There are approximately 600 genera and 8,500 species of grasses found throughout the world, making the grass family one of the largest and most widely distributed of all plant families. In fact, 25% of the world’s vegetation belongs to the grass family.
Within the grass family are the cereals. Cereals are the edible seeds of cultivated grasses and are the basic foods of modern civilization, with rice, wheat, and corn the most extensively grown of all food crops. Other important cereals are barley, sorghum, oats, millet, and rye. All these cereals are among the top 25 food crops, over half the world’s cultivated land is devoted to growing them, and they provide over 50% of the calories consumed by the human population.
Wheat – The Staff of Life
Wheat is the most widely cultivated crop in the world and supplies a major percentage of the nutrient needs of the human population. In many cultures the bread made from wheat is so important it is literally “the staff (and stuff) of life”.
It is believed that Einkorn wheat, one of the first cultivated species of wheat, hybridized with one of the goat grasses giving rise to Emmer wheat with an increase in chromosome number. Emmer wheat then hybridized with another goat grass along with a corresponding increase in chromosome number to produce what we today know as bread wheat.
The main cultivars of wheat that are widely cultivated today are durum and bread wheat. Durum is grown in the northern United States, Canada, southern Europe, and parts of India. It yields semolina flour which is used to make spaghetti, macaroni, and noodles.
Bread wheat is the dominant type of wheat grown, making up 90% of the world’s production. The flour from bread wheat is used to make breads, pastries, and breakfast cereals.
Corn – Amazing Maize
Corn does not look like a typical cereal but its structure does place it in the grass family. The tassel at the top of the plant holds the pollen-producing stamens while the ears are the female organs with each silk being a stigma and style leading to a single egg.
In North America, the terms “corn” and “maize” have been used interchangeably but in many countries corn refers to the most commonly grown cereal; in England corn refers to wheat and in Scotland it refers to oats. Unlike wheat whose ancestors are fairly well defined, the origin of corn is a botanical mystery with speculation and controversy continuing to this day.
Several different types of corn are grown today and can be characterized mainly by the nature of the starch in the seed as: popcorn, flint corn, flour corn, dent corn, sweet corn, waxy corn, and pod corn.
The majority of corn grown in the United States is used as animal feed. However, corn starch, corn meal, corn flour, corn oil, and corn syrup are all processed from corn kernels. These products make their way into a multitude of prepared foods so that the average American is consuming corn one way or another in almost every meal.
Rice – Food of Billions
Rice feeds more people worldwide than any other crop and is the only crop grown exclusively for human consumption. It is estimated that over two billion people, mainly in Asia, rely on rice as a dietary staple.
There are thousands of varieties of rice differing from each other in growing conditions or in the color, shape, size, aroma, flavor, and cooking characteristics of the seed.
Other Cereal Grains – Horse Fodder or Human Food?
Oats have always been considered good food for horses but have had mixed acceptance as human food. The ancient Romans considered this grain fit food for animals only but in Scotland every celebration calls for an oat-based breakfast. In the United States oats were eaten primarily as a breakfast food until the mid-1980s when it was suggested that oat bran had the ability to lower cholesterol.
Barley was an important food for the ancient peoples of the Mediterranean region but today most barley is used as animal feed, with about one-third of the crop used in the production of malt for brewing beer. A small percentage of barley is polished to make pearl barley for vegetable soups.
Rye and Triticale. During the Middle Ages cultivation of rye became widespread in northern Europe and gave rise to the familiar black bread. Rye breads are still very popular in Sweden, Poland, Germany, and Russia. In the United States, rye flour is commonly mixed with wheat flour to prepare the commercial “rye breads” sold here.
Crosses between wheat and rye have been made for over one hundred years to produce an inter-genetic hybrid known as triticale. There is great interest in these hybrids because they combine the high yield of wheat with the hardiness, disease resistance, and higher protein quality of rye.
Simply put, cereal grains are the most important staple of all human food items.
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