Salt
Salt is a mineral composed of sodium chloride, a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts. Salt is present in vast quantities in seawater; the open ocean has about 35 grams of solids per liter of sea water, a salinity of 3.5%. Salt is essential for life in general, saltiness is one of the basic human tastes. Salt is one of the oldest and most ubiquitous food seasonings, salting is an important method of food preservation; some of the earliest evidence of salt processing dates to around 6,000 BC, when people living in the area of present-day Romania boiled spring water to extract salts. Salt was prized by the ancient Hebrews, the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Hittites and the Indians. Salt became an important article of trade and was transported by boat across the Mediterranean Sea, along specially built salt roads, across the Sahara on camel caravans; the scarcity and universal need for salt have led nations to go to war over it and use it to raise tax revenues. Salt has other cultural and traditional significance.
Salt is processed from salt mines, by the evaporation of seawater and mineral-rich spring water in shallow pools. Its major industrial products are caustic chlorine. Of the annual global production of around two hundred million tonnes of salt, about 6% is used for human consumption. Other uses include water conditioning processes, de-icing highways, agricultural use. Edible salt is sold in forms such as sea salt and table salt which contains an anti-caking agent and may be iodised to prevent iodine deficiency; as well as its use in cooking and at the table, salt is present in many processed foods. Sodium is an essential nutrient for human health via its role as an osmotic solute. Excessive salt consumption may increase the risk of cardiovascular diseases, such as hypertension, in children and adults; such health effects of salt have long been studied. Accordingly, numerous world health associations and experts in developed countries recommend reducing consumption of popular salty foods; the World Health Organization recommends that adults should consume less than 2,000 mg of sodium, equivalent to 5 grams of salt per day.
All through history, the availability of salt has been pivotal to civilization. What is now thought to have been the first city in Europe is Solnitsata, in Bulgaria, a salt mine, providing the area now known as the Balkans with salt since 5400 BC; the name Solnitsata means "salt works". While people have used canning and artificial refrigeration to preserve food for the last hundred years or so, salt has been the best-known food preservative for meat, for many thousands of years. A ancient salt-works operation has been discovered at the Poiana Slatinei archaeological site next to a salt spring in Lunca, Neamț County, Romania. Evidence indicates that Neolithic people of the Precucuteni Culture were boiling the salt-laden spring water through the process of briquetage to extract the salt as far back as 6050 BC; the salt extracted from this operation may have had a direct correlation to the rapid growth of this society's population soon after its initial production began. The harvest of salt from the surface of Xiechi Lake near Yuncheng in Shanxi, dates back to at least 6000 BC, making it one of the oldest verifiable saltworks.
There is more salt in animal tissues, such as meat and milk, than in plant tissues. Nomads who subsist on their flocks and herds do not eat salt with their food, but agriculturalists, feeding on cereals and vegetable matter, need to supplement their diet with salt. With the spread of civilization, salt became one of the world's main trading commodities, it was of high value to the ancient Hebrews, the Greeks, the Romans, the Byzantines, the Hittites and other peoples of antiquity. In the Middle East, salt was used to ceremonially seal an agreement, the ancient Hebrews made a "covenant of salt" with God and sprinkled salt on their offerings to show their trust in him. An ancient practice in time of war was salting the earth: scattering salt around in a defeated city to prevent plant growth; the Bible tells the story of King Abimelech, ordered by God to do this at Shechem, various texts claim that the Roman general Scipio Aemilianus Africanus ploughed over and sowed the city of Carthage with salt after it was defeated in the Third Punic War.
Salt may have been used for barter in connection with the obsidian trade in Anatolia in the Neolithic Era. Salt was included among funeral offerings found in ancient Egyptian tombs from the third millennium BC, as were salted birds, salt fish. From about 2800 BC, the Egyptians began exporting salt fish to the Phoenicians in return for Lebanon cedar and the dye Tyrian purple. Herodotus described salt trading routes across Libya back in the 5th century BC. In the early years of the Roman Empire, roads were built for the transportation of salt from the salt imported at Ostia to the capital. In Africa, salt was used as currency south of the Sahara, slabs of rock salt were used as coins in Abyssinia. Moorish merchants in the 6th century traded salt for weight for weight; the Tuareg have traditionally maintained routes across the Sahara for the transportation of salt by Azalai. The caravans
Chocolate milk
Chocolate milk is sweetened chocolate-flavored milk. It can be made by mixing chocolate syrup with milk, it can be purchased pre-mixed with milk or made at home by blending milk with cocoa powder and a sweetener, melted chocolate, chocolate syrup, or a pre-made powdered chocolate milk mix. Other ingredients, such as starch, carrageenan, vanilla, or artificial flavoring are sometimes added. To add nutritional value to the product, sometimes some minerals like zinc oxide or iron are added; the carrageenan is used at low concentrations to form an imperceptible weak gel that prevents the large, dense particles of chocolate from sedimentation. Chocolate milk should be refrigerated like unflavored milk, with the exception of some ultra high temperature pasteurized drinks, which can be stored at room temperature. Chocolate milk was first created by Hans Sloane in Ireland during the late 1700s, is served cold; the nutritional qualities of chocolate milk are the subject of debate: while some studies criticize the high sugar content of chocolate milk, other studies suggest that chocolate milk is nutritionally superior to white milk.
Some nutritionists have criticized chocolate milk for its high sugar content and its relationship to childhood obesity. In New York City, school food officials report that nearly 60 percent of the 100 million cartons served each year contain fat-free chocolate milk; because chocolate milk can contain twice as much sugar as plain low-fat milk from added sugars, some school districts have stopped serving the product altogether, including some areas in California and Washington, D. C. According to a nationally representative online survey commissioned by the Innovation Center of U. S. Dairy, seven percent of American adults believe. A number of studies have been issued in regards to chocolate milk nutrition. A 2005 study by the New York City Department of Education found that by removing whole milk and replacing it with low-fat or fat-free chocolate milk, students were served an estimated 5,960 fewer calories and 619 fewer grams of fat per year. However, more recent studies show that fat-free and low-fat milk may increase body fat and contribute to obesity.
Whole milk may in fact be healthier for obese children than non-fat milk. In a study conducted in 2006, researchers stated that the benefits of drinking chocolate milk were due to its ratio of carbohydrates to protein, among other nutritional properties. However, this study was small in scale as it was conducted on only nine athletes and was funded by the dairy industry. Furthermore, the study compared chocolate milk to two energy drinks and unflavored milk was not used as a comparison, so it is unknown if chocolate milk is superior to unflavored milk as a recovery drink. An April 2007 study from Loughborough University indicated that chocolate milk can boost recovery when taken after athletic workouts; the study found. A November 2009 study conducted by scientists in Barcelona, Spain suggests that consuming skimmed milk with cocoa rich in flavonoids may reduce inflammation and slow or prevent the development of atherosclerosis. However, the study notes. A study published in 2009 compared chocolate milk to a commercial recovery beverage administered to cyclists after intense workouts.
The researchers found no difference in post-workout plasma creatine kinase levels and muscle soreness, nor in cycling time to exhaustion. However, being that chocolate milk is less expensive than commercial recovery beverages, the researchers concluded that chocolate milk "serves as a more convenient, cheaper...recovery beverage option for many athletes". A May 2010 sports nutrition study concluded that "exercise recovery during short-term periods of heavy soccer training appears to be similar when isocaloric CM and CHO beverages are consumed post-exercise", yet another study in 2011 at Kean University in New Jersey concluded similar results in male soccer players discovering that there was an increase in time to fatigue when chocolate milk was consumed. The Kean University study viewed chocolate milk's effects on female soccer players undergoing morning and afternoon practices during preseason, they were either given the carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage or chocolate milk between morning and afternoon preseason practices.
Following every afternoon practice, each athlete completed. The study concluded that chocolate milk is just as beneficial as the carbohydrate-electrolyte beverage in promoting recovery in women. There are 5 milligrams of caffeine in each mini carton of chocolate milk. Chocolate has oxalic acid, which reacts with the calcium in the milk producing calcium oxalate, thus preventing the calcium from being absorbed in the intestine. However, it is present in small enough amounts; as chocolate contains small amounts of oxalate, it is unclear to what extent chocolate consumption affects healthy people with calcium-rich diets. In a 2008 study, participants who consumed one or more servings of chocolate on a daily basis had lower bone density and strength than those participants who ate a serving of chocolate six times a week or less. Researchers believe this may be due to oxalate inhibiting calcium absorption – but it could be due to sugar content in chocolate, which may increase calcium excretion, it is clear however, that consuming foods high in oxalate – and in turn their effect on calcium absorption – is a more signi
Milkshake
A milkshake is a sweet, cold beverage, made from milk, ice cream, or iced milk, flavorings or sweeteners such as butterscotch, caramel sauce, chocolate syrup, or fruit syrup. Many more precise and rigid definitions are subject to region. Outside of the United States, milkshakes using ice cream or iced milk are sometimes called a thick milkshake or thick shake; the term shake may be used more to refer to any cold beverage involving milk. Many food places such as McDonald's avoid the term milkshake on their menus in favor of the term shake. Full-service restaurants, soda fountains, diners prepare and mix the shake "by hand" from scoops of ice cream and milk in a blender or drink mixer using a stainless steel cup. Many fast food outlets do not make shakes by hand with ice cream. However, some fast food outlets still follow the traditional method, some serve milkshakes which are prepared by blending soft-serve ice cream with flavoring or syrups. Milkshakes can be made at home with a blender or automatic drink mixer.
A milkshake can be made by adding powder into fresh milk and stirring the powder into the milk. Milkshakes made in this way can come in a variety of flavors, including chocolate, caramel and banana. Hand-blended milkshakes are traditionally made from any flavor of ice cream; this allows a greater variety. Some unusual milkshake recipes exclude ice cream. Milkshake-like recipes which use a high proportion of fruit and no ice cream are called smoothies if frozen yogurt is used; when malted milk is added, a milkshake is called a malted milkshake, a malt shake, a malted, or a malt. An ice cream-based milkshake may be called a thick milkshake or thick shake in the United Kingdom or a frappe or frap in parts of New England and Canada; some U. S. restaurants serve milkshakes with candy bar pieces, or alcoholic beverages. Pre-made milkshakes are sold in grocery stores in North America and the UK; these drinks are made from milk mixed with sweetened flavored powder, artificial syrup, or concentrate, which would otherwise be called "flavored milk", thickened with carrageenan or other products.
Bottled milkshakes are sold in 330ml, 500ml, or 1 liter bottles. When the term "milkshake" was first used in print in 1885, milkshakes were an alcoholic whiskey drink, described as a "sturdy, healthful eggnog type of drink, with eggs, etc. served as a tonic as well as a treat". However, by 1900, the term referred to "wholesome drinks made with chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla syrups." By the "early 1900s people were asking for the new treat with ice cream." By the 1930s, milkshakes were a popular drink at malt shops, which were the "typical soda fountain of the period... used by students as a meeting place or hangout."The history of the electric blender, malted milk drinks, milkshakes are interconnected. Before the widespread availability of electric blenders, milkshake-type drinks were more like eggnog, or they were a hand-shaken mixture of crushed ice and milk and flavorings. Hamilton Beach's drink mixers began being used at soda fountains in 1911 and the electric blender or drink mixer was invented by Steven Poplawski in 1922.
With the invention of the blender, milkshakes began to take their modern, whipped and frothy form. The use of malted milk powder in milkshakes was popularized in the USA by the Chicago drugstore chain Walgreens. Malted milk powder—a mixture of evaporated milk, malted barley, wheat flour—had been invented by William Horlick in 1897 for use as an digested restorative health drink for disabled people and children, as an infant's food. However, healthy people soon began drinking beverages made with malted milk for the taste, malted milk beverages containing milk, chocolate syrup, malt powder became a standard offering at soda fountains. In 1922, Walgreens employee Ivar "Pop" Coulson made a milkshake by adding two scoops of vanilla ice cream to the standard malted milk drink recipe; this item, under the name "Horlick's Malted Milk", was featured by the Walgreen drugstore chain as part of a chocolate milk shake, which itself became known as a "malted" or "malt" and became one of the most popular soda-fountain drinks.
The automation of milkshakes developed in the 1930s, after the invention of freon-cooled refrigerators provided a safe, reliable way of automatically making and dispensing ice cream. In 1936, inventor Earl Prince used the basic concept behind the freon-cooled automated ice cream machine to develop the Multimixer, a "five-spindled mixer that could produce five milkshakes at once, all automatically, dispense them at the pull of a lever into awaiting paper cups."In the late 1930s, several newspaper articles show that the term "frosted" was used to refer to milkshakes made with ice cream. In 1937, the Denton Journal in Maryland stated that "For a'frosted' shake, add a dash of your favorite ice cream." In 1939, the Mansfield News in Ohio stated that "A frosted beverage, in the
Hard sauce
Hard sauce is a sweet, rich dessert sauce made by creaming or beating butter and sugar with rum, whiskey, vanilla or other flavorings. It is served cold with hot desserts, it is served with plum pudding, bread pudding, Indian pudding, hasty pudding, other heavy puddings as well as with fruitcakes and gingerbread. In the U. K. brandy butter and rum butter are associated with the Christmas and New Year season and Christmas pudding and warm mince pies, serving as a seasonal alternative to cream, ice cream or custard. At Cambridge, it is known as Senior Wrangler sauce. Though it is called a sauce, it is neither a smooth, it could be more classified as a spread and has the consistency of butter. It keeps for months under refrigeration, it can be pressed into a decorative mold before chilling. Under European Community regulations, to be called rum/brandy/sherry butter, it must contain at least 20% butterfat. List of dessert sauces Black, William.. The Land that Thyme Forgot. Bantam. ISBN 0-593-05362-1. P. 350
Cocoa bean
The cocoa bean or cocoa, called the cacao bean or cacao, is the dried and fermented seed of Theobroma cacao, from which cocoa solids and cocoa butter can be extracted. Cocoa beans are the basis of chocolate, Mesoamerican foods including tejate, a pre-Hispanic drink that includes maize; the word "cocoa" comes from the Spanish word cacao, derived from the Nahuatl word cacahuatl. The Nahuatl word, in turn derives from the reconstructed Proto Mije-Sokean word kakawa; the term cocoa means the drink, called hot cocoa or hot chocolate cocoa powder, the dry powder made by grinding cocoa seeds and removing the cocoa butter from the cocoa solids, which are dark and bitter a mixture of cocoa powder and cocoa butter – a primitive form of chocolate. The cacao tree is native to the Amazon Basin, it was domesticated by the Mocayas. More than 4,000 years ago, it was consumed by pre-Columbian cultures along the Yucatán, including the Mayans, as far back as Olmeca civilization in spiritual ceremonies, it grows in the foothills of the Andes in the Amazon and Orinoco basins of South America, in Colombia and Venezuela.
Wild cacao still grows there. Its range may have been larger in the past; as of November 2018, evidence suggests that cacao was first domesticated in equatorial South America, before being domesticated in Central America 1,500 years later. Artifacts found at Santa-Ana-La Florida, in Ecuador, indicate that the Mayo-Chinchipe people were cultivating cacao as long as 5,300 years ago. Chemical analysis of residue extracted from pottery excavated at an archaeological site at Puerto Escondido, in Honduras, indicates that cocoa products were first consumed there sometime between 1500 and 1400 BC. Evidence indicates that, long before the flavor of the cacao seed became popular, the sweet pulp of the chocolate fruit, used in making a fermented beverage, first drew attention to the plant in the Americas; the cocoa bean was a common currency throughout Mesoamerica before the Spanish conquest. Cacao trees grow in a limited geographical zone, of about 20 ° to the south of the Equator. Nearly 70% of the world crop today is grown in West Africa.
The cacao plant was first given its botanical name by Swedish natural scientist Carl Linnaeus in his original classification of the plant kingdom, where he called it Theobroma cacao. Cocoa was an important commodity in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica. A Spanish soldier, part of the conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés tells that when Moctezuma II, emperor of the Aztecs, dined, he took no other beverage than chocolate, served in a golden goblet. Flavored with vanilla or other spices, his chocolate was whipped into a froth that dissolved in the mouth. No fewer than 60 portions each day may have been consumed by Moctezuma II, 2,000 more by the nobles of his court. Chocolate was introduced to Europe by the Spaniards, became a popular beverage by the mid-17th century. Spaniards introduced the cacao tree into the West Indies and the Philippines, it was introduced into the rest of Asia and into West Africa by Europeans. In the Gold Coast, modern Ghana, cacao was introduced by Tetteh Quarshie; the three main varieties of cocoa plant are Forastero and Trinitario.
The first is the most used, comprising 80–90% of the world production of cocoa. Cocoa beans of the Criollo variety considered a delicacy. Criollo plantations have lower yields than those of Forastero, tend to be less resistant to several diseases that attack the cocoa plant, hence few countries still produce it. One of the largest producers of Criollo beans is Venezuela. Trinitario is a hybrid between Forastero varieties, it is considered to be of much higher quality than Forastero, has higher yields, is more resistant to disease than Criollo. A cocoa pod has a rough, leathery rind about 2 to 3 cm thick filled with sweet, mucilaginous pulp with a lemonade-like taste enclosing 30 to 50 large seeds that are soft and a pale lavender to dark brownish purple color. During harvest, the pods are opened, the seeds are kept, the empty pods are discarded and the pulp made into juice; the seeds are placed. Due to heat buildup in the fermentation process, cacao beans lose most of the purplish hue and become brown in color, with an adhered skin which includes the dried remains of the fruity pulp.
This skin is released by winnowing after roasting. White seeds are found in some rare varieties mixed with purples, are considered of higher value. Cocoa trees grow in rainy tropical areas within 20 ° of latitude from the Equator. Cocoa harvest is not restricted to one period per year and a harvest occurs over several months. In fact, in many countries, cocoa can be harvested at any time of the year. Pesticides are applied to the trees to combat capsid bugs, fungicides to fight black pod disease. Immature cocoa pods have a variety of colours, but most are green, red, or purple, as they mature, their colour tends towards yellow or orange in the creases. Unlike most fruiting trees, the cacao pod grows directly from the trunk or large branch of a tree rather than from the end of a branch, similar to jackfruit; this makes harvesting by hand easier. The po
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American psychological horror film directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock, written by Joseph Stefano. It stars Anthony Perkins, Janet Leigh, John Gavin, Vera Miles, Martin Balsam, was based on the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch; the film centers on an encounter between a secretary, Marion Crane, who ends up at a secluded motel after stealing money from her employer, the motel's owner-manager, Norman Bates, its aftermath. Psycho was seen as a departure from Hitchcock's previous film North by Northwest, having been filmed on a low budget, in black-and-white, by a television crew; the film received mixed reviews, but outstanding box-office returns prompted critical reevaluation. Psycho was nominated for four Academy Awards, including Best Supporting Actress for Leigh and Best Director for Hitchcock. Psycho is now considered one of Hitchcock's best films and praised as a major work of cinematic art by international film critics and scholars. Ranked among the greatest films of all time, it set a new level of acceptability for violence, deviant behavior and sexuality in American films, is considered to be the earliest example of the slasher film genre.
After Hitchcock's death in 1980, Universal Studios began producing follow-ups: three sequels, a remake, a made-for-television spin-off, a prequel television series set in the 2010s. In 1992, the Library of Congress deemed the film "culturally or aesthetically significant" and selected it for preservation in the National Film Registry. During a lunchtime tryst in a Phoenix, Arizona hotel, real-estate secretary Marion Crane and her boyfriend, Sam Loomis, discuss how they cannot afford to get married because of Sam's debts. After lunch, Marion returns to work. Marion's boss asks her to deposit the money in the bank, allows her to leave work early after she complains of a headache. Once home, she decides to steal the money and drive to Fairvale, where Sam lives. En route to Fairvale, Marion falls asleep. Suspicious about her skittish behavior, he follows her. Hoping to lose him, Marion stops at a Bakersfield, California automobile dealership and trades in her Ford Mainline, with its Arizona license plates, for a Ford Custom 300 with California tags.
The officer eyes her suspiciously as she abruptly drives away. During a heavy rainstorm, Marion stops for the night at the Bates Motel; the proprietor, Norman Bates, invites her to share a light dinner. She accepts his invitation but overhears an argument between Norman and his mother about bringing a woman into their Gothic home, which sits perched above the motel. Instead they eat in the motel parlor, where he tells her about his life with his mother, mentally ill and forbids him to have an independent life. Moved by Norman's story, Marion decides to drive back to Phoenix in the morning to return the stolen money, which she hides in a folded newspaper on the nightstand; as she showers, a shadowy figure stabs her to death with a chef's knife. After seeing blood, Norman runs to Marion's room, where he discovers her body, he cleans up the crime scene, putting Marion's corpse and her possessions—including the stolen money—into the trunk of her car and sinking it in the swamps near the motel. A week Marion's sister Lila arrives in Fairvale and confronts Sam about Marion's whereabouts.
Private investigator Milton Arbogast approaches them and confirms that Marion is wanted for stealing the $40,000. He sleuths local hotels and motels, Norman's evasive and inconsistent answers arouse his suspicion. After hearing that Marion met Norman's mother, he asks to speak with her, but Norman refuses to allow it. Arbogast updates promises to phone again soon, he goes to the Bates' home in search of Norman's mother. When Lila and Sam do not hear from Arbogast, Sam visits the motel, he sees a figure in the house who he assumes is Mrs. Bates. Lila and Sam go to the local deputy sheriff, who informs them that Mrs. Bates died in a murder-suicide ten years ago; the sheriff concludes that Arbogast lied to Lila so he could pursue Marion and the money. Convinced that some ill has befallen Arbogast and Sam make their way to the motel. Norman hides her in the fruit cellar against her will. At the motel, Sam distracts Norman by engaging in conversation while Lila cases the property and sneaks inside the house.
After Sam grills him, Norman becomes agitated, knocks Sam out, rushes to the house. Lila hides in the cellar. Lila discovers she is a mummified corpse. Lila screams as Norman runs into the cellar, holding a knife and wearing his mother's clothes and a wig. Before Norman can attack Lila, having regained consciousness, subdues him. At the courthouse, a psychiatrist explains that Norman murdered Mrs. Bates and her lover ten years ago out of jealousy. Unable to bear the guilt, he began to treat it as if she were still alive, he recreated his mother in his own mind as an alternate personality, dressing in her clothes and talking to himself in her voice. This "Mother" personality is jealous and possessive: whenever Norman feels attracted to a woman, "Mother" kills her; as "Mother", Norman killed two young girls before stabbing Arbogast to death. The psychiatrist says. While Norman sits in a holding cell, "Mother"
Malt
Malt is germinated cereal grain that have been dried in a process known as "malting". The grains are made to germinate by soaking in water and are halted from germinating further by drying with hot air. Malting grains develop the enzymes required for modifying the grain's starches into various types of sugar, including monosaccharide glucose, disaccharide maltose, trisaccharide maltotriose, higher sugars called maltodextrines, it develops other enzymes, such as proteases, which break down the proteins in the grain into forms that can be used by yeast. Depending on when the malting process is stopped, one gets a preferred starch to enzyme ratio and converted starch into fermentable sugars. Malt contains small amounts of other sugars, such as sucrose and fructose, which are not products of starch modification but were in the grain. Further conversion to fermentable sugars is achieved during the mashing process. Malted grain is used to make beer, malted milkshakes, malt vinegar, confections such as Maltesers and Whoppers, flavored drinks such as Horlicks and Milo, some baked goods, such as malt loaf and rich tea biscuits.
Malted grain, ground into a coarse meal is known as "sweet meal". Various cereals are malted. A high-protein form of malted barley is a label-listed ingredient in blended flours used in the manufacture of yeast breads and other baked goods; the term "malt" refers to several products of the process: the grains to which this process has been applied, for example malted barley. Malted grains have been used as an ingredient of beer since ancient times, for example in Egypt and China. In Persian countries, a sweet paste made from germinated wheat is called Samanū in Iran, Samanak,. A plate or bowl of Samanu is a traditional component of the Haft sin table symbolising affluence. Traditionally, women take a special party for it during the night, cook it from late in the evening till the daylight, singing related songs. In Tajikistan and Afghanistan they sing: Samanak dar Jūsh u mā Kafcha zanēm - Dīgarān dar Khwāb u mā Dafcha zanēm.. In modern times, making samanu can be a family gathering, it comes from the Great Persian Empire.
Mämmi, or Easter Porridge, is a traditional Finnish Lenten food. Cooked from rye malt and flour, mämmi has a great resemblance to Samanū. Today, this product is available in shops from February until Easter. A survey in 2013 showed that no one cooks mämmi at home in modern-day Finland. Malting is the process of converting barley or other cereal grains into malt for use in brewing, distilling, or in foods and takes place in a maltings, sometimes called a malthouse, or a malting floor; the cereal is spread out on the malting floor in a layer of 8 to 12 cm depth. The malting process starts with drying the grains to a moisture content below 14% and storing for around six weeks to overcome seed dormancy; when ready, the grain is immersed or steeped in water two or three times for two or three days to allow the grain to absorb moisture and to start to sprout. When the grain has a moisture content of around 46%, it is transferred to the malting or germination floor, where it is turned over for about four to six days while it is air-dried.
The grain at this point is called "green malt". The green malt is dried and pre-toasted in an oven to the desired color and specification. Malts range in color from pale through crystal and amber to chocolate or black malts; the sprouted grain is further dried and smoked by spreading it on a perforated wooden floor. Smoke coming from an oasting fireplace is used to heat the wooden floor and the sprouted grains; the temperature is around 55 °C. A typical floor maltings is a long, single-story building with a floor that slopes from one end of the building to the other. Floor maltings began to be phased out in the 1940s in favor of "pneumatic plants". Here, large industrial fans are used to blow air through the germinating grain beds and to pass hot air through the malt being kilned. Like floor maltings, these pneumatic plants use batch processes, but of greater size 100 ton batches compared with 20 ton batches for floor malting; as of 2014, the largest malting operation in the world was Malteurop, which operates in 14 countries.
Barley is the most malted grain, in part because of its high content of enzymes, though wheat, oats and corn are used. Important is the retention of the grain's husk after threshing, unlike the bare seeds of threshed wheat or rye; this protects the growing acrospire from damage during malting, which can lead to mold growth. As all grains sprout, natural enzymes within the grain break down the starch the grain is composed of into simpler sugars which taste sweet and are easier for yeast to use as growth food. Malt with active enzymes is called "diastatic malt". Malt with inactive enzymes is called "nondiastatic malt"; the enzymes are deactivated by heating the malt. Malt is divided into tw
