Ho Ho Ho, and Merry Chex-Mix (or as we like to call it here at Cerealblogger “Christmas”) to you all. As the holiday season is upon us, I felt like giving back to the CB faithful by dropping a little bit of non-perishable, tax deductable charity in the form of a big old knowledge bomb on ya’ll. Gather round the warming warmth of computer’s gentle beeps and boops and cozy up for a tale of mystery, justice, and intrigue…

All cereals can trace their origins back to a few major cereal grains.  A cereal is actually a member of the grass plant family, with starchy seeds used for food. It is onlly after months of cultivation and processing that these grains become suitable for human consumption. Who wants to eat “rice” before its been baked crispy and coated with a fine chocolate-like powder anyway? Barf. So to begin our story of how cereal (the final product, not the plant) gets made, today I will talk about the 3 most popular cereal grains. Without further ado, may I introduce…

1. Maize (~650,000,000* metric tons/yr) You may know it as corn, but this grain is a staple of people and livestock the world over. While we will never forget its humble beginnings around the time of the invention of the movie theater in 1720, it wasnt until corn flakes arrived on the scene that anyone really gave a shit about corn.
2. Wheat (~630,000,000 metric tons/yr) Wheat is the primary cereal grain of the temperate regions of the world. Allegedly the first cereal to have been domesticated, (think fertile crescent circa 8,000 BC) wheat is the old hat member of the trio. You can find wheat traded in any commodities market worth its salt, but the only trade I’m interested in is the exchange of empty space in my stomach for some fiber.
3. Rice (~620,000,000 metric tons/yr) Whereas wheat rules the roost in temperate regions, rice likes to let it all hang out a little closer to the belt, if you know what i mean. The two biggest rice producing nations are China and India so be sure to thank your local Chinese or Indian person the next time you sit down to a bowl of the rice half of Crispix. (I know it takes longer to eat them this way but its so worth it am I right?)

(*as of 2005, These numbers vary from source to source)

Thats all for today! Stay tuned for the exciting continuation, where things take a turn for the perverse in Part II: THE HARVEST!!!