WHOLE GRAINS MONTH

Throughout September, Whole Grains Month promotes the benefits and flavors of whole grains in a healthy diet.

Whole grains include the entire seed of a plant. A grain seed is composed of three parts.

  • Bran – The outer shell of a seed or kernel is hard and contains important minerals, antioxidants, and fiber.
  • Endosperm – The next layer of a seed or kernel (or the middle layer) contains most of the carbohydrates found in grains.
  • Germ – The center layer provides vitamins, minerals, and necessary protein.

Whole grains are a vital part of a healthy diet. Not only do whole grains help reduce heart disease and diabetes, but it also helps improve bowel health. Maintaining a regular bowel movement is at the top of everyone’s list! (Yes, we went there.)

Adding whole grains to your meals is easier than many people think it is. These whole grains can be added to every meal with ease.

A few kinds of whole grains to start incorporating in your diet include:

Whole Grain Month also promotes recipes and shopping tips all month long.

WHOLE GRAIN MONTH HISTORY

The Whole Grains Council has been promoting Whole Grain Month since 2006. Their mission is to share the importance of whole grains and how to incorporate them into a healthy diet.

HOW TO OBSERVE #WholeGrainMonth

Add whole grains to your meals throughout September! Try these delicious ways to incorporate whole grains:

  • Add granola to your yogurt.
  • Switch to 100% whole grain bread – this includes 100% whole wheat breads.
  • Replace refined pasta with whole-grain versions.
  • Replace refined pasta with whole grain rice.
  • Add quinoa to your smoothie.
  • Enjoy a bowl of air-popped popcorn.
  • Switch to whole-grain tortillas.
  • Add whole grains to your baking. Replace a portion of a recipe that calls for all-purpose flour with a whole-grain version.

After a month of adding whole grains to your diet, check-in with your body and see how you feel. Use #WholeGrainsMonth to share your favorite ways to cook with whole grains.

NATIONAL CORN ON THE COB DAY

June 11 of each year is the day to celebrate National Corn on the Cob Day.  Fresh corn on the cob is a summertime treat that people from all corners of the United States look forward to as we start the picnic season.

Corn on the cob is also known in different regions as pole corn, cornstick, sweet pole, butter-pop or long maize.   It is a sweet corn that is picked when the kernels are still tender when it’s in its milk stage.

Boiling, steaming, roasting or grilling are the most common ways of preparing corn on the cob.   If it is grilled or oven roasted, the corn is usually left in its husk during the cooking process.

Proper dinner etiquette for eating corn says it is appropriate to hold the cob at each end with your fingers. 

HOW TO OBSERVE

Get the butter and the salt shaker ready, gather up some friends, start your grill and enjoy some corn on the cob! For those with hankering for corn off the cob, use #CornOnTheCobDay on social media and tell the world!

WORLD FLOUR DAY

On March 20th, World Flour Day recognizes the importance of flour in our daily diets and our health. In every part of the world, products made from flour provide daily sustenance for billions of people.

Flour is the main ingredient in delicious foods like pasta, cakes, pastries, bread, and biscuits. For thousands of years, humans have consumed grains ground into flour. Ancient humans gathered the oat kernels growing wild around them. Using a stone tool much like a pestle, they crushed the kernels into a coarse flour.

Today, we continue to enjoy many varieties of domesticated grains. In the Northern Hemisphere, many farms prepare to plant these grain crops around March 20th. The earth is warming and ready to grow. In the Southern Hemisphere, autumn has arrived. The grains have ripened, and harvest is beginning.

The day honors the farmers and millers, shippers and truckers, processors and bakers who bring the white gold to our tables. It’s a day for gratitude, and one of hope as the seeds are sown, and harvests are reaped.

WORLD FLOUR DAY HISTORY

The Flour World Museum founded World Flour Day on March 20th in 2019 to celebrate the global significance of flour in our daily lives.

About the Flour World Museum

The Flour World Museum in Wittenburg near Hamburg, Germany, has set itself the goal of creating a monument to flour in all its globe-spanning significance. After all, some 750 million tonnes of wheat flour are harvested each year and turned into a wide variety of foods.

Explore More…

HOW TO OBSERVE #WorldFlourDay

  • Invite a friend for a meal made with flour. A whole-grain sandwich or a sweet pastry sounds delicious.
  • Don an apron and bake up some cookies; deliver them to your favorite farmer or co-worker.
  • Try a new recipe while you’re at it.
  • Learn about varieties of flour and try baking with one you’ve never used.
  • Practice making a rue. One of the key ingredients is flour, and it makes some of the most amazing sauces and soups.
  • What’s your favorite flour product? Tell us using #WorldFlourDay and share on social media.

NATIONAL CEREAL DAY

March 7th urges us to get our bowl spoon ready for National Cereal Day each year! Since the end of the 19th century, cereal has become America’s most popular breakfast food.

Now, not only is cereal eaten for breakfast, but it has become a popular bedtime snack. Some people even enjoy a bowl for an evening meal. Bakers turn to cereal in their cake, cookie and bar recipes. The most popular one is Rice Crispy Bar Treats.

A Little Cereal History:

Ferdinand Schumacher, a German immigrant, began the cereal revolution in 1854 with a hand oats grinder in the back room of a small store in Akron, Ohio. His German Mills American Oatmeal Company was the nation’s first commercial oatmeal manufacturer.  In 1877, Schumacher adopted the Quaker symbol, the first registered trademark for a breakfast cereal.

Granula, the first breakfast cereal, was invented in the United States in 1863by James Caleb Jackson, operator of Our Home on the Hillside, which was later replaced by the Jackson Sanatorium in Dansville, New York.  The cereal never became popular since it was inconvenient as the heavy bran nuggets needed soaking overnight before they were tender enough to eat.

Do you remember mornings eating a bowl of cereal, reading the back of the box and trying to find the toy inside the box?

The cereal industry rose from a combination of sincere religious beliefs and commercial interest in health foods. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg experimented with granola.  He boiled some wheat, rolled it into thin films, and baked the resulting flakes in the oven; he acquired a patent in 1891.  In1895 he launched Cornflakes, which overnight captured a national market.

In 1906, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg’s brother, William K. Kellogg, after working for John, broke away, bought the corn flakes rights from his brother, and set up the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company.  His signature on every package became the company trademark and insurance of quality.

Charles W. Post introduced Grape-nuts in 1898 and soon followed with Post Toasties.

Because of Kellogg and Post, the city of Battle Creek, Michigan is nicknamed the “Cereal Capital of the World.”

More Breakfast ideas….

HOW TO OBSERVE #NationalCerealDay

What’s your favorite cereal? Have a bowl for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Share it as a snack or bake something and share your recipes. Use #NationalCerealDay to post on social media.

National Flour Month

National Flour Month in March is a time to recognize the versatility of this ground staple kitchen item. Grab your apron and start celebrating!

It’s been thousands of years since humans learned they could mill wheat seed between stones into flour. While wheat is the most common variety of flour, corn, peas, potatoes, nuts, and other grains are also used to produce flour, too.

We use flour to make baked goods, pasta, crackers, pastries, and sauces. As a key ingredient in many recipes, flour fills canisters in a well-stocked kitchen.

A loaf of homemade bread would fill the home with an aroma of yeasty goodness in the middle of March. However, flour doesn’t limit us to bread baking. Perhaps we thicken a stew with freshly made noodles and wrap up the day with piping hot pie. Whatever we decide, we know with the right ingredients and the right amount of flour everything will be delicious.

Explore More…

HOW TO OBSERVE

Select your favorite recipe and start baking. Use #NationalFlourMonth to share on social media.