Grinding

Grinding is a method of food processing where big chunks or particles of food are cut into fine pieces or bits. It could be done for various reasons. Ground food becomes more mixable with other ingredients. It is employed to process different varietis of foods. Grinding can be done with wet or moist food as well as with dry food. Grinding wet or moist food is called wet-grinding and grinding dry food is called dry grinding. Grinding can be done using food processor, mixer or a grinder. Popular grinding recipes include masala or spice mixes, dosa, idli, cake, bread, etc.

 

 

Origin of Grinding

 

The history of ground food can be traced back to the time when agriculture was invented about 20,000 years ago. Grinding tray was one among the earliest grinding tools and was used for crop processing. Soon on the use of the tool extended to more food processing applications. Other implements used for grinding food were metate and mano, mortar and pestle and grinder. The cultures using these tools for grinding were mostly Asian including-Chinese, Mongolian and Indian. The use of blenders and mixers with blades for grinding came into vogue during the 20th century. They were inspired by propellers to small motorboats.

 

 

The Process of Grinding

 

Grinding involves cutting of food using tools or devices. The ancient tools used for grinding food which are still in vogue are mortar and pestle and the grinding stone. Mortar is a stone cup while pestle is an oval-to-cylindrical shaped stone that is used to pound food. This technique is used for grinding small to medium quantities of food. For grinding more quantities of food a grinding stone is made use of. A grinding stone comprises of a one to two feet cylindrical stone with a hole on the top in the middle to contain food. The food is pounded using a pounding stone or a pounding stick. This practice is still in vogue in India, Pakistan and a few oriental cultures. Modern day methods of grinding employ devices such as mixer, blender, food processor and an electrical grinder. Grinding can be of two types-dry grinding and wet grinding. Dry grinding is where ingredients containing no moisture are ground with the help of grinding tools or devices. Wet grinding is where food is ground with moisture content and with liquids such as water. Ground food is more mixable, malleable and adaptive.

 

 

Popular Dishes prepared through Grinding

 

·         Masalas or spice blends are popular ground food from Asia.

·         Batters such as cake batters are ground food made from a mixture of flour, eggs, sugar, etc very flexible.

·         Idli and Dosa are two typical Indian wet grinding recipes.

·         Soups are also made by grinding ingredients in a blender for further processing.

·         Juices are also made by grinding fruits and vegetables.

 

 

 

Advantages and Disadvantages of Grinding

 

Advantages

 

·         Ground food is more flexible and palatable.

·         It saves cooking time as broken food particles consume less time and energy to cook.

·         Ground food is easily digestible for kids.

 

Disadvantages

 

·         Ground food may experience loss of essential nutrition such as fibre which can otherwise be retained.

·         Grinding may also reduce the quality of food and cause it to deteriorate soon.

 

Grinding: Trivia 

 

Grinding stone is seen as a symbol of prosperity in India.