Wheat, barley, rye, and oats were gathered and eaten in the Fertile Crescent during the early Neolithic. Cereal grains … See more

Cereals are grasses, in the Poaceae family, that produce edible grains. A cereal grain is botanically a caryopsis, a fruit where the seed coat is fused with the pericarp. Grasses have stems that are hollow except at the nodes and … See more

All cereal crops are cultivated in a similar way. Most are annual, so after sowing they are harvested just once. An exception is rice, which although usually treated as an annual can survive as a perennial, producing a … See more

Cereal production has a substantial impact on the environment. Tillage can lead to soil erosion and increased runoff. Irrigation consumes large quantities of water; its extraction from lakes, rivers, or aquifers may have … See more

Some cereals such as rice require little preparation before human consumption. For example, to make plain cooked rice, raw milled rice is washed and boiled. Foods such as porridge and muesli may be made largely of w… See more

As whole grains, cereals provide carbohydrates, polyunsaturated fats, protein, vitamins, and minerals. When processed by the removal of the bran and germ, all that remains is the starchy endosperm. In some developing … See more

Cereals constitute the world's largest commodities by tonnage, whether measured by production or by international trade. Several major producers of cereals dominate the market. Because of the scale of the trade… See more