Wheat

Pasta is undoubtedly the product that has made Italy famous all over the world and there is no doubt that it is the most typical and most important of all our national dishes.
The vast pasta industry has a responsibility that is absolutely irreplaceable; it has the job of providing healthy nutrition at a low cost.
Pasta can be classified into two categories: plain durum wheat pasta and durum wheat egg pasta.
So the basic ingredient in pasta is wheat. Wheat or grain is the most important cereal crop in the world.
Ground into flour, it is the basic element in all bread making and pasta preparation. So what exactly is wheat? Wheat is a spontaneous cereal grass. It was first cultivated probably in Asia and Africa.
The Egyptians, for example, cultivated wheat thousands of years ago in Mesopotamia, the birthplace of one of our most ancient civilizations, but the Egyptians were certainly not the first to make use of the plant.
Some historians even claim that the plant was first cultivated as many as 17.000 years ago.






In the long history of mankind, the cultivation of cereals has always gone hand in hand with the move from a nomadic way of life to a more sedentary form of existence, based mainly on an agricultural economy.
For an incredibly long period of time then, wheat has been the nutritional basis of the diets of a vast number of peoples, from all over the world, including Europe.
Wheat continues to be the most widely used cereal in the world. This is partly due to the fact that the grains contain an ideal proportion of gluten for leavening and bread making and partly because no other cereal lends itself so perfectly to so many different forms of preparation.

 

The different varieties

The autumn wheat variety is sown between October and November and the spring variety between February and March, in preferably deep, permeable, fertile earth.
Pollination takes place thanks to the wind.
The wind blows the grains of pollen onto the stigma where they fertilize the ovule and then form the seed.
There are a vast number of different species of wheat which come under the general botanical name of Triticum and in the food industry, these are generally reduced to two types: "durum wheat" and "soft wheat".
The first type is used mainly in the preparation of pasta, whereas the second is usually chosen for bread and cake making and for other oven products.
Soft wheat is the most widespread; the kernel (or the seed) has a vitreous quality and when broken open it is floury in the center and opaque around the edges.
A warm temperate climate is needed for this kind of grain and in Italy it is grown mainly in the central north.
In Italy, durum wheat is not as widespread as soft wheat.
It is cultivated mainly in the South as it needs a dry hot climate. It has a vitreous, translucent, ivory colored kernel and its gluten content is much richer than soft wheat.





On the other hand, approximately 89% of a grain of durum wheat and approximately 85% of a grain of soft wheat are made up of: "endosperm". This substance is lacking in vitamins and mineral salts, but is rich in carbohydrates (starch) and a mixture of proteins called gluten, a mixture of proteins that is able to hold up to 200% of its own weight in water.
When flour is turned into dough, this element allows the flour to absorb water, thus giving the dough its incredible elasticity. When the dough is cooked, the gluten releases the water which is absorbed by the starch, turning it into a gluey mixture.
The endosperm is the essential nutritive tissue of the kernel and plays a fundamental role in the formation of a new plant as this is what nourishes the wheat germ.
The structure

The structure of a grain of wheat can be divided into three main parts.
The grain is covered on the outside by a shell, a kind of protective membrane or: "outer layer". This represents the fibrous element (bran) of the grain and contains a considerable number of vitamins and mineral salts. This cannot be completely digested by the human body, as we are not able to transform or assimilate it totally.
Nevertheless, it plays an important role as it carries a number of nutritional substances.
The outer layer contains pericarp, integument and an aleuronic strata.
If the wheat is used in whole-grain flour these substances reach us in a pure state, but in more refined types of flour they are lost completely.
These substances constitute approximately 8% of a grain of durum wheat and approximately 12% of a grain of soft wheat.






The remaining 3% approximately of a grain of durum wheat and the 2,5% approximately of a grain of soft wheat are made up of the: "germ". This is the 'nucleus of new life', the part from which the new plant will grow.
This contains a large number of enzymes, two important proteins, vitamins, mineral salts and an oil (tocopherol) which is extremely rich in vitamin E.
A permeable strata separates the germ from the endosperm.
In the refining processes that accompany the production of white flour, this part of the grain, which is highly important, despite its size, is eliminated.
White flours are incidentally much easier to conserve than darker flours as the germ that is removed contains oils which can turn rancid in time.
In the average composition of the elements that make up a grain of wheat in the varieties discussed, starch can reach 70% of the total weight, lipids 4% and proteins 20%.
The composition

Wheat is often called "the vegetable egg".
In fact it contains all the necessary nutritional and vital elements for the body to function healthily, that is if whole or only partially refined grain is used.
When wheat is refined, as mentioned earlier, certain layers and parts of the grain are lost completely.
The up to date high level or roller grinding techniques used in modern mills utilize counter-running steel rollers to grind the grain into flour. These advanced methods which separate the kernel into its various components can now produce a vast range of different products including a number of different types of flour, semolina, bran, meal etc.
The separation of the kernel and the elimination of the various parts of the grain can be scaled according to the milling process used. The more the product is refined, the more it loses its natural qualities.
In the case of flour, for example, when the degree of flour yield is decreased (the flour yield percentage is measured in relation to a given quantity of grain, hence the yield drops as the level of refinement rises) the starch percentage level rises and the protein, lipid and mineral salt levels drop.
White flour certainly has a high energy value, given the large quantity of starch that it contains, but its nutritional value is poor.
In fact, it keeps most of the endosperm, but only a small part of the other elements that make up the grain. In 0 and 00 types of flour, in particular, the outer layer (bran) and the wheat germ are usually eliminated completely.

 

 
Whole-grain and organic products

We have already mentioned that it is interesting to note that, in recent years, together with a growing interest for whole-grain foodstuffs, there has also been a sharp increase in products - especially bread and pasta - that are sold incorrectly as whole food products.
These products are a complete aberration resulting from a widespread lack of information and in many cases from pure speculation.
Often what is simply reintegrated flour is passed off as whole-wheat flour and hence whole-grain bread and pasta. Reintegrated flour is nothing more than a mixture of refined white flour and bran. This is a feeble and ineffective attempt to reconstruct what has previously been destroyed.
This kind of flour is nothing like real whole-grain flour whatsoever, and if the consumer is attentive enough, it is easy to distinguish between the characteristic dotted aspect of the bran additives in reintegrated flour.
The bran in whole-grain flour gives it a uniform amber color, whereas reintegrated flour varies continually from light to dark brown. In addition to this, not only the refining processes, but also incorrect cultivation techniques have contributed to the poor quality of wheat and cereals in general. The exaggerated use of fertilizers, weed killers, fungicides and chemical pesticides have critically altered the organoleptic characteristics and the nutritional values.
As mentioned previously, only a diet based on products cultivated organically, products cultivated without the use of chemical substances, can restore to these, and all foodstuffs their original vigor.
In conclusion, it is important to remember that whole wheat grain and in particular germinated grain can relieve symptoms of asthenia, colitis, anemia and physical and mental fatigue.