The Flour Milling Industry: Historical Development

The milling of flour from grain has its origins in the early history of all major civilizations. It is generally regarded as the oldest known industry. The basic milling technique was to grind the grain between two stone surfaces. This enabled the tough fibrous bran skin to be separated from the endosperm, which then was ground into a fine powder. This method, utilizing saddle stones or pestles and mortars, appears to have developed independently in a number of areas around the world.

The progression from these simple implements to rotary stone mills occurred in Europe, the Middle East, Central Asia and the Far East. The size of the mill stones increased in the Middle Ages as animal, water and wind power was harnessed.

White flour as we know it today was first produced in Hungary and Germany in the 18th century. It became so popular that the exported product sold in Europe for up to ten times the value of unrefined wholemeal. White flour was manufactured by arranging a number of stone mills to form a series of grinding passages. The grinding severity of each passage was adjusted so that the grain was broken down progressively, and in this way the separation of bran skin from endosperm was enhanced. Primitive purifiers were introduced in 1810 to remove bran from intermediate stocks, and the remaining material, which had a high endosperm content, was ground into white flour on additional stone mills. The process was referred to as the 'Gradual Reduction System of Milling'.

III. Insert the appropriate word and translate the sentences.

1. Primitive … were introduced in 1810.

2. … flour was manufactured by stone mills.

3. The tough … bran skin should be separated from the endosperm.

4. Primitive purifiers removed bran from … stocks.

5. White … was first produced in Germany.

6. The size of the mill stones … in the Middle Ages.

IV. Answer the questions.

1. What is the basic milling technique?

2. Why was the size of the mill stones increased?

3. When and where was white flour produced for the first time?

4. What was the arrangement of the mills?

5. What did primitive purifiers do?

Text 6

<== попередня сторінка	\|	наступна сторінка ==>
Raw Materials for Making Flour	\|	Homogenizing

Не знайшли потрібну інформацію? Скористайтесь пошуком google:

Генерація сторінки за: 0.016 сек.