Milling fresh whole grains - Tip 1

Here are some hints to milling and cooking with fresh whole grains.

Tip #1 - "You do WHAT? Why bother?" - Part One

Alright, I will be the first to say, I was not raised to be a domestic person. When I first heard of milling grain at home I thought it seemed time consuming, a big mess, and a far fetched idea. It didn't take me long to note how wrong I was.

One tip to answering those questions of 'You do what?' and 'Why bother?' is to understand the two greatest benefits of milling at home. First are the health benefits and second are the storage/cost effect benefits. the health reasons.

Grains are processed into flour for shelf storage, however, most of the 'parts' of the grain are removed to slow spoilage time. When those things are taken away, the flour is stripped of the Wheat Bran, Middlings, Wheat Germ and Wheat Germ oil. As we skim that list, we see at least three things that are now sold in health food stores across the globe. The Bran and Middlings give the fiber (and more), the Germ and oil give the vitamin E (and more), two things missing in the usual diet of the twentieth century.

Worse than what is absent, may also be what is added to the bagged flour. To make the widely used white appearance of flour, the first process used by manufacturers was in fact chlorine bleach! Although new chemicals and processes have now been approved, chemicals of any kind were not ever intended to be IN the grain itself. The list of what was stripped from the now fluffy flour is so long that manufacturers now feel the need to 'enrich' it with synthetic vitamins. Synthetic vitamins are just that - synthesized, not natural. Why add a 'fake' vitamin for a natural one that was taken away in processing? Enough said.

Check back for part two of this tip tomorrow! :)

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