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Wheat is a worldwide cultivated grass from the Fertile Crescent region of the Near East. In 2007 world production of wheat was 607 million tons, making it the third most-produced cereal after maize (784 million tons) and rice (651 million tons).
Wheat grain is a staple food used to make flour for leavened, flat and steamed breads; cookies, cakes, breakfast cereal, pasta, juice, noodles and couscous; and for fermentation to make beer,alcohol, vodka
Raw wheat can be powdered into flour; germinated and dried creating malt; crushed and into cracked wheat; parboiled (or steamed), dried, crushed and de-branned into bulgur; or processed into semolina, pasta, or roux. Wheat is a major ingredient in such foods as bread, porridge, crackers, biscuits, Muesli, pancakes, pies, pastries, cakes & cupcakes, cookies, muffins, rolls, doughnuts, gravy, boza (a fermented beverage), and breakfast cereals (e.g. Wheatena, Cream of Wheat, Shredded Wheat, and Wheaties).
Harvested wheat grain that enters trade is classified according to grain properties for the purposes of the commodities market. Wheat buyers use the classifications to help determine which wheat to purchase as each class has special uses. Wheat producers determine which classes of wheat are the most profitable to cultivate with this system.
Wheat is widely cultivated as a cash crop because it produces a good yield per unit area, grows well in a temperate climate even with a moderately short growing season, and yields a versatile, high-quality flour that is widely used in baking. Most breads are made with wheat flour, including many breads named for the other grains they contain like most rye and oat breads. The popularity of foods made from wheat flour creates a large demand for the grain, even in economies with significant food surpluses.
Utensil made of dry wheat branches for loaves of bread
Bulgur - Lapsi (Hindi)
Coarse Bulgur WheatBulgur (sometimes known as burghul or burghoul) is
a quick-cooking form of whole wheat that has been cleaned, parboiled, dried, ground into particles and sifted into distinct sizes. The result is a nutritious, versatile wheat product with a pleasant, nut-like flavour and an extended shelf-life that allows it to be stored for long periods.
Often confused with cracked wheat, bulgur differs in that it has been pre-cooked.
Making wheat into bulgur is an ancient process that originated in the Mediterranean and has been an integral part of Middle Eastern cuisine for thousands of years. Biblical references indicate it was prepared by ancient Babylonians, Hittites and Hebrew populations some 4,000 years ago, and Arab, Israeli, Egyptian, and Roman civilizations record eating dried cooked wheat as early as 1,000 B.C.
The Roman word for it was cerealis; Israelites called it dagan. Other Middle Easterners called it arisah, which is how it was referred to in the Bible. Biblical scholars translate arisah as "the first of the coarse meal" and, according to Biblical archeologists, was a porridge or gruel prepared from parboiled and sun-dried wheat.
Bulgur resists mold contamination and attack by insects and can be stored for long periods of time.Today, bulgur is much loved in Armenia and Syria, as well as amongst the Kurds. In Kurdish villages, par-boiled wheat grains are partially sun-dried and then put into large stone mortars, and cracked with enormous wooden mallets. After cracking the hardened kernels into coarse pieces, they are seived into different sizes for various uses.
This process of making bulgur is quite ingenious. Not only does the par-boiling dramatically reduce the amount of time and fuel needed to cook the wheat, but it also has the effect of driving certain nutrients from the less digestible outer layers into the centre of the grain, making them more accessible.
Although making bulgur has developed into a modern, mechanized manufacturing process, the same basic ancient steps of preparation are still followed today.
http://www.kurma.net/faq/q22.html - for gloosary of ungrdients.
Whole Wheat Flour
Whole wheat flour is a powdery substance derived by grinding or mashing the wheat's whole grain. It is used in baking but typically added to other "white" flours to provide nutrients (especially fibre and protein), texture, and body to the finished product.
The word "whole" refers to the fact that all of the grain (bran, germ, and endosperm) is used and nothing is lost in the process of making the flour. This is in contrast to white, refined flours, which contain only the endosperm. Because the whole flour contains the remains of all of the grain, it has a textured, brownish appearance.
The milling process affects the nutritional value and quality of the flour. Lower heat methods result in a nutritionally superior flour. Stone ground flour is milled by a slow process using granite stones, often powered by water which scatters the bran evenly through the flour and keeps the flour cooler than when ground with steel rollers. Although stone ground whole wheat flour is still available, most grains today are machine milled, with superior results.
Most of the whole grain flours sold in co-ops are milled by an impact or
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