What is enriched flour?

Enriched flour is white flour with added nutrients intended to compensate for the loss of natural nutrients that occur during processing. Each pound (0.45 kg) of flour must contain the following nutrients in order to be considered enriched according to the instructions for food and drug management (FDA): 2.9 milligrams of thiamine, 24 milligrams of niacin, 0.7 milligrams of folic acid, 1.8 milligrams of riboflavin and 20 milligrams of iron. In addition to iron, all these nutrients are vitamins B.

Some enriched flour also contain 960 milligrams or more calcium on the pound. Although some people refer to enriched flour like fortified flour , this term is not correct, because fortified means adding nutrients that have never existed in food.

White flour has first become popular during the medieval period in Europe when it was perceived as cleaner and healthier than untreated flour. It could have been because the piercing necessary to make white flour kill mushrooms, iIf people would not know about this function at the time. White flour remains more popular than other types of flour in the Western world, especially for baking. Compared to darker flour, however, white flour lacks many basic nutrients. Enriched flour combines the taste and texture of white flour with nutrients found naturally in untreated flour.

Peruvian-American chemist Benjamin R. Jacobs was the first to discover the nutritional shortcomings of white flour and proposed ways to correct the problem in the 1920s. During World War II, Jacobs' methods were widely promoted in the UK and the United States. The enriched flour offered a way to ensure that the citizens of all social classes eat nutritional food despite the ration. In 1942, the United States Army announced that it would use only enriched flour, Makin -product extremely popular among the United States civilians who wished to prove their supportku. Today, enriched flour remains the most popular type of flour in the United States.