Grains

Prized for their nutritional value and long shelf life, grains, edible seeds of cereal plants, are our most important food crop. Grains, as part of the human diet, had their humble beginnings with the onset of agriculture about 10,000 years ago. Growing human settlements put greater stress on natural resources, causing people to look for alternative food sources. In an effort to overcome the limited appeal of these hard and mostly indigestible raw seeds, our ancestors had to come up with ways to make them more attractive. After learning to remove the inedible husk, distinct preparation methods were devised, including milling, sprouting, parching, fermenting, baking, and simply cooking in liquid. Over time, the several thousand different species of edible grains available to us have dwindled down to only a few varieties of international importance. Today’s most common grains are corn, rice, wheat, barley, sorghum, millet, oat, and rye. Others, of mostly regional or nutritional significance, include buckwheat, quinoa, teff, and amaranth.