CEREALS

Cereals, which are named after Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, are the cultivated
members of the Gramineae whose seeds or grain are mainly grown for food and drink or animal
feed. Usually the thin pericarp is firmly adherent to the grain and the grass fruit is known
botanically as a caryopsis. If the pericarp is free and soft, as in Eleusine coracana (finger millet),
it termed a utricle and, more rarely, an achene if the pericarp is free and hard.
Three groups of cereals are recognised: major cereals, minor cereals and wild cereals, the latter a
name applied to the edible seeds of wild grasses. The grain from non-Gramineae species, i.e.
members of the Amaranthaceae, Chenopodiaceae (eg. Chenopodium quinoa) and Polygonaceae
(Eg. Fagopyrum esculentum), are known as pseudocereals.
As food cereals have the great advantage of being energy-rich, easily grown, stored and
prepared. The ease with which they can be stored also means that they can be available
throughout the year. When used for human food cereal grains, apart from rice, are usually ground
to a flour for making bread or other cooked products. They may also be processed for breakfast
cereals, or fermented or distilled for alcoholic beverages. Interestingly, the only grain to be
commonly used as a vegetable in the US is sweet corn. It should also be appreciated that there
can be regional differences in cereal use. For example, in Africa and Asia the millets and
sorghums are a staple food, while in Europe and North America they are grown chiefly for
feeding to livestock and poultry.

Cereal grains are dietary staples that provide a very substantial proportion of dietary energy,
protein, and micronutrients for much of the world’s population. The major cereal crops are maize
(corn), rice, wheat, barley, sorghum, millets, oats, and rye. Worldwide these cereals are subjected
to a very diverse range of traditional and technologically advanced processes before
consumption. Thus, cereal-based foods vary enormously in their structural, storage, and sensory
characteristics. Cereal based foodstuffs also vary in nutritional value due to the inherent
differences in nutrient content and the changes resulting from processing, which may be
beneficial or detrimental. Cereals are also the raw material for the production of alcoholic
beverages and food ingredients, including starches, syrups, and protein and fiber isolates.
Furthermore, very substantial quantities of cereals enter the food chain as livestock feed.

Types of Cereal and their Role in the Diet

Cereal grains are seeds of cultivated annual species of the grass family (Poaceae). Cultivated
cereal species have evolved with humans and include a range of types differing widely in their
environmental adaptation, and their utility for food or other uses. Some cereals are adapted to
tropical or subtropical regions, others to temperate climates, whereas some tolerate sub-zero
temperatures. The cereal grown is largely determined by climatic and edaphic factors, although
economic and cultural factors are also important. The total world cereal production is over 2.5
billion tonnes . The major cereals produce⁹d are maize (corn), rice, wheat, barley, sorghum,
millets, oats, and rye. Some of these represent single species; others include a number of species
with different agronomic and utilization characteristics. Each species comprises a range of
cultivars (varieties; genotypes) which also differ in characteristics. Other cereals include triticale
(Triticosecale), a wheat –rye hybrid.

Grain Characteristics

The harvested grain of some cereals (wheat, maize, rye, sorghum, and some millets) is,
botanically, a caryopsis. In other cereals (barley, oats, rice, and some millets) the harvested grain
generally includes the hull (or husk) that encloses the caryopsis. The hull is tough and very high
in fiber. It is unsuitable for human nutrition and is removed in primary processing. The caryopsis
represents the edible part of the cereal grain. Cereal caryopses have the same basic structure. The
major part is the endosperm (63–91% of the total). The endosperm is high in starch and contains
nutritionally significant amounts of protein. Enclosing the endosperm are cell layers, amounting
to 5–20% of the caryopsis. These represent the bran that is often separated from the endosperm
in milling processes. The embryo, which is found at one end of the caryopsis, accounts for 2.5–
12% of its weight. The embryo is the major component of the germ fraction separated in some
milling processes. At harvest, cereal grains are low in moisture (12–16%) and are hard and
inedible without processing. Some cereals may undergo simple milling procedures and be made
into palatable unleavened products; others are subjected to more complex milling procedures and
further processed into leavened, extruded, or fermented products using technologically advanced
processes.

1. RICE

Scientific name : Oryza sativa

Family: Poaceae

Parts used: Rice grain (fruit: caryopsis) is a staple food in many places of the world. Apart
from that, broken rice is used in brewing, distilling, and in the manufacture of starch and rice
flour. Hulls are used for fuel, packing material, industrial grinding, fertilizer manufacture,
and in the manufacture of an industrial chemical called furfural. The straw (stem and
leaves) is used for feed, livestock bedding, roof thatching, mats, garments, packing material,
and broomstraws.

ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE:

The smoothed parboiled rice is called flaked rice. Flaked rice is also used for preparing
various kinds of food items.

Sake, obtained after fermentation of rice is an essential alcoholic beverage in Japan.

Bran oil is used as edible oil and for the preparation of vanaspati.

Bran is also utilised in the textile industry, leather industry.

Bran wax is a by-product of bran oil extraction which is used in the chocolate industry
and in the manufacture of lipsticks.

Paddy husk is used as fuel.

Paddy husk is also utilised in brick making.

Straw is used as cattle feed, in the manufacture of strawboards and for making hats,
ropes, mats, etc.

What is brown rice? Why is it commercially less popular than white rice even though
white rice is much nutritionally deficient than brown rice?