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Wheat
(Triticum
spp.)[1]
is a
grass,
originally from the
Fertile Crescent
region of the
Near East,
but now cultivated worldwide. In 2007 world
production of wheat was 607 million tons, making
it the third most-produced
cereal
after
maize
(784 million tons) and
rice
(651 million tons).[2]
Wheat
grain
is a
staple food
used to make
flour
for leavened, flat and steamed breads, biscuits,
cookies, cakes, breakfast cereal, pasta,
noodles,
couscous
[3]
and for
fermentation
to make beer,[4]
other
alcoholic beverages,[5]
or
biofuel.[6]
Wheat is planted to a limited extent as a
forage crop
for livestock, and its straw can be used as a
construction material for roofing
thatch.
Barley
is a
cereal
grain
derived from the
annual
grass
Hordeum vulgare.
Barley
serves as a major animal
feed crop,
with smaller amounts used for
malting
(mostly for
beer
and certain
distilled
beverages)
and in
health
food.
It is used in soups, stews and
barley bread in various
countries, such as Scotland and
in Africa.
In 2007 ranking of cereal crops
in the world, barley was fourth
both in terms of quantity
produced (136 million tons) and
in area of cultivation
(566,000 km?).
Maize/Corn
(Zea
mays
L.
ssp. mays, pronounced
/ˈmeɪz/;
also known in many
English-speaking countries as
corn), is a
grass
domesticated by
indigenous
peoples in
Mesoamerica
in prehistoric times. Native
Americans cultivated it in
numerous varieties throughout
the
Americas.
The
Mississippian culture,
whose major city and regional
chiefdom
of
Cahokia
in present-day
Illinois
achieved its peak about 1250 CE,
had population density and a
great regional trade network
based on surplus maize crops. As
another example, the women of
the
Pawnee
nation on the
Great
Plains
were known to cultivate ten pure
varieties of corn by the late
18th century. After
European
contact with the Americas
in the late 15th and early 16th
centuries, explorers and traders
carried maize back to Europe and
introduced it to other countries
through trade. Its use spread to
the rest of the world.
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