On food and cooking the science and lore of the kitchen ( PDFDrive ) 882

thenutrientslostwiththebran.
BreakfastCereals

Apartfrombreadsandpastries,themost
commonforminwhichAmericansconsume
grainisprobablythebreakfastcereal.There
aretwobasictypesofbreakfastcereals:hot,
whichrequirecooking,andready-to-eat,
whichareeatenasis,oftenwithsomecold
milk.

The anatomy of a wheat kernel. It’s a
miniaturebutcompletefruit,withadryrather
than fleshy ovary wall. The large mass of
endosperm cells stores food to nourish the
earlygrowthoftheembryoor“germ.”
HotCerealsHotcerealshavebeeneaten


sincethedawnofcivilizationintheformof
gruels,porridges,andcongees.Corngrits,
oatmeal,andcreamofwheataremodern
examples.Cookingthewholeormilledcereal
inexcessofhotwatersoftensthecellwalls,
gelatesthestarchgrainsandleachesstarch
moleculesout,andproducesadigestible,
blandmush.Theonlysignificant
improvementbroughtbythemachineagehas
beenareductionincookingtime,eitherby
grindingthecerealfinelyenoughthatit’s
quicklycooked,orbypartlyprecookingit.it

Ready-to-Eat Cereals Ready-to-eat cereals
are the more common breakfast cereal by far
in the United States. Ironically, the industry
that has come under fire for giving children
little more than empty calories, a sort of
early-morning junk food, began as a “pure”
and “scientific” health food, an alternative to
the destructive diet of turn-of-the-century
America. Its story involves a uniquely