59-472: A malt house , malt barn , or maltings , is a building where cereal grain is converted into malt by soaking it in water, allowing it to sprout and then drying it to stop further growth. The malt is used in brewing beer , whisky and in certain foods. The traditional malt house was largely phased out during the twentieth century in favour of more mechanised production. Many malt houses have been converted to other uses, such as Snape Maltings , England, which
118-650: A grain elevator or silo , to be sold later. Grain stores need to be constructed to protect the grain from damage by pests such as seed-eating birds and rodents . When the cereal is ready to be distributed, it is sold to a manufacturing facility that first removes the outer layers of the grain for subsequent milling for flour or other processing steps, to produce foods such as flour, oatmeal , or pearl barley . In developing countries, processing may be traditional, in artisanal workshops, as with tortilla production in Central America. Most cereals can be processed in
177-484: A vernacular style. The germination of barley is hindered by high temperatures, so many malt houses only operated in the winter. This provided employment for agricultural workers whose labour was not much in demand during the winter months. During the nineteenth century many small breweries disappeared. Improved techniques allowed larger breweries and specialist maltsters to build their own maltings and operate year-round. These were often housed in multi-storey buildings. It
236-581: A London bushel was reckoned to contain 64 pounds, 12 ounces , 20 pennyweight , and 32 grains . These measures were based on the relatively light tower pound and were rarely used in Scotland , Ireland , or Wales during the Middle Ages . When the Tower system was abolished in the 16th century, the bushel was redefined as 56 avoirdupois pounds . The imperial bushel established by
295-444: A balanced diet. Many legumes, however, are deficient in the essential amino acid methionine , which grains contain. Thus, a combination of legumes with grains forms a well-balanced diet for vegetarians. Such combinations include dal (lentils) with rice by South Indians and Bengalis , beans with maize tortillas , tofu with rice, and peanut butter with wholegrain wheat bread (as sandwiches) in several other cultures, including
354-509: A container itself, and later a unit of measurement. The name comes from the Old French boissiel and buissiel , meaning "little box". It may further derive from Old French boise , thus meaning "little butt ". The bushel is an intermediate value between the pound and ton or tun that was introduced to England following the Norman Conquest . Norman statutes made
413-405: A couch, either a permanent construction, or temporarily formed with wooden boards. Here it was piled 12–16 inches (30–41 cm) deep, and began to generate heat and start to germinate. It spent a day or two here, according to the season and the maltster's practice. It was then spread out on the growing floor, the depth dictated by the temperature, but sufficiently deep to encourage vegetation. It
472-401: A food trade imbalance and thus food security . Speculation , as well as other compounding production and supply factors leading up to the 2007–2008 financial crises , created rapid inflation of grain prices during the 2007–2008 world food price crisis . Other disruptions, such as climate change or war related changes to supply or transportation can create further food insecurity; for example
531-408: A role. Among the best-known cereals are maize, rice , wheat, barley, sorghum , millet , oat, rye and triticale . Some other grains are colloquially called cereals, even though they are not grasses; these pseudocereals include buckwheat , quinoa , and amaranth . All cereal crops are cultivated in a similar way. Most are annual , so after sowing they are harvested just once. An exception
590-536: A sugar . In the 20th century, industrial processes developed around chemically altering the grain, to be used for other processes. In particular, maize can be altered to produce food additives, such as corn starch and high-fructose corn syrup . Cereal production has a substantial impact on the environment. Tillage can lead to soil erosion and increased runoff. Irrigation consumes large quantities of water; its extraction from lakes, rivers, or aquifers may have multiple environmental effects , such as lowering
649-500: A variety of ways. Rice processing , for instance, can create whole-grain or polished rice, or rice flour. Removal of the germ increases the longevity of grain in storage. Some grains can be malted , a process of activating enzymes in the seed to cause sprouting that turns the complex starches into sugars before drying. These sugars can be extracted for industrial uses and further processing, such as for making industrial alcohol , beer , whisky , or rice wine , or sold directly as
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#1732851243711708-449: Is a variant of this, rounded to exactly 2150.42 cubic inches, less than one part per ten million less. It is also somewhat in use in Canada . In English use, a Bushel was a willow basket with fixed dimensions. The basket was round. Its inside measurements were: Base diameter 12 inches, top diameter 18 inches, height 12 inches. A basket filled level to the top was a bushel. A basket filled to
767-495: Is an imperial and US customary unit of volume based upon an earlier measure of dry capacity . The old bushel is equal to 2 kennings (obsolete), 4 pecks , or 8 dry gallons , and was used mostly for agricultural products, such as wheat . In modern usage, the volume is nominal, with bushels denoting a mass defined differently for each commodity. The name "bushel" is also used to translate similar units in other measurement systems. The word "bushel" as originally used for
826-545: Is done by assigning a standard weight to each commodity that is to be measured in bushels. These bushels depend on the commodities being measured, and on the moisture content of the commodity. Some of the more common ones are: Other specific values are defined (and those definitions may vary within different jurisdictions, including from state to state in the United States) for other grains, oilseeds, fruits, vegetables, coal, hair and many other commodities. Government policy in
885-614: Is no frost. Most cereals are planted in tilled soils , which reduces weeds and breaks up the surface of a field. Most cereals need regular water in the early part of their life cycle. Rice is commonly grown in flooded fields, though some strains are grown on dry land. Other warm climate cereals, such as sorghum, are adapted to arid conditions. Cool-season cereals are grown mainly in temperate zones. These cereals often have both winter varieties for autumn sowing, winter dormancy, and early summer harvesting, and spring varieties planted in spring and harvested in late summer. Winter varieties have
944-611: Is not required. Rice can be grown as a ratoon crop; and other researchers are exploring perennial cool-season cereals, such as kernza , being developed in the US. Fertilizer and pesticide usage may be reduced in some polycultures , growing several crops in a single field at the same time. Fossil fuel-based nitrogen fertilizer usage can be reduced by intercropping cereals with legumes which fix nitrogen . Greenhouse gas emissions may be cut further by more efficient irrigation or by water harvesting methods like contour trenching that reduce
1003-426: Is now a concert hall. The grain was first soaked in a steeping pit or cistern for a day or more. This was constructed of brick or stone, and was sometimes lined with lead. It was rectangular and no more than 40 inches (100 cm) deep. Soon after being covered with water, the grain began to swell and increase its bulk by 25 percent. The cistern was then drained and the grain transferred to another vessel called
1062-427: Is often used to make injera . It can be eaten as a warm breakfast cereal like farina with a chocolate or nutty flavor. The table shows the annual production of cereals in 1961, 1980, 2000, 2010, and 2019/2020. (millions of metric tons) Cereals are the most traded commodities by quantity in 2021, with wheat, maize, and rice the main cereals involved. The Americas and Europe are the largest exporters, and Asia
1121-510: Is rice, which although usually treated as an annual can survive as a perennial , producing a ratoon crop. Cereals adapted to a temperate climate , such as barley , oats , rye , spelt , triticale , and wheat , are called cool-season cereals. Those preferring a tropical climate , such as millet and sorghum , are called warm-season cereals. Cool-season cereals, especially rye, followed by barley, are hardy; they grow best in fairly cool weather, and stop growing, depending on variety, when
1180-556: Is sometimes grown as a perennial . Winter varieties are hardy enough to be planted in the autumn, becoming dormant in the winter, and harvested in spring or early summer; spring varieties are planted in spring and harvested in late summer. The term cereal is derived from the name of the Roman goddess of grain crops and fertility, Ceres . Cereals were domesticated in the Neolithic , some 8,000 years ago. Wheat and barley were domesticated in
1239-441: Is the largest importer. The largest exporter of maize is the US, while India is the largest exporter of rice. China is the largest importer of maize and of rice. Many other countries trade cereals, both as exporters and as importers. Cereals are traded as futures on world commodity markets , helping to mitigate the risks of changes in price for example, if harvests fail. Bushel A bushel (abbreviation: bsh. or bu. )
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#17328512437111298-502: Is the main ingredient of bread and pasta . Maize flour has been important in Mesoamerica since ancient times, with foods such as Mexican tortillas and tamales . Rye flour is a constituent of bread in central and northern Europe, while rice flour is common in Asia. A cereal grain consists of starchy endosperm , germ , and bran . Wholemeal flour contains all of these; white flour
1357-519: Is the transfer to the saladin box . While in the traditional malt houses the product flow is horizontal, the flow in the Steep, Germinate and Kilning Vessel is vertical. Due to high capital costs this process is used only in industrial maltings for beer malt. Many villages had a malt house in the eighteenth century, supplying the needs of local publicans, estates and home brewers. Malt houses are typically long, low buildings, no more than two storeys high, in
1416-402: Is without some or all of the germ or bran. Because cereals have a high starch content, they are often used to make industrial alcohol and alcoholic drinks by fermentation . For instance, beer is produced by brewing and fermenting starch , mainly from cereal grains—most commonly malted barley. Rice wines such as Japanese sake are brewed in Asia; a fermented rice and honey wine
1475-454: The Puccinia spp.) and powdery mildews . Fusarium head blight, caused by Fusarium graminearum , is a significant limitation on a wide variety of cereals. Other pressures include pest insects and wildlife like rodents and deer. In conventional agriculture, some farmers will apply fungicides or pesticides Annual cereals die when they have come to seed, and dry up. Harvesting begins once
1534-468: The "organic" movements of the early 21st century, but there is a tradeoff in yield-per-plant, putting pressure on resource-poor areas as food crops are replaced with cash crops . Cereals are grasses, in the Poaceae family, that produce edible grains . A cereal grain is botanically a caryopsis , a fruit where the seed coat is fused with the pericarp . Grasses have stems that are hollow except at
1593-715: The Fertile Crescent ; rice was domesticated in East Asia, and sorghum and millet were domesticated in West Africa. Maize was domesticated by Indigenous peoples of the Americas in southern Mexico about 9,000 years ago. In the 20th century, cereal productivity was greatly increased by the Green Revolution . This increase in production has accompanied a growing international trade , with some countries producing large portions of
1652-832: The Green Revolution , a technological change funded by development organizations. The strategies developed by the Green Revolution, including mechanized tilling, monoculture , nitrogen fertilizers, and breeding of new strains of seeds. These innovations focused on fending off starvation and increasing yield-per-plant, and were very successful in raising overall yields of cereal grains, but paid less attention to nutritional quality. These modern high-yield cereal crops tend to have low-quality proteins , with essential amino acid deficiencies, are high in carbohydrates , and lack balanced essential fatty acids , vitamins , minerals and other quality factors. So-called ancient grains and heirloom varieties have seen an increase in popularity with
1711-509: The London ;bushel part of the legal measure of English wine , ale , and grains . The Assize of Bread and Ale credited to Henry III , c. 1266 , defined this bushel in terms of the wine gallon , while the c. 1300 Assize of Weights and Measures usually credited to Edward I or II defined the London bushel in terms of the larger corn gallon . In either case,
1770-487: The Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 disrupted Ukrainian and Russian wheat supplies causing a global food price crisis in 2022 that affected countries heavily dependent on wheat flour. Cereals are the world's largest crops by tonnage of grain produced. Three cereals, maize, wheat, and rice, together accounted for 89% of all cereal production worldwide in 2012, and 43% of the global supply of food energy in 2009, while
1829-680: The Weights and Measures Act of 1824 described the bushel as the volume of 80 avoirdupois pounds of distilled water in air at 62 °F (17 °C) or 8 imperial gallons. This is the bushel in some use in the United Kingdom . Thus, there is no distinction between liquid and dry measure in the imperial system. The Winchester bushel is the volume of a cylinder 18.5 in (470 mm) in diameter and 8 in (200 mm) high, which gives an irrational number of approximately 2150.4202 cubic inches. The modern American or US bushel
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1888-400: The nodes and narrow alternate leaves borne in two ranks. The lower part of each leaf encloses the stem, forming a leaf-sheath. The leaf grows from the base of the blade, an adaptation that protects the growing meristem from grazing animals. The flowers are usually hermaphroditic , with the exception of maize , and mainly anemophilous or wind-pollinated, although insects occasionally play
1947-623: The water table and cause salination of aquifers. Fertilizer production contributes to global warming , and its use can lead to pollution and eutrophication of waterways. Arable farming uses large amounts of fossil fuel , releasing greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming. Pesticide usage can cause harm to wildlife, such as to bees . Some of the impacts of growing cereals can be mitigated by changing production practices. Tillage can be reduced by no-till farming , such as by direct drilling of cereal seeds, or by developing and planting perennial crop varieties so that annual tilling
2006-484: The Americas. For feeding animals , the amount of crude protein measured in grains is expressed as grain crude protein concentration. Cereals constitute the world's largest commodities by tonnage, whether measured by production or by international trade. Several major producers of cereals dominate the market. Because of the scale of the trade, some countries have become reliant on imports, thus cereals pricing or availability can have outsized impacts on countries with
2065-605: The Hittite Sun goddess of Arinna , the Canaanite Lahmu and the Roman Janus . Complex civilizations arose where cereal agriculture created a surplus, allowing for part of the harvest to be appropriated from farmers, allowing power to be concentrated in cities. During the second half of the 20th century, there was a significant increase in the production of high-yield cereal crops worldwide, especially wheat and rice, due to
2124-677: The United States is to phase out units such as the bushel and replace them with metric mass equivalents. The German bushel is the Scheffel . A Prussian scheffel was equal to 54.96 litres. The Polish bushel ( korzec ) was used as measure of dry capacity . It is divided into 4 quarters ( ćwierć ) and in the early 19th century had a value of 128 litres in Warsaw and 501.116 litres in Kraków . The Spanish bushel ( fanega )
2183-485: The advantage of using water when it is plentiful, and permitting a second crop after the early harvest. They flower only in spring as they require vernalization , exposure to cold for a specific period, fixed genetically. Spring crops grow when it is warmer but less rainy, so they may need irrigation. Cereal strains are bred for consistency and resilience to the local environmental conditions. The greatest constraints on yield are plant diseases , especially rusts (mostly
2242-498: The cereal supply for other countries. Cereals provide food eaten directly as whole grains , usually cooked, or they are ground to flour and made into bread , porridge , and other products. Cereals have a high starch content, enabling them to be fermented into alcoholic drinks such as beer . Cereal farming has a substantial environmental impact , and is often produced in high-intensity monocultures . The environmental harms can be mitigated by sustainable practices which reduce
2301-529: The cistern, couch or floor after a multiplying factor of 1.6 was applied to the larger of the cistern or couch gauges. Cereal grain A cereal is a grass cultivated for its edible grain . Cereals are the world's largest crops, and are therefore staple foods . They include rice , wheat , rye , oats , barley , millet , and maize . Edible grains from other plant families, such as buckwheat and quinoa , are pseudocereals . Most cereals are annuals , producing one crop from each planting, though rice
2360-417: The cistern, it could not be sprinkled for 12 days. A survey book or ledger had to be kept to record the process and the gauging of the grain in the cistern, the couch, and on the floor. The volume of the grain was carefully measured, based upon the mean width, length and height, and calculated by mental arithmetic , pen and paper, or slide rule . The duty to be charged was based upon the largest gauge of either
2419-427: The excise officer to gauge the grain. The maltster had to give notice before wetting any grain; 24 hours in the city or market-town, 48 hours elsewhere. The grain had to be kept covered with water for 48 hours, excepting one hour for changing the water. Grain could only be put in the cistern between 8am and 2pm, and taken out between 7am and 4pm. It had to remain in the couch frame for at least 26 hours. Once thrown out of
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2478-432: The germination proceeded the grain was spread thinner on the floor. The process was halted before the stem burst the husk. At this stage much of the starch in the grain had been converted to maltose and the grain was left on the floor to dry. The art of malting depends on the proper regulation of these changes in the grain. Maltsters varied in their manner of working, and adapted to changes in climatic conditions. The grain
2537-787: The impact on soil and improve biodiversity, such as no-till farming and intercropping . Wheat, barley, rye , and oats were gathered and eaten in the Fertile Crescent during the early Neolithic . Cereal grains 19,000 years old have been found at the Ohalo II site in Israel , with charred remnants of wild wheat and barley. During the same period, farmers in China began to farm rice and millet, using human-made floods and fires as part of their cultivation regimen. The use of soil conditioners , including manure , fish, compost and ashes , appears to have begun early, and developed independently in areas of
2596-472: The malt duty rose from 1s. 4 1 ⁄ 4 d. a bushel to 2s. 5d., then to 4s. 5 3 ⁄ 4 d. in 1804, driven upwards by the need to finance the French Wars of 1793–1815. In 1865 the total revenue was reported to be six million sterling a year. There were also numerous regulations in place regarding the malting process. The cistern and the couch-frame had to be constructed in a particular manner, to permit
2655-509: The need for irrigation, and by breeding new crop varieties. Some cereals such as rice require little preparation before human consumption. For example, to make plain cooked rice , raw milled rice is washed and boiled. Foods such as porridge and muesli may be made largely of whole cereals, especially oats, whereas commercial breakfast cereals such as granola may be highly processed and combined with sugars, oils , and other products. Cereals can be ground to make flour. Wheat flour
2714-481: The plant can be allowed to decompose, or collected as straw ; this can be used for animal bedding, mulch, and a growing medium for mushrooms. It is used in crafts such as building with cob or straw-bale construction . If cereals are not completely dry when harvested, such as when the weather is rainy, the stored grain will be spoilt by mould fungi such as Aspergillus and Penicillium . This can be prevented by drying it artificially. It may then be stored in
2773-459: The plants and seeds are dry enough. Harvesting in mechanized agricultural systems is by combine harvester , a machine which drives across the field in a single pass in which it cuts the stalks and then threshes and winnows the grain. In traditional agricultural systems, mostly in the Global South , harvesting may be by hand, using tools such as scythes and grain cradles . Leftover parts of
2832-528: The production of oats and rye has drastically fallen from their 1960s levels. Other cereals not included in the U.N.'s Food and Agriculture Organization statistics include wild rice , which is grown in small amounts in North America, and teff , an ancient grain that is a staple in Ethiopia . Teff is grown in sub-Saharan Africa as a grass primarily for feeding horses. It is high in fiber and protein. Its flour
2891-467: The removal of the bran and germ, all that remains is the starchy endosperm. In some developing countries , cereals constitute a majority of daily sustenance. In developed countries , cereal consumption is moderate and varied but still substantial, primarily in the form of refined and processed grains. Some cereals are deficient in the essential amino acid lysine , obliging vegetarian cultures to combine their diet of cereal grains with legumes to obtain
2950-404: The temperature goes above around 30 °C or 85 °F. Warm-season cereals, in contrast, require hot weather and cannot tolerate frost. Cool-season cereals can be grown in highlands in the tropics, where they sometimes deliver several crops in a single year. In the tropics, warm-season cereals can be grown at any time of the year. In temperate zones, these cereals can only be grown when there
3009-657: The top but overfilled to a height where it overflowed was considered to be a bushel and a peck, a generous measure (a similar concept to a baker's dozen). Hence, the old song " I love you, a bushel and a peck...." meant "I am overflowing with love for you". Sometimes the basket was made 13 inches high, but with a ring of "waling" (a special willow weaving technique) to mark the 12 inches height. Bushels are now most often used as units of mass or weight rather than of volume. The bushels in which grains are bought and sold on commodity markets or at local grain elevators , and for reports of grain production, are all units of weight. This
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#17328512437113068-587: The world including Mesopotamia , the Nile Valley , and Eastern Asia. Cereals that became modern barley and wheat were domesticated some 8,000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent. Millets and rice were domesticated in East Asia, while sorghum and other millets were domesticated in sub-Saharan West Africa, primarily as feed for livestock. Maize arose from a single domestication in Mesoamerica about 9,000 years ago. In these agricultural regions, religion
3127-436: Was also more efficient to transport malt than barley to the brewery, so many large breweries set up their own maltings near railways in the barley growing districts of eastern England. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, pneumatic malting was introduced, in which the barley is aerated and the temperature carefully controlled, accelerating the germination. Large malting floors were no longer necessary, but power consumption
3186-488: Was designed for a high performance process. The inventor Charles Saladin was a French engineer. The barley is soaked for an hour to remove swimming barley. This is followed by two hours of soaking to remove attached particles and dust. The next step is a prewashing by water circulation for 30 minutes followed by washing with fresh water and removing the overfall. A dry soak with CO 2 exhaustion during 4 hours follows. Several dry and wet soaking steps are to follow. The last step
3245-493: Was high, so floor malting held on well into the twentieth century. Only a handful of traditional malting floors are still in use. All the following are Grade II* listed buildings, unless otherwise noted. The malt tax was introduced in Britain in 1697, and was repealed in 1880. The rate for malted barley was 6d. per bushel in 1697 and had risen to 2s. 7d. in 1834. In 1789 the malt tax raised £ million, 11.5% of all taxes. In 1802
3304-670: Was made in China some 9,000 years ago. Cereals and their related byproducts such as hay are routinely fed to farm animals . Common cereals as animal food include maize, barley, wheat, and oats. Moist grains may be treated chemically or made into silage ; mechanically flattened or crimped, and kept in airtight storage until used; or stored dry with a moisture content of less than 14%. Commercially, grains are often combined with other materials and formed into feed pellets. As whole grains , cereals provide carbohydrates , polyunsaturated fats , protein , vitamins , and minerals . When processed by
3363-490: Was often shaped by the divinity associated with the grain and harvests. In the Mesopotamian creation myth, an era of civilization is inaugurated by the grain goddess Ashnan . The Roman goddess Ceres presided over agriculture, grain crops, fertility, and motherhood; the term cereal is derived from Latin cerealis , "of grain", originally meaning "of [the goddess] Ceres". Several gods of antiquity combined agriculture and war:
3422-410: Was then moved into the kiln, 4–6 inches (10–15 cm), for between two and four days, depending on whether a light or dark malt was required. A slow fire was used to start, and then gradually raised to suit the purpose of the malt and the desired colour. The barley was then sieved to remove the shoots and stored for a few months to develop flavour. The Saladin system of mechanical and pneumatic malting
3481-408: Was turned at intervals to achieve even growth and over the next fourteen days or so it is turned and moved towards the kiln . The temperature was also controlled by ventilation. A day or two after the grain was turned out on to the floor, an agreeable smell was given off, and roots soon began to appear. A day or so later the future stem began to swell, and the kernel became friable and sweet-tasting. As
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