dutch get lands from Britain as France buys Caribbean islands for parts of frech Canada in parts of sugar trade
• Sugar cane can be grown in the tropics and subtropics while containing 17 to 20 percent of suagr.
• A Mediterranean plant ( sugar beets ) has a content in 1800 of 5-6% while only providing 20 % of sugar produce.