NEW MILLING TECHNIQUE

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21961, 9 December 1936, Page 17

NEW MILLING TECHNIQUE

“BUG” INFECTED WHEAT

GOOD FLOUR PRODUCED

An important development has taken place concerning the report of ravages in wheat crops in New Zealand of an insect pest commonly known as the wheat bug. Late in September last the announcement was made that there was evidence in Otago of a certain condition in some of the wheat harvested last autumn, which was analagous to that obtaining in wheat infected with this insect, which has taken heavy toll of European wheatfields. Since then investigations have disclosed that the area affected is more widespread than was first suspected. Now comes the announcement that a process has been evolved which nullifies all deleterious effects in grain supposedly damaged by the wheat bug. The process for the treatment of wheat before being gristed into flour has been discovered by Mr H. E. West, consultant and technical adviser to a group of New Zealand flour mills. In an interview with a representative of ‘‘The Press” yesterday, Mr West said that, since his discovery of the socalled “wheat bug” damage, a considerable amount of experimentation has been undertaken, to get a practical solution, for the mere discovery of serious localised damage to wheat, while helpful, was not of much material assistance unless a solution could be offered. This solution had been successfully worked out by himself, and now modern flour mills need have no fear in regard to being able to utilise commercially the damaged wheat. Many Lines of \ heat Affected “I view the solution of how to prepare this wheat for milling as even more important than the discovery of •the damage,” proceeded Mr West, “for it is now apparent from the larger number of samples I have received from the mills that many lines of wheat this year are seriously affected. "The simplest method the mills can adopt is to refuse to buy wheat which shows the characteristic appearance of bug damage. This way out of the difficulty, however, is a very poor one, first because it is far from easy to tell, from visual inspection, just how much a line is damaged; second, because, under any reasonable grading system, the bulk of such affected wheat will pass as fair average quality; and third, because it is practically necessary to make use of all the wheat grown in the Dominion. “From the farmer’s point of view, it is thus fortunate that a solution has been found, for without it many farmers would be penalised, because of circumstances over which they have no control. Mills drawing wheat from infected areas will no longer be faced with the question of disposing of the grain they bought as milling wheat, at fowl wheat prices. The Wheat Committee will also be relieved from handling, as fair average quality, wheat which, while conforming with its grading system, is not really fit for the purposes for which it was bought. Effect on Bread “Flour from the wheat bug wheat, when made into a dough, produces harsh, heavy-crusted Ipaves of poor volume, with a crumb that’ is heavy, soggy, and of poor-keeping quality. During fermentation the dough seems to go wet and sticky, and has a decided tendency to flatten out rather than to stand .up whole and dry. After the processing which I have worked out, the dough ferments in a normal fashion, and has no tendency to become runny. The harsh, green, and leathery crust becomes soft, tender, and mature, and the crumb changes from one of a heavy, holey nature to that of being white, fine, and even silky. In other words, this processing, which is, by the way, nonchemical, changes the affected wheat from being practically unuseable to that of good quality.” Mr West exhibited to a representative of “The Press” a test bake of two loaves made from flour gristed from “buggy” wheat, and a photograph of these is reproduced in this issue. The holey, unpalatable loaf on the left was made from unprocessed wheat, and that on the right (a normal loaf in every respect) after the wheat had been processed. It has yet to be determined whether the damage in the grain is due to the depredations of the wheat bug, the whole matter being at present the subject of extensive investigations by Government officials. According to Continental workers on pest damage, the so-called wheat bug attacks the kernel in the milk-ripe stage, depositing a substance which so disintegrates the gluten that the flour is unfit for baking. As little as J ner cent .of damaged kernels suffice r to impair the gluten and making quality of the flour.