BookmarkGrain Terms
Grain mills and whole grain mills are names for the same type of product.
A grain mill may be powered by:
1. Electricity (electric grain mills or electric stone grain mills, for example)
2. Hand
Each method of power for grain mills has its own benefits and drawbacks. Try out some different grain mills to be sure of your selection.
Mill this around
1. How fine the flour:
For a decent loaf of bread, grain mills need to produce somewhat fine flour
Along with flour fineness, stop and review what type of ingredients you wish to grind in the mill2. How fast a grain mill:
The faster the better for timeliness, but:
Speed can also can increase heat
Heat can increase the likelihood of:
a. Oilier grains or nuts sticking to parts of the mill
b. Nutritional value decreasing
An electric mill will obviously be faster
3. How much pressure:
If interested in hand grain mills, it's important to be able to turn the crank of the mill without too much effort
Know your grain
The three layers of a whole grain are:
1. Bran
Outer layer
The grain's roughage (fiber)
Many vitamins, minerals, and even protein are found in this layer
2. Germ
Center of health
Vitamins B and E
Unsaturated fat
Protein
3. Endosperm
Less nutritious white center
Most white bread and flours
An interesting health fact regarding grain mills and whole grain: whole grain contains almost all the vitamin, mineral, and protein nutrition you need. This is for the whole grain only. Once the grain has been milled in any grain mill, everything begins to change within 72 hours when the most nutritious parts of the grain, both bran and germ, start to spoil.
Go organic
As long as you're going to the length and effort of making the choice of purchasing and using grain mills, consider organic whole grain.
Fresh, home-milled grain tastes better, but organic grains in a grain mill taste superb and have even more nutritional content and lack the pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers that conventional grain may have.
More information on grain mills