History of grains: Part 1

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Backgrounder

This backgrounder covers:

• Invention of farming
• First crops
• Primitive or ancient grains
• Bread-making history
• Bannock in Canadian history

Invention of farming

Pre-historic man was a hunter-gatherer.  Later, the practice of farming—the activity of planting crops for food—replaced gathering. Experts guess that the first farms occurred at least 7,000, maybe even 10,000 years ago, but the actual date is unknown since no written record exists. Farming pre-dates the invention of writing.

For our ancestors farming had many advantages:

√   More people could be fed.
√   Harvesting a planted crop was more predictable that gathering food from the wild.
√   Farming provided a way to make money.
√   Farming meant that not all members of  the community were engaged in feeding people; others were free to pursue additional activities to support the community.

Early farming was small-scale and localized, with every task being performed by hand.  Today modern agricultural operations in developed countries are high-tech, large-scale and complex.  Evidence from archaeology (the study of the lives of ancient people) tells us that early farming began in Southwest Asia, then spread to Europe and Africa.  In the late 15th and 16th centuries, wheat farming arrived in the New World.

First Crops

First crops were most likely wheat, rye and barley, all members of the GRASS family.  These grasses are referred to as cereal grains and are grown for their edible seeds.

Our ancestors learned that wheat tolerates harsh environments and offers versatility in cooking. Wheat was an important crop then and remains so today.  Wheat is a staple food worldwide.   Wheat, along with rice and corn, feeds most of the world’s population.

Canada’s climate is ideally suited for growing wheat.  This explains why Canada is one of the largest exporters of wheat.

Records show that wheat was grown in Nova Scotia as early as the 1600’s, made its debut in Quebec in the 1700’s and arrived in Ontario in the 1800’s.  Saskatchewan’s first wheat crop was planted in 1792 and today Canada’s prairie provinces are the major wheat producers. Saskatchewan alone produces 48% of Canada’s wheat.
 

Primitive or ancient grains

Many varieties of wheat are grown today but modern wheat can be
traced to these three ancient grains:

• Einkorn   • Emmer   • Spelt

All three are considered “covered wheat” meaning that a strong husk encloses the grain.  It takes force to separate the husk from the grain.  Before machines were invented, an agricultural tool called the flail was used to split the wheat seed from the husk.  Today, threshing—the term for separating seeds from husks—is performed by a machine called a combine harvester which is known simply as the combine (see pictures).

Einkorn was one of the first wheat crops that ancient people planted.  Today it is still produced in isolated areas of southern Europe and India where its predominate use is in animal feed
or in bulgur.  Bulgur is made from wheat kernels that have been cooked, dried and cracked.

Emmer evolved from einkorn.  Emmer has small grains and initially was eaten as porridge by ancient Egyptians.  Emmer grows in the wild but a form of emmer can also be planted or cultivated.  Modern wheat has replaced much of the emmer farming in most countries but emmer is still grown in Ethiopia and mountainous regions of Europe and Asia.

Spelt has a long history of use, yet its origins are rather vague. Spelt has found a strong foothold in the modern health food movement and remains a major cereal crop in isolated regions of southeastern Europe, as well as in some parts of the United States.
 

 

Bread-making history

After ancient societies started farming they began developing tools to process the harvested crops and ways to cook the grains.  The first bread was a type of flat bread.  It consisted of grain crushed by hand, mixed with water, then laid on heated stones and covered with hot ashes.

Bread provided the community with a nutritious food that could be stored and eaten later …a desirable feature that helped in civilization survival.

This first bread dates back to Neolithic times (New Stone Age) which began around 10000 to 8000 BC. A little later around 5000 BC the Egyptians began experimenting with adding yeasts which made the dough rise.  Leavened dough created bread that was lighter yet bigger.

The grains used in early breads varied and included wheat, rye, corn, oats, barley and spelt, to name
a few. In the 1700’s, wheat began to surpass the other grains as the grain of choice for bread-making. The secret to wheat’s superior bread-making ability was gluten.

Gluten is the protein in wheat that gives bread its volume and structure. Unlike other grain breads, which are great in combination with wheat, wheat is a star on its own.
 

Bannock in Canadian history

A  bread with a long history among Canada’s First Nations’ people is bannock, an unleavened water-flour mixture.  Many different recipes exist and many different methods are used to cook bannock—oven, open fire, frying pan.  Bannock, was also cooked in pioneer days over open fires.  Not only does bannock remain a favourite food of Aboriginal people, the ease of cooking and the variety of dried or fresh fruit that can be added to this bread makes it a popular choice of Canadian campers.

 

Companion activities/Resources:

√  History of grains word search

√  Baking Bannock Bread

Websites worth checking out:

√   Federation of Bakers (United Kingdom)
www.bakersfederation.org.uk/history_of_bread.aspx

√   Early Days—Homesteaders
www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/intro.html

√  Grain-they’re essential! Program
www.grainsessential.ca

Baking Association of Canada
7895 Tranmere Dr, Ste 202 Mississauga, ON L5S 1V9
Tel: 905-405-0288, Toll Free in Canada & USA
1-888-674-BAKE (2253) Fax: 905-405-0993
E-Mail: info@baking.ca
www.GrainsEssential.ca

OCTOBER, 2006

Program funded by members of the Baking Association of Canada,
The Canadian Wheat Board and the Canadian Pasta Manufacturers Association