There are local alternatives to imported wheat flour.
Over a fourth of the wheat that feeds the world with bread, pastries, pastas and packaged foods comes from Russia and Ukraine. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has now turned the bread line that much longer.
Filipinos need not despair, if agriculture and science stand up to the challenge — and the public adopt enough sense to innovate.
The technology to process local crops into flour is basically for the taking. It’s just a matter of raising the production of these crops to fill the potential demand.
For example, the Food and Nutrition Research Institute (FNRI) of the Department of Science and Technology has developed flour from shredded coconut meat, known as sapal or the coconut residue left after extracting the coconut milk.
Coconut flour can be used as alternative to wheat flour. The technology for producing coconut flour from the residue is simple and only requires locally available equipment.
According to FNRI, coconut flour has a total dietary fiber content that is even greater than the popular dietary fiber sources like oat brand and flaxseed.
As such, increased intake of high-fiber food was found to be effective in elimination of waste, sugar and fat from the body. It is recommended as a dietary control of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer, according to FNRI scientists.
They say coconut flour is a readily available source of dietary fiber that is used in products such as extruded snacks, processed meat, breakfast cereals and baked bread such as the Filipino staple, hot pan de sal.
To ease the impact of less flour that comes in, there is flour made from sweet potato (camote), cassava, banana and arrowroot.
FNRI has developed flour products from coconut, corn, rice and mongo.
