Field To Flake: How Breakfast Cereal Is Made

[marmar]

from Civil Eats:



Field To Flake: How Breakfast Cereal Is Made

September 20th, 2011
By Vanessa Barrington


While sleepily shaking your cereal flakes into a bowl, and absently pouring the milk over them, have you ever stopped to think, just before taking a big, slurpy bite, “How is this stuff made?”

If you went ahead and took the time to find out, you’d be surprised to learn that no matter how healthy and natural the advertising on the packages makes those crunchy bits of wheat, oats, and corn seem, they are actually a highly processed food whose nutrient value is questionable.

But that wasn’t how it was supposed to be at all.

First marketed as a health food in the late 1800′s, by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg and his brother Will Keith, the original breakfast cereal consisted of unsweetened flakes made from wheat that had been baked, ground, and then mixed into a dough. The dough was then pressed between giant rollers and flaked off before being cooked again. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://civileats.com/2011/09/20/field-to-flake-how-breakfast-cereal-is-made/

[ReverendDeuce]

1. More from the everything-you-like-kills-you "holier than thou" brigade...

Everything I like is going to kill me, apparently, or kill the environment...

[marmar]

2. Information is "holier-than-thou"?

Dios mio.

[Cirque du So-What]

4. Pay no mind

I've got immeasurable respect for you and your efforts on this board.

[HappyMe]

3. I'm eating some Wheaties right now!

They are delish!


:9

[Pithlet]

10. You wouldn't rather have steal cut oats that have been sitting in a crock pot all night?

Reheated in a microwave? Mmm mmm!

[HappyMe]

11. Um...no.

Sorry, hell no. Not going to apologize for it either.


:D

[Pithlet]

12. I think someone from the breakfast cereal industry snuck that one in.

The rest aren't that great either. Hey, let's spend our weekends making bran muffins! Wooo! Really, there aren't more appealing options?

[dionysus]

14. right. i'm down with the hard boiled eggs tho. yum..

[demosincebirth]

5. Last night I broiled a nice juicy rib-eye, medium rare. I can still taste it.

[Javaman]

6. My GF and I buy whole grain...

Unprocessed and soak it overnight in water and with a table spoon of yogurt.

We then strain it.

We then cook it on the stove until the remaining water is evaporated.

We then jar it and use it as cereal for the next several days.

Been doing this for a very long time. It's a traditional recipe for cereal. Millet, in my opinion is the best tasting.

This is how we all ate before the advent of corporate cereals.

[HappyMe]

7. Here's the thing.

I'm not being snarky about the info you posted.

I like Wheaties, Rice Krispies (slice up a banana on top), Wheat Chex, Corn Flakes. I'm going to keep eating them.

[Township75]

8. Interesting piece from the article:

"Leaving aside the long list of added sugars and additives that appear in the ingredient list of your daily Froot Loop or Frosted Flakes, the actual process of making the cereal robs the grains of their inherent nutrients. With most of the outer layers of the grain removed during processing and with cooking temperatures as high as 250 to 300 degrees F, it’s hard to imagine that much nutrition remains in this food so many of us eat as “our most important meal of the day.”

First off, I don't eat cereals filled up with sugars and additives (except vitamins and nutrients). Secondly, what the F is up with "it's hard to imagine that...". Why do you have to imagine? Why can't you measure? Isn't that what nutritional information on the side of the box does? Why do you have to use your imagination instead of using science?

[izquierdista]

9. Hmmm, I detect a feedlot odor.....

With most of the outer layers of the grain removed during processing and with cooking temperatures as high as 250 to 300 degrees F, it’s hard to imagine that much nutrition remains in this food so many of us eat as “our most important meal of the day".

I imagine that describes almost any cooked item, from bread to cookies to crackers to pancakes to biscuits.

[pink-o]

13. If we're citing foods marketed as healthy, but really aren't...

We should include fruit juice on that list. Talk about processed and dead! The only way you can get any nutrients from fruit juice is if you juice it yourself and drink it immediately--and even then, you're missing the fibre and the whole experience.

It just makes me scream to see juice marketed to kids as a healthy alternative to Coca Cola or punch. By the time the kids opens his sippy box, that stuff is pure sugar water. Give the poor kid an organic orange and do him a favor!

PS: the one exception is tomato juice. Tomatoes are actually more nutritious once they're processed, because they contain lycopene which activates when you cook it. However, V8 is so loaded with sodium, you're probably better just eating the raw tomato--if you can find one with any flavor anymore! (I just go for the homemade salsa on egg whites. Yum!)

[cally]

15. I'm going to make the granola and bran muffins

as soon as the seasons change. I love honey nut cherios but I rarely eat them except as a treat. I would rather eat a muffin I can take with me that I know what's in it.