GRAINS
Feeding the nation, born in the bush
Humans have been eating edible grain, today known as wheat, since about 9000 BCE and it was a key factor in the evolution of settlement based societies.
Today wheat is grown on more land (about 240 million hectares) than any other commercial food and supplies about 20% of humanity’s caloric intake.
In NSW, wheat is the second highest gross value of production earning $1964m in 2016.
WHAT ARE GRAINS?
A grain is a small, hard, dry seed, with or without an attached hull or fruit layer, harvested for human or animal consumption. Watch this video below of one of our teams taking you through the grain crop.
WHAT GRAINS DO YOU HAVE?
A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legumes. In your box you have been given a sample of each to look, smell, feel and taste.
The number on your container will indicate which type we will be exploring.
01
Here you have a type of cereal grain called ‘Oats’. There are a number of different types of true cereal grains, including oats, wheat, rice, corn, barley and rye.
Oats are the fourth largest grain crop produced in Australia. They are naturally rich in beta-glucan, which is a soluble fibre shown to improve blood glucose levels, decrease cholesterol levels and improve insulin response. You may have had some oats for breakfast this morning!
02
Barley is a hardy cereal grain that was originally native to Asia. Because of its lower gluten content, it is rarely used for bread. Barley is high in beta-glucan, which has given rise to its use in health-promoting food products.
A large proportion of the world’s barley supply is used make beer using malted barley, however, its uses can extend to flour, pearled for soups and flakes for cereal.
WHOLEGrAIN VS REFINED GRAIN
Oats almost never have their bran and germ removed in processing so most food products containing ‘oats’ as an ingredient contain wholegrain oats. But what is bran? What is germ? Take a super close look at your oats as your read through the below.
Select each “plus” button to reveal information about these grain layers.
WHOLEGrAIN
REFINED GRAIN
QUICK QUESTION
What is it?
A hardy cereal with coarse bristles extending from the ears, cultivated especially for use in brewing and stockfeed. What is it?
THAT’S RIGHT!
Barley is a hardy cereal with coarse bristles extending from the ears, cultivated especially for use in brewing and stockfeed.
Not quite
Not quite. Let’s give it another go!
NICE JOB!!
Congratulations! You’re one step closer to earning your next stamp!
Select the button below to continue our journey in Central Queensland.
Look at them closely, feel their texture, smell their scent, hear them shake in the container and taste them later in some porridge or apple crumble!
Look at them closely, feel their texture, smell their scent, hear them shake in the container and taste them later in some cereal or soup!