The easiest measure of success in row crop production comes at the combine — a matter of quantity versus quality.

The protein advantage

In wheat, it can still pay to shoot for a protein-building combination of management, timing and a little luck

Reading Time: 7 minutes Among the mental pictures we associate with wheat, one of the more tantalizing depicts the healthy goodness of a basket of loaves of bread and different types of buns. Although it’s not the traditional vision of acres of wheat ripening in the sun, it’s still what the exercise is all about, producing top-quality food for […] Read more

The fireplace where the bread was found is in the middle of this stone structure at the Shubayqa 1 site. (Alexis Pantos photo, News.ku.dk)

World’s oldest bread found at prehistoric site in Jordan

Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — Charred remains of a flatbread baked about 14,500 years ago in a stone fireplace at a site in northeastern Jordan have given researchers a delectable surprise: people began making bread, a vital staple food, millennia before they developed agriculture. No matter how you slice it, the discovery detailed on Monday shows […] Read more


Flour ground from dried crickets and crickets in jars, for the first mass-delivered bread made of insects, are seen at the Finnish food company Fazer bakery in Helsinki, Finland on Nov. 23, 2017. (Photo: Reuters/Attila Cser)

Finnish baker launches bread made from crushed crickets

Reading Time: 2 minutes Helsinki | Reuters — Finnish bakery and food service company Fazer launched on Thursday what it said was the world’s first insect-based bread to be offered to consumers in stores. The bread, made from flour ground from dried crickets as well as wheat flour and seeds, contains more protein than normal wheat bread. Each loaf […] Read more

(Stephen Ausmus photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Major retailers say federal bread pricing probe underway

Reading Time: < 1 minute Major Canadian grocery retailers Metro and Loblaw say a federal investigation is underway concerning the pricing of certain commercial bread products. Toronto-based Loblaw and its parent firm, George Weston Ltd., announced Tuesday they’re aware of an “industry-wide investigation” by the federal Competition Bureau concerning a “price-fixing scheme involving certain packaged bread products.” The two companies […] Read more


This batch of bread made with CWRS rose nicely in part because there is some salt in the dough.

Cutting down on the salt

Bakers at Cigi are showing international customers how to bake bread with less sodium

Reading Time: 3 minutes The bakers at the Canadian International Grains Institute (Cigi) are hearing the same message as the rest of us: Cut down on the salt. “The aim of Cigi’s pilot bakery is to replicate what the industry does,” says Yvonne Supeene, head of baking technology. “We reduced the salt level in all bread formulations, and in […] Read more

A bread sample made with regular wheat flour (l) and yellow pea flour combined with wheat flour (r).

Building a complete protein package

Bringing wheat and pulses together for healthier baked products — a formula for new opportunities

Reading Time: 3 minutes As more innovative uses for pulses are explored in response to global demand for healthier food products, Canadian pulse producers may look forward to increasing demand for their crops. Together with Warburtons, the U.K.’s largest bakery brand, the Canadian International Grains Institute is undertaking its most comprehensive investigation into quality characteristics and functionality of pulses […] Read more


Cigi pulse technologist Gina Boux says incorporating yellow peas in food products such as crackers offers a chance to add value to the crop.

Boosting nutrition in gluten-free foods

Peas, beans and lentils provide a healthy option to corn starch and rice flour

Reading Time: 3 minutes The Canadian International Grains Institute has been investigating the use of pulse ingredients as a way to improve nutrition in commercial gluten-free food products, and to add value to Canadian pulse crops. Currently halfway through its four-year project called “Development of Gluten-Free Products Using Pulse Ingredients,” Cigi has incorporated pulses in tortillas, pan breads and […] Read more

Yulia Borsuk, Cigi’s technical specialist in baking (l), demonstrates the properties of Canadian wheat at a bakery in Peru.

Promoting Canadian wheat in Latin America

Customers in Peru and Chile like the quality of CWRS, and are interested in more CPSR

Reading Time: 3 minutes For several years Latin American customers of Canadian wheat and durum have met with technical staff from the Canadian International Grains Institute to learn about analytical techniques and processes to evaluate wheat and flour quality. Most recently representatives from Cigi’s baking, milling and analytical services areas spent time in Chile and Peru. While in Chile, […] Read more


Darwin Tatel of the San Miguel Mill in Batangas, Philippines examines pasta technology during a technical exchange at Cigi.

Cigi coaxing Philippines back to Canadian wheat

The Institute is wooing Filipino millers after a period of poor gluten strength 
and low protein drove them to American wheat suppliers

Reading Time: 3 minutes For years Darwin Tatel used Canadian wheat at the San Miguel Mill in Batangas, Philippines, but then something changed. “We stopped using CWRS awhile back when we encountered some problems in terms of quality,” said the head miller, who was in Winnipeg to take part in a technical exchange program at the Canadian International Grains […] Read more

Boosting bread flour with barley

Boosting bread flour with barley

Barley can reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, regulate blood glucose levels and possibly offset certain cancers

Reading Time: 3 minutes Finding better ways to mill Canadian food barley into flour may open opportunities for its commercial use as a healthy ingredient. Preliminary work done several years ago at Cigi (Canadian International Grains Institute) revealed that milling performance of food barley is improved when it is blended with wheat, producing flour with enhanced nutritional properties. During […] Read more