Building a more sustainable and resilient grain processing sector focusing on underutilized grains and innovative processing”
Researcher – Dr. Iris Joye
University of Guelph
The prominent role of wheat and corn in diets and calorie intake around the world (and in Canada) has highlighted the uneasy almost-exclusive dependence on these crops and the high strain this puts on wheat/corn producers and processors, both at current and for the foreseeable future. Sustainable alternatives to these two cereals already grow in Canada and should be investigated with more rigor to diversify the current market, build resilience and create more value for local growers and processors.
The overall vision of this project developed in partnership with the Ontario Cereal Industry Research Council (OCIRC) is to strengthen and consolidate the pseudo cereals buckwheat and quinoa, and the cereals millet and white sorghum as highly functional alternatives for classical cereals through innovative processing such as:
(i)fermentation,
(ii) sprouting and
(iii) physical processing technologies and thereby to create a more diverse pallet of grains and grain-derived ingredients that can be used by the industry partners to produce healthy, nutritional and high quality products.
The insights gained will be presented by the University researchers at a variety of international, national, and regional events. The project partners and stakeholders attending events will be given tools to prepare for upcoming challenges and employ the gained results in their day-to-day practices to create more revenue and build resilience. Our project team is currently uniquely equipped with expertise on this topic that will not only provide unique all-around training and networking opportunities to the HQP on this project, but also ensure the successful completion of this project.
Water absorption behavior of wheat kernels: A mathematical modeling and a synchrotron-based X-ray micro- computed tomography approach
Abstract
Understanding the kinetics of water absorption in wheat kernels is important from both processing and engineering perspectives. It is crucial to understand how the compositional and structural properties of the kernel influence water absorption and, in turn, processes such as tempering and pre-sprouting soaking. Thirty wheat varieties were classified into two clusters based on kernel characteristics including hardness, protein content, ash content, and size (width). The kernels were soaked in water for 8 h, and their moisture content was measured at fixed intervals. The data were fitted to the Peleg model, and the model parameters were calculated. The adjusted R² values, ranging from 0.991 to 0.999, demonstrated the model’s suitability for describing the water absorption behavior of wheat kernels. Mathematical models were, then, developed to link the water absorption parameters to kernel characteristics. Models were defined using pairs of the four kernel characteristics, with each model based on two attributes at a time. This approach resulted in a total of six unique two-attribute interactions for each cluster and the full wheat sample set. The results showed that the linear models outperformed quadratic ones. Additionally, µCT scans offered further understanding of the water absorption behavior and confirmed that kernel volume increased as a function of soaking time, with the germ tissue swelling faster than the endosperm. Providing new insights into the modeling of water absorption in wheat kernels, the models developed in this study help pave the way for creating an effective evaluation tool to determine tempering and soaking conditions based on kernel compositional and structural characteristics.