the nutrients lost with the bran Breakfast Cereals Apart from breads and pastries, the most common form in which Americans consume grain is probably the breakfast cereal There are two basic types of breakfast cereals: hot, which require cooking, and ready-to-eat, which are eaten as is, often with some cold milk The anatomy of a wheat kernel It’s a miniature but complete fruit, with a dry rather than fleshy ovary wall The large mass of endosperm cells stores food to nourish the early growth of the embryo or “germ.” Hot Cereals Hot cereals have been eaten since the dawn of civilization in the form of gruels, porridges, and congees Corn grits, oatmeal, and cream of wheat are modern examples Cooking the whole or milled cereal in excess of hot water softens the cell walls, gelates the starch grains and leaches starch molecules out, and produces a digestible, bland mush The only significant improvement brought by the machine age has been a reduction in cooking time, either by grinding the cereal finely enough that it’s quickly cooked, or by partly precooking it 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 ...since the dawn of civilization in the form of gruels, porridges, and congees Corn grits, oatmeal, and cream of wheat are modern examples Cooking the whole or milled cereal in excess of hot water softens the cell walls,... in excess of hot water softens the cell walls, gelates the starch grains and leaches starch molecules out, and produces a digestible, bland mush The only significant improvement brought by the machine age has... 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”