Shredded wheat
From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.
Shredded wheat is a breakfast cereal made from whole wheat. It comes in two sizes, bite sized (3/4 in x 1 in), and normal size, which may be crumbled up with hands before adding milk. Both sizes are available in a "frosted" variety, which has one side coated with sugar. In the United States, it is most heavily advertised and marketed by Post Cereals.
Henry Perky invented this cereal in 1893. The wheat is first cooked in water until its moisture content reaches about 50%. It is then tempered, allowing moisture to diffuse evenly into the grain. The grain then passes through a set of rollers with grooves in one side, yielding a web of shredded wheat strands. Many webs are stacked together, and this moist stack of strands is crimped at regular intervals to produce individual pieces of cereal with the strands attached at each end. These then go into an oven, where they are baked until their moisture content is reduced to 5%.
