Cereals

3. Classification of cereals

1.       Barley: Grown locally and commonly used in soups, broths and stews as a thickening agent as well as a malt product for beer and bread (malt loaf)

 

2.       Corn / Maize: A staple food in South Africa, maize is turned into a number of products:
- Cornflakes: A cooked, rolled and toasted corn popular for breakfast

- Corn flour: A finely milled wholegrain flour

- Corn-on-the-cob: Popular boiled, grilled or braai-ed vegetable

- Maize meal: Used to make 'pap', a staple food in South Africa. Pap can be served for breakfast with butter, milk, sugar or honey or served with other meals as a savoury accompaniment

- Maize rice: Finely ground, low protein, low mineral, high starch rice

- Polenta: Baked or boiled, this Italian derived ground yellow corn can be served sweet or savoury. After baking, the product can be grilled or fried.

- Pop corn: A popular snack made from the corn kernel which 'pops' when cooked in hot oil

- Samp: Course, crushed corn that is cooked slowly and served as an accompaniment to other food

- Wholegrain: Immature corn kernels removed from the cob and served fresh, canned or frozen

 

 

3.       Oats: Grown locally in South Africa (in cooler climate areas), rolled oats are flattened kernels with the grain removed. Used in porridges, muesli, cereals, flapjacks and biscuits

               

4.       Rye: Used for baking of breads and savoury biscuits, this low protein (gluten), high nutrient grain produces a sour taste and when milled, produces a dark, dense flour

 

 

5.       Sorghum: Grown locally in South Africa and used for the production of beer, cattle feed and some porridges (maltabella)

 

6.       Wheat: Wheat is the most commonly used flour and it comes in a number of varieties. The main differentiating factor of wheat products is the amount of protein (gluten) that each contains. High levels of gluten make strong flour and produce tougher textured end products. Lower levels of gluten make softer flour which is commonly used in baking. The gluten allows bread dough to rise and keep its shape.

 

Flour can be refined in a number of ways….

-          All purpose white flour: the most commonly used flour is a mix of soft and hard wheat, used in all baked products. Most commercially available all-purpose flours are enriched with B vitamins.

-          Self-rising flour: a type of all-purpose flour that has salt and a raising agent mixed into it.
Bread flour: a common flour used for baking bread. Because of its higher gluten content, it bakes well with yeast, yielding great crusty bread products.

-          Cake flour: used in cakes due to its soft and powdery characteristics from being very finely milled. It is much lower in protein than other flours.

-          Pastry flour: also made from soft wheat but not as refined as cake flour. It is used for baking pastries which have a slightly thin and crispy crust.

-          Whole-wheat flour: used to make heavier bread type products from whole wheat kernels that are ground and not refined like most other flours. Whole-wheat flour is the healthiest type of flour in terms of the nutritional value and dietary fiber it provides.

-          Semolina: granular flour made from the hardest type of wheat (i.e. durum wheat). Semolina has the highest protein content of all flours and is often used in pasta and cous-cous.