Question: how is wheat ground up?

Christine Switzer answered on 15 Jun 2011:

Hi gyalzz,

I don’t know specifics about wheat grinding but I know some basics. By hand, you can use a mortar and pestle. Your parents might have these in the kitchen. You can grind small batches using a ball mill. I use this to break up soil into smaller bits. It’s basically a small but heavy ball inside a can that goes on a rotator. Gravity does its thing, bashing up whatever needs grinded. For the more complicated and automated machines used for food processing, best bet is to ask google. You will see lots of photos and process descriptions. Wikipedia is a great start: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mill_%28grinding%29 but not the only/best answer out there. Be careful of relying on wikipedia too much. I don’t let my students use it as a direct reference. It is useful for information but not for reliability because anybody can edit it.

Cheers,
Christine