Test for protein Using Nitric Acid
Note that embryo reacts most strongly. This is the 'germ' of the grain as in 'wheat germ'. The covering of the grain stains dark due to phenolic compounds in the fruit wall, but does not turn orange. This covering is the 'bran' of the grain and is literally fruit tissue.
Corn is a grass and its fruit is similar to the fruits of other important grasses such as rice, wheat, rye, and barley. In each of these, the food storage tissue is the endosperm which is rich in starch. In all these grains, protien is concentrated in the 'germ', and, in each of these the 'bran' (fruit coat) makes up much of the roughage of the grain.
- Which portion of these grains are most Americans eating?
- Where do most of the other two parts of the grain go?