Every person has eaten semolina in his life, but not everyone likes it. Children are especially reluctant to eat such a dish. In ancient Russia, the product was considered a delicacy and was used only in wealthy families. You can buy semolina today in any store, and there is still debate about its benefits and harms.
Production
It is impossible to make such a product at home, since all processes require special equipment.
Interestingly, many still do not know what semolina is made of. The answer is actually very simple and lies in the consumption of the product. Many use grains, also called groats, which are used instead of flour when baking muffins, pies, casseroles and as a thickener for minced meat, and for good reason. At specialized flour mills, the raw materials are crushed and sorted, after which the well-known semolina is obtained. What grain is the product made of? Of course, from wheat, special varieties with a certain gluten content are only suitable for this. The selected grains are compacted, cleaned and washed, after which they are subjected to rough crushing and grinding. At the final stage of production, bran is separated from the grains, the quality of the products is checked again and the semolina is sent to consumers.
Varieties of cereals
Perhaps everyone paid attention to the fact that semolina can have different shades. Its variety and subsequent use in dishes depends on this. Cereals made from soft wheat varieties must have a dull white color and low cost, since its production is the easiest. It is ideal for cereals and baby food, as it boils quickly and makes dishes viscous and uniform. Marking of such cereals on the packaging "M".
Semolina from hard grades is marked "T". The color of its grains is yellowish or creamy, and the structure is translucent. Porridge from it is crumbly, but more often it is used to prepare casseroles or thickeners for minced meat.
The category of cereals labeled “TM” is very rare. Here, soft and hard varieties are mixed in a ratio of 8: 2, which makes the product universal.
Calorie content
Now it’s clear what semolina is made of, and what about its calorie content? Many recommend using porridge as part of diets, while others argue that the energy value of semolina is 326 Kcal per 100 g, which is unacceptable when losing weight. In fact, this number of calories contains 0.1 kg of dry cereal, and in the finished dish, calories are only 80–123, depending on the type of grains (if cooked in water). Despite this, semolina is used only in medicinal diets, since cereal contains a lot of starch.
The calorie content of the dish increases markedly if you cook porridge in milk, add butter or sweeteners to it.
The benefits of cereals
In semolina there is a high concentration of vitamins and minerals necessary for the body. Croup is rich in magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, vitamin E and group B. All this allows you to normalize the work of the heart, digestive system, accelerate wound healing, which is important in the postoperative period, level hemoglobin, normalize the liver, strengthen the nervous system and bone tissue . In addition, semolina, enveloping the walls of the digestive tract, promotes the rapid elimination of toxins and prevents the formation of tumors in the body. In the complex, all this helps to restore vital energy and increase efficiency.
It is very important that grains help the digestion of proteins in kidney diseases. During pregnancy, it contributes to rapid saturation, is completely digested and absolutely does not contain cholesterol. Porridge is very useful for diseases of the digestive system, because it does not load the body, it helps to cleanse and heal small wounds. In the diet of children there is still debate about the benefits and dangers of this product.
The harm of decoy
In order to get only benefit from grains, it is very important to know how much semolina can be eaten under certain circumstances. The fact is that the abuse of this product in children causes the leaching of calcium from the body. If you feed your baby semolina three times a day, then he will have a deficiency of vitamin D, turning into rickets or spasmophilia. The gliodin present in the cereal will interfere with the intake of calcium from other products.
Gluten can also be harmful to an adult. Its large amount in the body contributes to the death of villi in the digestive system, and as a result - cramps, colic and diarrhea.
The accumulation of this substance in the body leads to joint pain or eczema.
If, with frequent use of semolina, drink a little water, constipation appears, weight quickly builds up.
In addition, cereal contains gluten, therefore it is contraindicated in case of celiac enteropathy and diabetes, and pediatricians do not recommend using it in the nutrition of children under three years of age.
Cooking features
Semolina recipes can be found on a variety of resources. Modern variations in the preparation of various meals from grains provide the opportunity to receive from the product not only benefits, but also pleasant taste sensations. Of course, you should remember some features of semolina. For example, having prepared it on water, the calorie content of a dish is markedly reduced, but only with the milk base can the body fully absorb protein from the dish. In this case, the best ratio of cereals and milk will be 7-8 teaspoons per 1 cup of liquid. Porridge then will turn out moderately viscous and without lumps.
Also, to prepare a delicious dish, you should remember:
- Cooking semolina is best in aluminum utensils.
- To avoid burning the dish, first pour 2 tablespoons of cold water, and then milk.
- Sugar and honey are added to taste, but for children, sugar should not be more than 6 g per serving.
- By adding salt you can make the taste much brighter.
- Pour groats only with a thin stream and constantly stirring the liquid.
- The porridge should be boiled over a minimum fire. For medium density - 7 minutes, for strong - 12 minutes. Necessarily no more than a quarter of an hour, since then all the useful substances disappear.
- Oil, jam, fruits or berries are added to the already prepared porridge.
To facilitate the task of making porridge, you can simply use the slow cooker. Such a device today is in almost every house with a special regime.