Cereal is a food made from such cereal grains as wheat, oats, corn, rice, barley, and buckwheat. The main types of breakfast cereals are ready-to-eat and hot. Both are usually served with milk or cream. The word cereal also refers to the grain crops from which breakfast cereals are made. For information about these crops, see Grain.
Ready-to-eat breakfast cereals require no cooking and are more popular than hot cereals. Manufacturers use a variety of processes, including grinding and rolling, to form the grains into flakes, puffs, and other shapes. Sugar or another sweetener is added to some cereals.
Some ready-to-eat cereals contain no artificial substances, such as colorings or preservatives. Most of these natural cereals consist of oats and wheat and may be mixed with honey, nuts, dried fruit, or other ingredients.
Most hot cereals are made of oats or wheat. They are manufactured in three main forms—regular, quick-cooking, and instant. Manufacturers make regular hot cereals by steaming the oats or wheat and then rolling the grains into flakes. Wheat grains may also be prepared by exploding them in moist heat. Regular hot cereals take about 15 minutes to prepare at home. The grains for quick-cooking cereals are precooked or are exploded in a vacuum. Such cereals take 3 minutes or less to cook. Instant hot cereals require only the addition of hot water. They are made of grain that has been cut into pieces and pressed into thin flakes.
Hot cereals and whole-grain ready-to-eat cereals are made from all parts of the grain, and so they keep their natural nourishing qualities. But many ready-to-eat cereals are made from only parts of the grain. These cereals lose some of their nutrients during their manufacture. In the 1940’s, manufacturers began to restore to cereals such important nutrients as iron and the B vitamins niacin and thiamine. Such restored cereals contain about the same amount of nutrients as does the whole grain.
Today, manufacturers fortify many ready-to-eat cereals with extra nutrients. Fortified cereals are sprayed with synthetic nutrients, including vitamins A, B-6, C, niacin, riboflavin, and thiamine. Some cereals, called high-protein cereals, are strengthened with such high-protein foods as soy flour and sesame.
Breakfast cereals consist largely of energy-producing carbohydrates and may contain from 5 to 25 percent protein, depending on the ingredients. Adding milk or cream to a cereal provides calcium, protein, vitamins, and other nutrients. Fortified cereals contain significant amounts of vitamins and iron. Cereals that contain bran provide fiber, a natural laxative.
