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Serving Whitman County since 1877
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Craig Morris, USDA Western Wheat Quality Laboratory director, at WSU site where researchers bake as many as 4,000 Japanese sponge cakes per year. Alicia Kiszonas, research biologist, traces a concept at the lab.
A new falling numbers test machine arrived two weeks ago. Lijia Zhu, a post-doctoral student in the WSU-University of Idaho shared School of Food Science takes test tubes of wheat samples for a falling numbers test Nov. 11.
USDA researchers at WSU are moving toward conclusion on two projects as a response to this summer's alarm raised over falling numbers in wheat.
The effort began in September, and two representatives of WSU's Western Wheat Quality Laboratory presented preliminary results to the Tri-State Grain Growers convention Nov. 9 in Coeur d'Alene.
The first project aims to determine the relationship between falling numbers and end-use quality. The second tests the testing methods – evaluating the current falling numbers test and that for stirring numbers.
“We keep grinding forward,” said Craig Morris, Western Wheat Quality Laboratory director. “We're not done, but we're closer.
In January, members of Morris' team aim to present their findings at the annual Pacific Northwest Wheat Quality council meeting in San Antonio, Texas.
Falling numbers refers to the stage at which starch and protein start to break down in a wheat kernel. Wide temperature swings in May and June on the Palouse contributed in some areas to the phenomenon.
The threshold number is set at 300, anything below is deemed lacking, which affects sales.
The term is LMA – late maturity alpha-amylase – the change in the kernel from starch to sugar.
The 300 refers to 300 seconds in the test method of how long a small plunger takes to sink through a mixture of ground flour and water.
Measurements
The stirring numbers test uses a two-inch high, 1.25-inches in diameter propeller which drops into a ground flour and water mixture in an aluminum cylinder. It is then stirred under heat.
“It's the same notion as making gravy on the stove,” Morris said.
Both falling and stirring tests record the viscosity of ground wheat.
As part of the research, the USDA lab bakes cookies and cakes, taking physical measurements – diameter of cookies, volume of cakes – to determine how one sample fares compared to another.
For the two projects, an estimated 55 samples have been baked, including 225 cakes and 110-112 pairs of cookies.
The projects have no name yet.
Ultimately, they may lead to a conclusion on the significance and threshold of falling numbers. Essentially, how much of a difference is there in a cake baked with flour made from falling-numbers wheat compared to higher-numbers wheat?
The threshold refers to, while 300 is likely to remain the baseline for top quality wheat, the market may change for more cost-conscious wheat buyers around the world.
“(Our research) could influence certain overseas' buyers attitudes toward falling numbers,” Morris said.
The work
In the two projects, two sets of samples are being used. One is a grower sample, which means researchers don't know the varieties or where they are from. The second is a controlled sample, a small handful of genetically pure varieties from 20 locations.
The next step is to do a comparative milling and baking analysis, followed by stirring number tests.
“The question is how well does it agree with the falling number?” said Morris. “Is it a better predictor of cake quality?”
In the cake test – along with a cookie test - the food's measurements provide results.
The cookies and cakes are discarded after testing.
Three elements are in play. One, falling numbers; two, stirring numbers, and three, alpha-amylase, the enzyme that breaks down starch.
“The underlying bad guy,” said Morris. “It indirectly reveals its activity, or harm, through falling numbers and stirring numbers.”
Change in plans
The lab's intention is to pinpoint the drop in quality for less-premium wheat.
“In theory, a high falling number gives you a better cake than a low falling number,” Morris said. “Is there a particular point in falling numbers where quality starts to go down?”
The stirring numbers test is another angle on it.
“The question is why has the U.S. Industry never adopted it,” said Morris. “I may have a partial answer to that when we complete these two studies. It's sort of like the SAT and ACT, which is better....? One metric is which test is better correlated with end-use quality.”
The lab's work was spurred by the 2016 harvest.
“The first time we've devoted the amount of resources to (this type of research) is this year,” Morris said.
In order to take on the two unexpected projects, Morris assigned staff who routinely conduct research to these particular experiments, while delaying and priortizing some of the lab's breeder work.
“This year kind of threw everybody off-balance, so to speak,” said Glen Squires, CEO of Washington Grain Commission, noting the falling numbers phenomena in the same year of a giant winter wheat yield.
A total of 157 million bushels of wheat were harvested in Washington in 2016, compared to 111 a year before.
Cookies and cakes
The endpoint of Morris' team's work is to produce a report, which will be submitted for publication in “Cereal Chemistry,” an International Journal based in Egan, Minn.
WSU houses one of four wheat quality laboratories in the United States.
Inside, many Japanese sponge cakes are made – as many as 4,000 per year – along with standard cookies.
“Lab rat cookies,” said Morris.
Cookies and cakes are used for testing because they are model examples for uses of soft white wheat.
“Bread really isn't sensitive to falling numbers,” Morris said.
Reasons
Alecia Kiszonas, Ph.D, Research Biologist, is one of Morris' colleagues in the lab.
Earlier this month, Kiszonas and Doug Engle, a USDA Food Technologist, presented an overview and preliminary results for the projects at Coeur d'Alene.
“Falling numbers and stirring numbers are testing the after-effects of alpha-amylase,” she said. “The consequence of the alpha-amylase in the kernel. Cake quality goes inversely to this.”
In the rate of falling numbers, discounts to buyers come into play at below 300.
“It was a hard year,” Kiszonas said of 2016. “Just a tough year. Unlucky. Unlucky to have the rain incidents like we did then LMA (late maturity alpha-amylase). Especially in a year when we got such low wheat prices. Our level of concern is a purely scientific and environmental perspective – what all went wrong to make the wheat this way.”
Northwest soft white wheat has a premier reputation around the world.
“LMA is what has made things so weird this year,” Kiszonas said.
At the Wheat lab, one floor above Ferdinand's creamery on the WSU campus, a total of seven people are putting in significant time on these two studies.
In January, Engle and Kiszonas are expected to make the presentation in San Antonio to the Pacific Northwest Wheat Quality Council.
The experiments are mostly complete. What remains is another replication of baking cakes.
The research is paid for by the USDA.
“We serve the people, the growers and the customers,” Kiszonas said. “We undertook this because we thought it was worthwhile and useful. It took a diversion of resources but we were happy to do this.”
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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