Wheat Classes in The World

flourpedia.com - There are thousands of wheat varieties around the world. Of commercial significance are two species : soft or common (Triticum aestivum), and durum (Triticum durum). 

The major exporting countries have developed various classification systems to ensure uniformity in milling, processing and baking properties. According USDA the overall wheat production is estimated at 655 million tons for the 2012-2013 crop. 

Out of that 138 million tons are traded. The picture below demonstrates the share of each major exporting country.

Share of annual wheat export for 2012-2013

Population growth in various parts of the developing world combined with strong economic growth have increased demand for food and feed wheat. 

This demand is driven mainly by countries with low incomes and expanding populations in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Yemen, and Oman) and North Africa (Egypt, Algeria, and Morocco), Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam) and Latin America (Brazil and Mexico).

U.S. Wheat Classes

U.S. has six wheat classes, each determined by the hardness of the kernel, color and planting time. Each class is also divided into grades based on the test weight per bushel and the percent of defects and count of other material.

The six classes of U.S. wheat as well as their main characteristics are listed below :

• Hard Red Winter (HRW) is an important, versatile bread wheat with excellent milling and baking characterictics. It has medium to high protein (10-13%), medium to hard endosperm, red bran, medium gluten content, and mellow gluten. It is used in pan breads, Asian noodles, hard rolls, flat breads, and general purpose flour

• Hard Red Spring (HRS) has high protein (12-15%), hard endosperm, red bran, strong gluten, and high water absorption. It is used in pan breads, hearth breads, rolls, croissants, bagels, hamburger buns, pizza crust, and flour blending

• Hard White (HW) is the newest class of U.S. wheat ideal for Asian noodles, whole wheat bread and high extraction flour applications, pan bread and flat bread.

• Soft Red Winter (SRW) is a high-yielding wheat with low protein (8.5-10.5%), soft endosperm, red bran, and weak gluten. It is used in pastries, cakes, cookies, crackers, pretzels, flat breads, and for blending flours

• Soft White (SW) has low protein (8.5-10.5%) and low moisture, and provides very good milling results. It is used in biscuits, cakes, pastries, flat breads, noodles, and snack foods

• Durum (DU) wheat is the hardest of the wheat classes with a high protein content (12-15%), yellow endosperm, and white bran. It is used in pasta, couscous, and some bread.

French Wheat Classes

In 2012, wheat production in France was 36 million metric tons (Harvest 2012, France Agrimer p.2) There are a large number of wheat varieties grown in France, the main ones being Apache, Altigo, Arezzo, Bermude and Expert. 

All these varieties are organized in flour classes whose characteristic are shown in table.

Classes	Protein %(db)	Alveograph         W (10-4 J)	Harberg         Falling Number (s)
E	≥12	≥ 250	≥ 220
1	11-12.5	160-250	≥ 220
2	10.5-11.5	As specified in contract	≥ 180
3	<10.5	Not Specified	Not Specified

German Wheat Classes

Table shows the characteristic of the various German classes as well as the relative proportion of each class for the 2012 – 2013 crop.

Quality Group	Relative Proportion    (%)	Protein Content                % (db)	Sedimentation Value  mL
Elite ( E )	12.5	13.3	56
Blending Wheat ( A )	55.9	12.8	48
Bread Wheat (B)	19.5	12.5	39
Other Wheat ( C )	8.0	10.4	22
Unknown	4.1	9.7	35

Canadian Wheat Classes

The major part of wheat grown and exported in Canada comes from the western part of the country. Following are the Western Canada classes (Picture)

• Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS)

• Canada Western Red Winter (CWRW)

• Canada Western Extra Strong (CWES)

• Canada Western Prairie Spring Red (CPSR)

• Canada Prairie Spring White (CPSW)

• Canada Western Amber Durum (CWAD)

• Canada Western Soft White Spring (CWSWS)

• Canada Western Hard White Spring (CWHWS)

• Canada Western General Purpose (CWGP)

Sample kernels from each of the 8 milling classes of western Canadian Wheat :

Each class might be further divided into grades based on test weight, the percent of defects and count of other material. The main exporting classes are the Canadian Western Red Spring and the Canadian Amber Durum. According to the Canadian Grain Commission, the characteristics of each class are :

• Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat is hard wheat with superior milling and baking quality. It is offered at various guaranteed protein levels (13%, 13.5% and 14%)

• Canada western Hard White Spring (CWHWS) wheat is hard white spring wheat consisting of superior milling quality producing flour with excellent color. It is suitable for bread and noodle production

• Canada Western Amber Durum (CWAD) is a durum wheat producing a high yield of semolina with excellent pasta-making quality

• Canada Western Extra Strong (CWES) is a hard red spring wheat with extra-strong gluten suitable for blending purposes and for special breads. There are two milling grades in the CWES class

• Canada Prairie Spring Red (CPSR) is a medium-strength wheat suitable for the production of certain types of heart breads, flat breads, steamed breads, noodles and related products. There are two milling grades in the CPSR class

• Canada Western Red Winter (CWRW) is a hard wheat with very good milling quality suitable for the production of a wide variety of products including French breads, flat breads, steamed breads, noodles and related products. There are two milling grades in the CWRW class

• Canada Prairie Spring White (CPSW) is a medium-strength wheat suitable for the production of various types of flat breads, noodles, chapattis and related products. There are two milling grades in the CPSW class

• Canada Western Soft White Spring (CWSWS) is a soft wheat of low protein content suitable for the production of cookies, cakes and pastry as well as various types of flat breads, noodles, steamed breads and chapattis. There are three milling grades in the CWSWS class

• Canada Western General Purpose (CWGP) is a lower protein wheat suitable for animal feed and industrial processing; it is not intended for milling

Australian Wheat Classes

There are several wheat classes in Australia, which include hundreds of wheat varieties. According to the Australian Wheat Board, their characteristics are the following:

Australian Prime Hard Wheat

Australian Prime Hard Wheat has a guaranteed minimum protein level of 13 and 14%, and is the top quality high protein millin wheat.

Australian Prime Hard is made from selected white hard-grained wheat varieties of exceptional milling quality.

Flour milled from Australian Prime Hard is used to produce Chinese style yellow alkaline noodles and Japanes Ramen Noodles. It is also suitable for the production of high protein, high volume breads

Australian Hard Wheat

Australian Hard Wheat consists of specific hard grained white wheat varieties selected for superior milling performance and excellent dough quality. It is segregated at a guaranteed minimum protein level of 11.5%.

The flour derived from Australian Hard Wheat is ideally suited to the production of a wide range baked products including European style pan and hearth breads, Middle Eastern flat breads and Chinese steamed products such as Mantou and Pao, as well as Chinese style yellow alkaline noodles.

Australian Premium White Wheat

Australian Premium White Wheat consists of a blend of hard grained white wheat varieties selected to ensure consistent high milling performance and flour quality at excellent extraction rates. Australian Premium White is delivered with a guaranteed minimum protein level of 10%.

Australian Premium White is ideal for the production of a variety of Asian noodles, including Hokkien, instant and fresh noodles. It is also suitable for Middle Eastern and Indian style breads and Chinese steamed bread

Australian Standard White Wheat

Australian Standard White Wheat is a highly versatile medium to low protein white wheat products representing excellent value for straight milling or blending purposes.

This multi-purpose wheat is used for the production of Middle Eastern, Indian and Iranian style flat breads, European style breads and rolls, and Chinese steamed bread

Noodle Wheat

Noodle Wheat : Australia segregates noodle wheat for the production of both Noodle (Australian Noodle Wheat) and White Salted Noodle (Australian Premium White Noodle Wheat).

Australian Noodle Wheat varieties are blended for export with hard wheat products, ensuring the supply of high quality wheat to the Japanese and South Korean markets

Australian Soft Wheat

Austrlian Soft Wheat is a unique blend of white, soft-grained club wheat varieties, and is segregated at a guaranteed maximum protein level of 9.5%. it is an outstanding product, and is consistently clean and dry. It mills to produce low ash flour at straight-run extraction rates.

Flour devided from Australian Soft Wheat is perfect for producing a wide range of confectionary and baked product including sweet biscuits, cookies, pastries, cakes, steamed buns and snack foods

Australian Durum Wheat

Australian Durum Wheat consists of selected wheat varieties with vitreous, amber colored kernels with a minimum protein level of 13%. This grain is capable of achieving high yields of superior quality semolina with minimal residual flour production.

The semolina produced from this specialized wheat exhibits high levels of stable yellow pigment and high water absorption, making it ideally suited to the production of a wide range of high quality wet and dry pasta products and couscous

Australian General Purpose

Australian General Purpose Wheat comprises wheat that has failed to meet the stringent Australian receival standards for one of the major grades. It si received every harvest and is sold as a general purpose milling wheat 

Indian Wheat Classes

There are five Indian wheat classes and their Characteristics are listed in Table :

Class	Protein (%)	Test Weight (kg/HL)	Moisture (%)	Dry Gluten (%)	Application
Hard bread wheat	> 12	> 80	11	9	Fermented & non-fermented breads
Medium hard bread wheat	>10	>78	11	9	Non-fermented breads
Soft bread wheat	>9.5	>75	12	7	Biscuits
Durum Wheat	>12	>78	11		Pasta & Semolina
Dicoccum	>13	>78	10		Breakfast cereal, extruded products

Russian Wheat Classes

The term “wheat” is most often understood as soft wheat. In Russia, soft wheat share exceeds 95% of the entire wheat sown area.

All vatieties of soft wheat according to the baking quality of flour strength (flour ability to form dough with certain physical properties) are divided into three groups : strong, medium strong, and weak. 

Strong wheat is characterized by high content of gluten with good quality. GOST R 52554 – 2006 (State Standard) includes soft wheat of I and II classes. 

Flour produced from this wheat helps produce dough with superior elasticity and good stability, enabling the retention of carbon dioxide during dough fermentation, proofing and baking. 

Such properties allow for the production of high quality bread and make this kind of flour most suitable for automated dough making process. It is also used as an improver for low gluten flours.

Medium strong wheat, or III class, is medium in strength but characterized by good baking performance. Flour from this wheat delivers satisfactory bread quality and does not require use of strong wheat flour.

Weak wheat contains less than 18% gluten, or very low quality gluten. Flour made from this wheat has poor baking properties. The food wheat includes I, II, III and IV classes; wheat of V class can be used as feed or industrial raw material, mainly for ethanol distillation.

Durum wheat consists of full glassy kernels and is used exclusively to produce semolina for pasta. Since high quality pasta can be produced from the flour made of I and II classes, durum wheat is only the grain that fulfills higher quality requirements.

The state Register covers 421 varieties of wheat, including 176 varieties of winter wheat (IV type), 184 varieties of spring wheat of I, III types, 57 varieties of hard wheat of II type. The requirements of soft and hard wheat quality are demonstrated in this table :

Soft Wheat Characteristics depending on classes :

Name of Characteristic	Characteristic of soft wheat quality of classes
	I	II	III	IV	V
State	Sound, non - heating conditions
Color	Typical sound wheat of certain type
Smell	Typical for sound grain of wheat, without moldy, malty, musty odors, etc.
Protein, % dry basis,          not less	14.5	13.5	12.0	10.0	Not Limited
Wet gluten, %                      not less	32.0	28.0	23.0	18.0	Not Limited
Gluten quality, IDK units, not lower*	45-75	45-75	20-100	20-100	Not Limited
Falling Number, Sec,         not less	200	200	150	80	Not Limited
Virtuosity, %                          not less	60	60	40	Not Limited
Natural weight, g/l,            not less	750	750	730	710	Not Limited
Water Content, %,              not more	14.0	14.0	14.0	14.0	14.0
Foreign matter, %,             not more	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	5.0

Note : * The gluten index IDK expresses the resistance of gluten deformation : the less index the stronger gluten.

Hard Wheat Characteristics depending on classes :

Name of Characteristic	Characteristic of hard wheat quality of classes
	I	II	III	IV	V
State	Sound, non - heating conditions
Color	Typical sound wheat of certain type
Smell	Typical for sound grain of wheat, without moldy, malty, musty odors, etc.
Protein, % dry basis,          not less	13.5	1.5	11.5	10.0	Not Limited
Wet gluten, %                      not less	28.0	25.0	22.0	18.0	Not Limited
Gluten quality, IDK units, not lower*	20-100	20-100	20-100	20-100	Not Limited
Falling Number, Sec,         not less	200	200	150	80	Not Limited
Virtuosity, %                          not less	85	85	70	Not Limited
Natural weight, g/l,            not less	770	745	745	745	Not Limited
Water Content, %,              not more	14.0	14.0	14.0	14.0	14.0
Foreign matter, %,             not more	2.0	2.0	2.0	2.0	5.0

Note : * The gluten index IDK expresses the resistance of gluten deformation : the lower value the stronger gluten

Originally Post At : Novozymes Book