Wheat is one of the most important crops because it has thousands of varieties. Common wheat is used to make bread, durum wheat is used to make pasta, and club wheat is used for cakes, cookies, crackers, and flours. The crop isn’t only used for cooking/baking, it is also used for the production of starch, malt, paste, dextrose, alcohol, gluten, and many other products.
Because wheat is healthiest growing in cool, dry weather crops are generally grown between the months of October to December in South Asian nations and from March-May in North America. Over the last three decades, the U.S. and Canada have been experimenting with winter wheat planted in the fall months of August-September and harvested before spring.
🔷 STRUCTURE OF WHEAT FLOWER –
The wheat flower does not have petals or sepals. Each female flower consists of an ovary from which two styles emerge ending with two feathery stigmas each. The male flowers have three stamens that are generally gold or green in color. Wheat generally self-pollinates.
🔷 WHEAT GOES BACK TO THE CRADLE OF CIVILIZATION –
Wheat was one of the first cultivated grains, which allowed our human ancestors to build cities and develop modern civilization. Wheat is the foundation of many wholesome, healthful products enjoyed across the globe, and has been for thousands of years.
🔷 WHEAT PROVIDES ENERGY –
The complex carbohydrates found in bread and other foods made from wheat provide fuel the human body needs. Carbohydrates are the body’s preferred fuel source.
🔷 WHEAT FLOUR IS A VEHICLE FOR VITAMINS AND MINERALS AND AN IMPORTANT SOURCE OF CARBOHYDRATES, FIBER, MAGNESIUM, B VITAMINS, FOLIC ACID, ANTIOXIDANTS AND PHYTOCHEMICALS –
These nutrients contribute positively to health and can help prevent many of the chronic diseases plaguing the world today, such as heart disease, diabetes, some cancers and neural tube birth defects.
🔷 THE AVERAGE, HEALTHY ADULT SHOULD CONSUME SIX ONE – OUNCE SERVINGS OF GRAIN FOODS EACH DAY. APPROXIMATELY THREE-QUARTERS OF ALL U.S. GRAIN PRODUCTS ARE MADE FROM WHEAT FLOUR.
🔷 WHEAT PROVIDES APPROXIMATELY 20% OF THE PROTEIN FOR MORE THAN HALF OF THE WORLD’S POPULATION –
Wheat is the basis of important staple foods in both developing and developed nations across the globe. As a food group, grains provide Americans more than half their daily intake of iron, thiamin and folate, nutrients essential for energy and good health.
🔷 PEOPLE DON’T GET CELIAC DISEASE SIMPLY BECAUSE THEY EAT WHEAT –
There are a number of theories to explain the increased rates of celiac disease and gluten sensitivity. Researchers are learning more each day but the fact remains that you must have a specific gene to develop celiac disease.