Middlings purifier
A middlings purifier is a device used in the production of flour to remove the husks from the kernels of wheat. It was developed in
This process was used because winter wheat, sown in the fall and harvested early the next summer was not feasible to grow in Minnesota. Spring wheat was sown in the spring and harvested in late summer. This could be grown by Minnesota farmers, but the conventional techniques of grinding grain between millstones ended up producing a darker flour than consumers desired. It was also difficult to mix the gluten and the starch completely. After Washburn's company developed the roller-milling technique with the use of a middlings purifier, they tried to monopolize the method, but the
The development of the middling purifier may have been based on the invention of the purifier by Ignaz Paul, an Austrian Miller and inventor (1778–1842) early in the 19th century.[3]
Washburn later teamed up with John Crosby to form the Washburn-Crosby Company, which eventually became General Mills.
References
- ^ a b Danbom, David B. (Spring 2003). "Flour Power: The Significance of Flour Milling at the Falls". Minnesota History. 58 (5): 271–285.
- ^ "The History of Wheat and Flour Milling". Archived from the original on 2007-01-29. Retrieved 2007-03-15.. Now at http://flour.com/flour/, accessed 15 August 2018
- ^ Eben Norton Horsford (1875). Report on Vienna bread. Washington: Government Printing Office. pp. 31–32. Retrieved 2012-11-02.