Dry Milling History of Oats

Dry Milling History of Oats
Dry milling techniques were in used by North and South American Indians in ancient times.

Hand held stones were used initially, but a later development was one-hand held stone ground against a concave bedstone.

A further development of this was the hominy block, fashioned from two trees the stump of one being hollowed out as a mortar and the springy limp of another nearby serving as a pestle.

The name ‘hominy’ is derived from a North American Indian word and it describe a coarse ground maize meal mixed with milk or water.

It persists today, applied to some of the products of modern maize dry milling, e.g., ‘hominy feed’ and ‘hominy grits’.

Later development in dry processing of maize included the quern, a device common to the processing of many types of grain in Roman times.

Quern consisted of two stones; the upper ‘capstone; being rotated over the stationary ‘netherstone’.

Grain was introduced through a hole in the center of the capstone and it was ground by the abrasive action of the two stones, as it was worked towards the outside, to be collected as a coarse meal.

Today, dry milling is carried out in several ways, the simplest being the production of a coarse ‘wholemeal’ of 85-95% extraction, in small grist meal. Because it includes the embryo the meal has a limited shelf life.
Dry Milling History of Oats