From Whole Kernel to Noodle: Ten Milled, Cracked and Shaped Starches

A wheat berry is the whole kernel with only the inedible husk removed, so bran, germ and endosperm are all still there. Soft wheat carries roughly six to nine percent protein and hard wheat ten to fourteen percent. This is the raw kernel from which whole wheat flour is milled, and the start of the path.

Crushing or cutting wheat berries into coarse fragments gives cracked wheat. It skips the parboiling, steaming and de-branning used for bulgur, so it stays raw and needs longer cooking. It is often confused with bulgur, but the two are made by different processes and cook differently.

Couscous shows a different way to shape wheat. Durum semolina is hand-rolled with water into tiny granules, dried and steamed several times in a two-part pot called a couscoussier. It is a staple of Maghrebi cuisine in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, and the page records its origin in the Maghreb.

Cornmeal is a coarse flour ground from dried maize, sold in coarse, medium and fine grinds. Steel-ground yellow meal has most of the husk and germ removed, while stone-ground meal keeps them. Soaking corn in limewater, called nixtamalization, leads to masa harina, and boiled cornmeal becomes polenta.

Grits are a porridge of coarsely ground dried corn, either plain maize meal or hominy, which is corn treated with an alkali. The page ties them to the cooking of the southern United States, most famously in shrimp and grits, and notes that some Italian American cooks used them in place of polenta.

Soy flour is made by grinding dried, roasted soybeans, most often after the natural oil has been removed. It is valued for its high protein compared with cereal flours and is used to supplement or replace wheat flour in baking. The step from grain to a pulse flour shows that milling is not limited to cereals.

Sago is a starch taken from the soft core of tropical palms, especially Metroxylon sagu, rather than from a grain. The pith is crushed and kneaded, then washed and strained to release the starch, and one mature palm yields 150 to 300 kilograms. It is eaten as linut in Sarawak and as papeda in Papua New Guinea and eastern Indonesia.

Egg noodles are made from a wheat flour dough enriched with egg, which gives them a yellow color and a firmer, more elastic chew than flour and water alone. The page notes both European uses such as buttered noodles and Chinese dishes such as lo mein, chow mein and wonton noodle soup.

Udon is a thick, chewy Japanese noodle made from wheat flour, water and salt. It is served hot in a dashi broth as kake udon, or chilled with a dipping sauce in warmer months. The Sanuki region of Kagawa Prefecture on Shikoku is especially famous for it, and the page records Japan as its origin.

The path ends with soba, a thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat flour, often blended with some wheat flour to help bind the dough. It is eaten hot in broth or chilled as zaru soba with a soy-based dipping sauce called tsuyu. The Shinshu region, now Nagano Prefecture, is associated with it because buckwheat grows well where rice does not.