What does “whole grain” mean?

Written on 12 August 2022. Posted in Insights.

We have recently finished the harvesting of the organic grains.

Over the next few months, most will be ground in the slow-turning natural stone mill to produce organic flours and semolina, and from these also pasta, bread and baked goods.

Many of these products will be whole grain.

But what does it mean to eat whole grain products?

A common definition of “whole grain” is that the flour is composed of the cereal grain (caryopsis), in all its parts:

The outer shell, i.e., the bran
The endosperm, or the “pulp”
The embryo, or the germ of the grain

thus ensuring the presence of all the nutrients contained in the different parts of the grain.

The refined flours⁽¹⁾ are much richer in starch, poorer in bran, and devoid of germ: with the milling Industrial milling produces a flour that is more suitable for some pastry processing and long storage, but it also produces flours that are poor in protein and deprived of important nutrients.

That’s not all: refined flours can be used to produce a fake whole grain, by the simple addition of bran or some wording in the packaging, such as “rich in fiber.”
But such a flour is not as healthy and nutritious as a whole grain flour.

How to recognize a fake whole grain?
To recognize a fake whole grain flour the ingredients must be read carefully: usually if there are statements such as “0 flour,” “00 flour,” or “bran,” it is not a whole grain flour.

What are the benefits of the regular consumption of wholegrain foods?

Plenty of benefits, both from a nutritional and wholesome point of view.

Besides having greater satiating power and being more effective in weight management, they assist intestinal functions, regulate blood sugar. In addition, their consumption is associated with a lower risk of chronic degenerative diseases ⁽²⁾ such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some forms of cancer ⁽³⁾.

Then there is the added value of the food produced by Capoccia Bio:

It is organic, thus free of the risk of ingesting the chemicals used in traditional agriculture.
The flours are stone milled by slow rotation, a milling process that ensures a more even distribution of nutrients in the flours, which consequently acquire a higher wholesome value.

In our shop you can find cereals, organic whole grain flours, organic semi whole grain pasta.

And in our stores we also have whole grain cookies and bread.

All you have to do now is to try them.

References:

biological, Flour, whole grain