Corn wet-milling

High school (ages 12+)
Food & Cooking

Name:

Date:

Step 1 · Read the article

Open the article and read it at the level above. Then answer the questions below in your own words.

https://smallwhale.org/articles/corn-wet-milling

Write what each word means, using the article.

Do not copy the article. Write two things you learned, the way you would explain them to a friend.

Answers below are taken from the article’s stored facts, so they match what the student read.

1. What is the process name?Corn wet-milling
2. What is the primary outputs?Corn oil, corn starch, corn gluten (protein), and fiber
3. How do they separate the different parts of corn?First the corn is soaked in warm water with a little sulfur dioxide to soften it. Then it is ground and the oil-rich germ is floated or spun out, and the rest is washed and spun again to get starch, protein, and fiber.
4. Why do we need corn wet-milling instead of just grinding corn?Wet-milling can pull out each part in a very pure form, so the starch can be used for thickening foods, the oil for cooking, and the protein for animal feed. This makes corn more useful and helps make many products.

Fractionation: The process of separating a mixture into its component parts or fractions.
Endosperm: The starchy part of a plant seed that provides nourishment for the developing embryo.
Hydrocyclone: A device that uses centrifugal force to separate particles based on density in a liquid slurry.
Bio-economy: An economy where the basic building blocks for materials, chemicals, and energy are derived from renewable biological resources.