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Grist is grain that has been separated from its chaff in preparation for grinding. It can also mean grain that has been ground at a gristmill. Its etymology derives from the verb grind.
Grist can be ground into meal or flour, depending on how coarsely it is ground. Maize made into grist is called grits when it is coarse, and corn meal when it is finely ground. Wheat, oats, barley, and buckwheat are also ground and sifted into flour and farina. Grist is also used in brewing and distillation to make a mash.
The proverb "all is grist for the mill" means "everything can be made useful, or be a source of profit." There are some minor variations, such as "all's grist that comes to his mill", meaning that the person in question can make something positive out of anything that comes along.
A miller ground whatever grain was brought to him, and charged a portion of the final product for the service. Therefore, all grain arriving at the mill represented income, regardless of its quality. The first recorded usage was in the 16th century, but the term is probably much older. The term "gristmill" was once common in the United States and Britain to describe a small mill open to all comers.
Flour is a powder made by grinding raw grains, roots, beans, nuts, or seeds. Flours are used to make many different foods. Cereal flour, particularly wheat flour, is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for some cultures. Corn flour has been important in Mesoamerican cuisine since ancient times and remains a staple in the Americas. Rye flour is a constituent of bread in central and northern Europe.
Millstones or mill stones are stones used in gristmills, for grinding wheat or other grains. They are sometimes referred to as grindstones or grinding stones.
Oatmeal refers to a preparation of oats that have been dehusked, steamed and flattened, or else a coarse flour made of hulled oat grains (groats) that have either been milled (ground) or steel-cut. Ground oats are also called "white oats". Steel-cut oats are known as "coarse oatmeal", "Irish oatmeal" or "pinhead oats". Rolled oats were traditionally thick "old-fashioned oats", but can be made thinner or smaller, and may be categorized as "quick" or "instant", depending on the cooking time, which is shortened by the size of the oats and precooking.
Semolina is the coarse, purified wheat middlings of durum wheat mainly used in making couscous, pasta, and sweet puddings. The term semolina is also used to designate coarse middlings from other varieties of wheat, and sometimes other grains as well.
Bale Grist Mill State Historic Park is a California state park located in Napa County between St. Helena and Calistoga. The park is the site of a water-powered grist mill that was built in 1846 is one of only two water-driven mills remaining west of the Mississippi River.
Wheat flour is a powder made from the grinding of wheat used for human consumption. Wheat varieties are called "soft" or "weak" if gluten content is low, and are called "hard" or "strong" if they have high gluten content. Hard flour, or bread flour, is high in gluten, with 12% to 14% gluten content, and its dough has elastic toughness that holds its shape well once baked. Soft flour is comparatively low in gluten and thus results in a loaf with a finer, crumbly texture. Soft flour is usually divided into cake flour, which is the lowest in gluten, and pastry flour, which has slightly more gluten than cake flour.
Gruel is a food consisting of some type of cereal—such as ground oats, wheat, rye or rice—heated or boiled in water or milk. It is a thinner version of porridge that may be more often drunk rather than eaten and may not need to be cooked. Historically, gruel has been a staple of the Western diet, especially for peasants. Gruel is often made from millet, hemp, barley, or, in hard times, from chestnut flour or even the less bitter acorns of some oaks. Gruel is also a colloquial expression for any watery or liquidy food of unknown character, e.g., pea soup.
A burr mill, or burr grinder, is a mill used to grind hard, small food products between two revolving abrasive surfaces separated by a distance usually set by the user. When the two surfaces are set far apart, the resulting ground material is coarser, and when the two surfaces are set closer together, the resulting ground material is finer and smaller. Often, the device includes a revolving screw that pushes the food through. It may be powered electrically or manually.
A miller is a person who operates a mill, a machine to grind a grain to make flour. Milling is among the oldest of human occupations. "Miller", "Milne", and other variants are common surnames, as are their equivalents in other languages around the world. Milling existed in hunter-gatherer communities, and later millers were important to the development of agriculture.
Watson's Mill is an historic flour and gristmill in Manotick, Ontario, Canada. It is the only working museum in the Ottawa area and one of the very few operating industrial grist mills in North America. Watson's Mill still sells stone-ground whole wheat flour which is made on site. The mill is also well known for its ghost Annabelle. The legend is that Ann Currier, wife of Joseph, haunts the mill, following her death in a tragic accident there in 1861. Watson's Mill is Manotick's most recognized landmark. Its image is used as a symbol for the village.
Brown bread is bread made with significant amounts of whole grain flour, usually wheat, and sometimes dark-coloured ingredients such as molasses or coffee. In Canada, Ireland and South Africa, it is whole wheat bread; in the Maritimes and New England, it is bread made with molasses. In some regions of the US, brown bread is called wheat bread to complement white bread.
Price's Mill, also known as Calliham's (Callaham's) Mill, Stone's Mill, and Park's Mill, is a water-powered gristmill about 2 mi (3 km) east of the town of Parksville on South Carolina Highway 33-138 at Stevens Creek in McCormick County. Its name in the USGS Geographic Names Information System is Prices Mill. It was built in the 1890s and was named to the National Register of Historic Places on November 22, 1972. At this time, it was one of the few remaining water-powered gristmills in South Carolina.
Roller mills are mills that use cylindrical rollers, either in opposing pairs or against flat plates, to crush or grind various materials, such as grain, ore, gravel, plastic, and others. Roller grain mills are an alternative to traditional millstone arrangements in gristmills. Roller mills for rock complement other types of mills, such as ball mills and hammermills, in such industries as the mining and processing of ore and construction aggregate; cement milling; and recycling.
The Newlin Mill Complex, also referred to as The Newlin Grist Mill, is a water-powered gristmill on the west branch of Chester Creek near Concordville, Pennsylvania was built in 1704 by Nathaniel and Mary Newlin and operated commercially until 1941. During its three centuries of operation, the mill has been known as the Lower Mill, the Markham Mill, the Seventeen-O-Four Mill and the Concord Flour Mill. In 1958 the mill property was bought by E. Mortimer Newlin, restored and given to the Nicholas Newlin Foundation to use as a historical park. Water power is still used to grind corn meal which is sold on site. The park includes five historical buildings, which were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and 150 acres (61 ha) of natural woodland.
Maize milling is the processing of maize (corn) for safe and palatable consumption as food. Processing can be by machine-milling in either large- or small-scale mills, or by hand-milling in domestic or community settings.
A gristmill grinds cereal grain into flour and middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that has been separated from its chaff in preparation for grinding.
Benson Grist Mill is a restoration-replica museum located in Tooele County, Utah in the western United States, which allows visitors to see the inner workings of a latter-nineteenth-century pioneer gristmill. It has four other historic (nineteenth-century) buildings which have been moved onto the site, as well as four ancillary structures, including an open-air pavilion. It covers 6.98 acres along State Highway 138, 0.8 mile southwest of the intersection of the Road with State Highway 36. The museum is owned and operated by a division of Tooele County.
Hodgson-Aid Mill, also known as Hodgson Water Mill and Aid-Hodgson Mill, is a historic grist mill located on Bryant Creek near Sycamore, Ozark County, Missouri. It was constructed around 1897, and is a 3 1/2-story, timber frame mill building covered with red-painted weatherboards. Associated with the mill are the man-made mill pond and the limestone barrel vault constructed at the base of the cliff where Hodgson Spring discharges. The mill has not been in operation since 1976. It is privately owned.