Grains (Corn, Wheat, Rice, etc.): All flesh is grass. Between consuming sugars, starches, oils, proteins, and fiber in grains, and eating the meat of animals that were fed on grasses foliage and grains, a large percentage of human caloric energy comes from the Grasses. Moreover, the character of our foods and the evolution of cuisines around the world relate in multitudinous ways to the particular nature of grains and their potential for making chewy breads, crisp crackers, tender tortillas with that scorched-corn taste, puddings, syrups that do not crystallize, thickenings for sauces, and all manner of beers, liquors, and beverages.
Cooks find grasses everywhere they shop, as corn-on-the-cob in fresh produce, popcorn alongside other snacks, corn oil (even rice oil) in the cooking fats, flours and starches in the baking aisle, corn syrup and cane sugar among the sweeteners….
Systematists group the Grasses together as the Poaceae. Morphologists use several terms in reference to the fruit, each of which is a single-seeded structure, made of an embryo and a starchy endosperm tightly encased in a hard fruit wall. We call them Grains, and speak of Kernals. Carpologists use the term Caryopsis to designate their particular structure.