Thanks to Cuideag for these images (they will enlarge).
A Gurn from Nurn - News, opinion and pictures from sunny Nairnshire - keep in touch, bookmark the Gurn
A Gurn from Nurn - News, opinion and pictures from sunny Nairnshire - keep in touch, bookmark the Gurn
White bread is often criticized for being less nutritious than other breads. Most of the vitamins inherent in wheat are removed along with the germ or destroyed in the bleaching process. By the introduction of the United States into World War One, the lack of vitamin content had led to an increase of draftees and military recruits failing the basic entrance physical exam. In response to this, the United States, by law, directed that white flour must be enriched with vitamins, replacing most of the major vitamins removed by bleaching - though critics claim that valuable trace minerals removed by bleaching are not replaced in the enrichment process. Counter-arguments to this claim note that the amount of trace minerals in bread is minuscule to begin with and their supply is easily substituted by other common dietary constituents such as fruits and vegetables (which assumes that the American diet consists of an equal ratio of bread to fruits and vegetables). Most commercial white bread contains little dietary fiber when compared to bread that includes bran, which can be a problem for older consumers. A low fiber diet is linked in some instances to cases of both constipation and diarrhea. Canadian grain regulations require relatively high amounts of protein in their grain, resulting in a style of bread known as Canadian white.
ReplyDeleteLet me enlighten your readers as to what is going on with the swans.
ReplyDeleteThe attacking swan in the photo is in fact an intruder who arrived off the pier about 10 days ago.
He has been trying ever since to take over the exising Cobs mate and territory.
In the photo he is is trying to get the resident cob to take off and fly away. This posturing has been ongoing for the past week.
As to whether the intruder has ever eaten white bread i could'nt say.
The resident pair seem to have the sense to keep him away from their nesting site, and hopefully can exhaust his patience.
I’m afraid that most of the bread we buy and pass onto our feathered friends contains a questionable cocktail of enzymes. Andrew Whitley http://tr.im/e55g in his book ‘Bread Matters’ lists some of them.
ReplyDeleteUnder a loophole they can be classed as ‘processing aids’ and do not need to be declared on the ingredients list of the bread.
The main purpose of these ‘aids’ is to make the bread lighter and also to keep it soft after baking.
Enzymes used in commercial bread making include:
Amylase
Maltogenic amylase
Oxidase
Protease
Peptidase
Lipsase
Phospholipase
Hemicellulase
Xylanase
Transglutaminase
Some of these are GM modified and can cause problems for folk with allergies, but as said are not individually listed on the bread we buy
As Andrew points out the whole baking industry has changed radically since the 1960’s cutting down the time of the process. This in turn has altered the way wheat is broken down, or rather not broken down in commercial bread, and may explain the rise in coeliac disease.
As to what we do to our flour, much of it has been modified to suit the new bread production processes. This in essence means that bread often looks good, rather than being good for us.
AyeRight would like it to be known that he bakes his own bread and passes crusts and crumbs from that onto bird friends!