TY - JOUR T1 - Wheat into Flour: A Story of Milling JF - Gastronomica: The Journal of Critical Food Studies SP - 84 LP - 92 DO - 10.1525/gfc.2006.6.1.84 VL - 6 IS - 1 AU - gage, fran Y1 - 2006/02/01 UR - http://gcfs.ucpress.edu/content/6/1/84.abstract N2 - This article chronicles the milling of wheat beginning with its cultivation about ten thousand years ago. It describes the milling of the grain, starting with primitive hand tools, progressing to larger mills, then the use of animal power to turn milling stones. Changes in the design of the mills made them more efficient. Using flowing water to turn the millstone greatly increased output; people without access to flowing water devised mills turned by the wind. As wheat became a more important crop, an automated system, using elevators and gravity chutes, made it possible to mill even more grain. Technological advances led to changes——rollers replaced stones, steam replaced water, and electricity eventually replaced steam as the mill's energy source. Modern mills employ sophisticated machinery in an attempt to extract as much flour from the wheat kernels as possible. ER -