Chapter 21
Cereal
Cereal Products
• Cereals are a major staple food for people
throughout the world.
• East to grow and store
• Low in cost $$
• High-energy value
Types of cereal products
• Cereals are starchy grains that are suitable to
use as foods
• Examples of cereals: Corn, wheat, rice, oats,
barley, rye
• Cereal products are used to make the
following: breakfast foods, flours, meals,
breads, pasta products, and starches
Grain structure
• Differ in size and shape, but all have kernels
• Kernel is a whole seed of a cereal
– Has three parts: bran, endosperm, and germ
• Bran: outer protective covering of the kernel
– Good source of Vit., and fiber
• Endosperm: largest part of the kernel
– Contains most of the starch ad protein, few minerals and a little fiber
– Holds the food supply the plant uses to grow
• Germ: reproductive part of the plant
– Rich in Vit., protein, and fat
– Smallest part of the kernel
Breakfast food
• Corn, rice, wheat, and oats are popular breakfast
foods
• Can be made from whole grain, enriched refined
grains or a combination of both
• Can be presweetened, or unsweetened
• Ready-to-eat or require some amount of cooking
– Ready-to-eat: puffed, shredded, flaked, granulated, rolled,
formed in diff shapes, completely precooked and require no
further preparation
– Require cooking: cracked, crushed, granular, and flaked
• Require additional liquid and heat
• Oatmeal and bran are good examples
Flour
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Any grain can be made of flour
Wheat flours are most commonly used because the gluten in wheat flours is superior
Many different kinds of flours
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Consist primarily of the endosperm
Can buy bleached (whiter than unbleached) or unbleached
No nutritional difference between the two
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Cake flour: from soft wheat
Feels soft and satiny
Used for making cakes and other baked products with delicate textures
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All-purpose: made from milled and sifted blend of different varieties
Instant or quick mixing flours: all purpose flour that is specially treated to ………blend easily,
Used for gravies and sauces
Self-raising flour: all-purpose flour with added leavening agents and salt
Must adjust your recipe when baking with this
Potato flour: made from cooked potatoes that are dried and ground
people on wheat free diets use this type of flour
Buckwheat flour: made from sifted buckwheat meal
Used for many breakfast items, pancakes
Rye flour: sifted rye meal
Popular for making breads
Soy flour: from ground soybeans
Has a strong flavor and must be combined with wheat flour in baked products
Rice flour: made by milling white rice
White and starchy flour popular in Asia and the Far East
Rice
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Rice (also called white rice) is the white, starchy endosperm of the rice kernel
Brown rice has had the hull removed but contains the bran and the germ as well as
the endosperm
Classified according to length or method of processing
– Long rice is dry and fluffy when cooked
• Used with meat
– Short grain rice is smaller and sticky when cooked
• Used in puddings, croquettes and rice rings
– Parboiled or converted rice has been steeped in warm water, ………drained, steamed and
dried
• Improves nutritive value
– Precooked or instant rice has been cooked, rinsed and dried by ………special process
before packaging
• Can be prepared at home in a short amount of time
– Wild rice is not really rice
• Seed of a grass that grows in the marshes of Minnesota and Canada
• Appealing nutlike flavor
• Rather expensive
Pasta
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Pasta is nutritious
Shaped dough that may or may not be dried
Some examples: macaroni, noodles, spaghetti
Dough is made from semolina
– Produced from the durum wheat
• Specially grown for pasta making
• Commercially made by a machine, can be
home made by hand
Other grain products
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Cornmeal: made from ground white or yellow corn
– Often enriched
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Hominy: popular food of south
– Corn minus the hull and germ
– When broken into pieces it is hominy grits
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Cornstarch: refined starch obtained from endosperm of corn
– Used to thickening agent in cooking
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Pearl barley; whole barley grain minus the hull
– High in minerals
– Used in soups
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Bulgur wheat: wheat that has been cooked, dried, partly de-branned, and cracked
– Popular in the Middle East
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Wheat germ: portion of wheat kernel separated during milling
– High in Vit. and minerals
– Add to foods for flavor and nutrients
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Farina: wheat product made by grinding and sifting wheat that has had the bran and
most of the germ removed
– Used to thicken products
– Cream of wheat is a popular brand
Selecting and storing cereal products
• Can be stored for extended periods of time
without refrigeration
Nutritional value of cereal products
• Should eat 6-11 serving per day
• Excellent source of complex carbohydrates
• Whole grain cereals contribute thiamin, niacin,
riboflavin, iron and phosphorus
• Enriched products have added nutrients to
replace the ones stripped in the milling process
• Federal law requires that some products be
enriched
Cost of cereal products
• Generally inexpensive
• Convenience products and products with added ingredients
tend to cost more
• Ready to eat cereal cost more than cereals that require cooking
• All purpose flour generally least expensive type of flour
• Specialty flours higher in price
• Pasta products regardless of shape or size are low in cost
• Fresh made pastas are more expensive
• Long grain and short grain rice are the lowest priced rice
products
• Wild rice and seasoned rice mixes carry higher price tag
Storing cereal products
• Store in tightly covered containers in a cool dry
place
• Breakfast foods keep well for up to 3 months
• Brown and wild rice keep for up to 6 months
• White rice keeps for up to 1 year
Cooking starches
• Starch is a complex carb.
• Stored in plants
• Cereals grains as well as roots and tubers
contain plant cells that are the sources of starch
• Wheat flour, cornstarch and tapioca are used in
cooking
Uses of starches
• Primarily as thickening
Food science principles of cooking with
starch
• Differs in chemical structure and composition
• All behave differently
– Some form gels, weak gels, soft gels, some are
clear, some are semi clear others are opaque
Effects of heat and liquid on starch
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Granular starch is unable to dissolve in cold water
Dry heat causes starch to lose some of thickening power
Dry heat also cause color and flavor changes
Dry heat causes dark crust on baked goods
Mixing starches with water and heating causes them to become
soluble, they absorb water and swell, as heating continues the
thickening continues until it reaches gelatinization
• During cooling starch mixtures form a gel, gel network holds
water, if stands too long, water may leak out, this is called
syneresis
Factors affecting starch thickened
mixtures
• Temperature, time, agitation and mixing method all
affect outcome
– Temperature: must be warm but not hot
– Time: depends on the kind of starch used
• Once gelatinization occurs, cook for short period of time
– Agitation: gentle stirring helps to keep mixture smooth
• Aggressive stirring may break down starch granules and make
mixture thinner
– Mixing method: if added directly to hot liquid, they will be
lumpy
• Prevent lumping by coating with fat, combining with sugar or mixing
with a cold liquid too form a paste
Cooking cereal products:
Food science principles of cooking
cereal products
• Cereals contain large amounts of starch;
principles used in cooking starches apply to
cooking cereals
• Should use enough water to allow granules to
swell
Preparing cooked breakfast cereals
• Boil water
• Coarse, cracked cereals require 4 times their volume of water
• Flaked cereals (oatmeal) require two times their volume of
water
• Whole grains cook more quickly if first soaked in water to
soften bran
• Whole grains require four times their volume in water
• Add cereal to boiling water to prevent lumps
• Cook over low to medium heat
• Should be smooth and free of lumps
Preparing rice
• White rice requires two time their volume of water
– Rice should absorb all the water in the cooking process
• May cook over direct heat in a double boiler or in
oven
• May substitute milk, bouillon or another liquid for all
or part of cooking water
• Use same preparation method for brown rice as white
rice
– Brown rice takes twice as long to cook unless you soak it
first
Preparing pasta
• Cook in boiling water (2 quarts of water for
each 8 oz of pasta)
• Bring water to boil, add pasta gradually
• Water should not stop boiling; pasta may stick
if it does
• Simmer until tender
• Do not rinse after draining, water soluble
nutrients can be lost by rinsing
Microwaving cereal products
• Cereal, pasta, rice do not microwave much
faster than they cool conventionally
• Less likely to stick and burn when cooked in
microwave
• Can cook and serve in same dish, saving on
cleanup