Grain Chain Blog

grainchain.com Inspire! competition

Tue, 15 May 2012 14:28:00 GMT

There is still time to enter our fabulous cooking competition but be quick, the deadline is Friday 25 May. Four lucky winners will each receive £500 for their school PLUS a day baking with Paul Hollywood.

Open to food tech teachers from all over the UK, the grainchain.com Inspire! competition is looking for inspirational teachers to inspire their colleagues.

To enter you must submit a single lesson plan including a recipe. The themes include:

Baking for celebration events;
incorporating local ingredients;
celebrating bread making and/or cake making skills
exploring a variety of different flour and grains;
making the most of seasonal foods.

With the Jubilee coming up why not look at our section on baking for celebration events and come up with a lesson plan. We have developed a range of starter activities to kick start your creative journey. Our Street Party Challenge presentation includes a direct challenge for your students along with bright photography and topical information.

Give it a go today - with four prizes up for grabs you could be in luck.

Farming and weather activity sheets

Wed, 02 May 2012 08:58:00 GMT

Rain rain go away come again another day ...

Oh the irony of a housepipe ban and a week of rain! Learn more about the growing cycle of wheat including an investigation of average monthly rainfall and sunshine throughout the year via grainchain.com’s Farming Our Food activity sheet. It was designed for 7-11 year olds though with a word version available it can be easily adapted to suit younger or older children also.

Wheat into Flour: New classroom resource and video

Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:43:00 GMT

We have recently completed work on reissuing our most popular resource: Wheat into Flour. It is an A4 booklet with small samples of different stages of the milling process which shows children of all ages how wheat gets converted into flour. To help bring the whole process to life we have also filmed inside a modern flour mill to show you the machinery behind your food.

To order a copy of the booklet please email us: grainchain@nabim.org.uk. The booklet is stricly limited to one per school. The video can be viewed on our YouTube channel.

We will also be attending the Schools Farm and County Fair on Thursday 26 April. Once again grainchain.com will be making bread rolls with the children of Suffolk and also promoting our new resource to their teachers.

The Inspire! Competition is still open to food tech teachers of 11-14 year olds. We are looking for just a single lesson plan plus a flour-based recipe. There will be four winning schools who will each receive £500 to go towards enhancing food tech in their school; plus all winners will be invited to a baking day with Paul Hollywood, which will take place on Friday 22 June in London.

Baking Conferences

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 12:34:00 GMT

grainchain.com has completed its four scheduled CPD conferences for food tech teachers. These took place in London, Manchester, Glasgow and Belfast. Delegates completed a practical baking session under the tutelage of a master baker as well as receiving theoretical presentations on nutrition, consumer eating habits and an overview of grainchain.com resources.

Videos of the baking demonstrations on pastry, bread, biscuits and cakes will be available soon, as will copies of the presentations.

Feedback has been immense, and we are planning to run more sessions in the future. If you would be interested in attending a future event please email us: grainchain@n abim.org.uk

The conferences were devised to support teachers to enter our Inspire! Competition. The closing date is Friday 4 May 2012. We are looking for inspiring food tech teachers to provide a lesson plan and a recipe centring around flour. There are four prizes of £500 each towards enhancing practical food tech in your school PLUS a day baking with Paul Hollywood in London. Who could resist?

grainchain.com recently become a TES partner. Our profile page can be found here. Partnership allows us to embed videos and games as well as giving us the opportunity to promote our resources.

grainchain.com Inspire! competition

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 09:32:00 GMT

Are YOU free on Friday 22 June? Do YOU want to win a day with Paul Hollywood? Do YOU teach food? Do YOU teach 11-14 year olds? Do YOU teach in the UK?

Celebrity baker Paul Hollywood is supporting the grainchain.com Inspire! competition for a second year. The competition asks teachers to submit a single lesson plan which stimulates learning around one of five areas. These are: baking for celebration events; incorporating local ingredients; celebrating bread and cake making; exploring a variety of flour and grainc; and making the most of seasonal foods. There will be four prizes of £500 to enhance food work in school as well as a baking master class with Paul with the chance to ask him your questions and to get some baking tips to take back to the classroom.

We have also developed a range of resources to springboard your ideas and to get your creative juices flowing. We have starter activities, main activities and suggestions for plenary and extention activities. Use all or some or none of these in your competition entry. Remember, we just want one lesson plan. Reinvent a tried and tested old favourite or try out something new with your G&T students.

Pancake day is coming up - you could use that to kick start your competition entry under the banner of baking for celebration events?

For further details or to download an entry form visit www.grainchain.com/competitions. The competition closes on 4 May.

Shrove Tuesday; pancake day; mardi gras

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:05:00 GMT

Shrove Tuesday AKA Pancake Day AKA Mardi Gras falls on Tuesday 21 February 2012 and is the last day before Lent. Lent is a time of abstinence, of giving things up – so Shrove Tuesday is the final chance to indulge oneself and eat foods that aren’t allowed during Lent. Pancakes are eaten on this day because they contain fat, butter and eggs which were forbidden. Today Christians traditionally give up one thing, such as chocolate, for Lent. In days gone by there was a whole week of celebrations and in other parts of the world the celebrations are still very extravagant. The carnivals held in New Orleans and Rio de Janeiro originate from the celebrations preceding Lent. In fact the word carnival comes from the Latin meaning ‘removal of meat’ which refers to the early Christian Lentern diet.

Why don’t you make a mask to wear in the Mardi Gras festival and/or try out one of our pancake recipes. The savoury and sweet mini pancake recipes even have an accompanying video.

Savoury pancakes

Sweet mini pancakes

Pancakes and summer berry compote

After all that cooking why not visit our section Making and Baking: The Science and Technology and discover what makes bread rise; how making bread at home differs from commercial bread making; some of the different types of bread available; and what the symbols and numbers on the label of a loaf of bread mean. Or why not watch a video on the industrial bread process.

And don’t forget, before you begin any cooking session please make sure you are familiar with the health and safety checklist.

Farmhouse Breakfast Week: 22 - 28 January 2012

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 12:11:00 GMT

Farmhouse Breakfast Week returns from 22 – 28 January 2012. This well established campaign aims to reduce the number of people who skip breakfast by encouraging them to Shake Up Their Wake Up. Organisers HGCA are keen for nurseries, primary schools, secondary schools and colleges to get involved to help implant healthy breakfast habits from a young age.

Thousands of children skip breakfast every day yet studies from across the globe show that eating a healthy balanced breakfast can benefit their mood, concentration and energy levels, meaning they are more likely to perform better at school.

Throughout the week itself (22 – 28 January 2012), hundreds of events will be taking place across the country to celebrate the most important meal of the day. So why not hold a Shake Up Your Wake Up breakfast event at your school and challenge everyone to shake up their morning routine.

If your school already holds a regular breakfast club, Farmhouse Breakfast Week is the perfect opportunity to hold a special event, or if you’ve been thinking of starting a breakfast club then now is the time!

Visit www.shakeupyourwakeup.com for suggestions and ideas for classroom activities and breakfast club events, and tips on publicising your events. It is here you can also register your breakfast events and order free resources including stickers and posters.

Here on the grainchain.com site there are a variety of breakfast-based activities and resources. For both 7-11 and 11-14 year olds there is the Design a Better Breakfast unit, which also boasts three helpful videos to support the work. The aims are to encourage breakfast consumption by demonstrating that there is an almost infinite variety of options of what to eat to break your night-long fast. Ideas for toast toppings and assorted cereal supplements should ensure that, with a little forethought and planning, everyone can design and prepare a nutritious healthy breakfast to suit their taste, timeframe and budget.

Alternatively you could try one of the delicious breakfast recipes on the site in our Best Breakfast section; eggs and berries feature heavily – even together. (As pancakes!)

Also available is a classroom poster: Breakfasts Around the World, which is available free of charge. Investigate whether breakfast meals differ in hot and cold countries; which nations eat out most at breakfast time; and which feast upon leftovers first thing. To order your copy please email us at grainchain@nabim.org.uk

Healthy eating healthy living

Mon, 09 Jan 2012 14:22:00 GMT

Welcome in the new year by introducing or recapping healthy eating and healthy living with your students.

grainchain.com have a host of resources to help with this. Teaching objectives cover:

What is energy
how to measure energy
how energy is provided by food
the different food groups
the role of food in the diet
the Eatwell plate
the foundations of a healthy balanced diet
designing and planning a healthy breakfast.

For the 7-11 age group you can use the topic Energy in energy out which consists of two lesson plans, information pages, an interactive whiteboard game and some activity sheets.

Also for this age group is Food for life a three lesson topic again with information pages, interactive white board activities and also videos.

For 11-14 year olds our topic Healthy eating healthy living uses a range of resources including information pages, IWB games and activity sheets to explore food groups and test for fat, starch and protein.

Also for that age group are is the topic The balancing act: energy in energy out. This lesson looks at the role of energy; how we get this from food; the pattern of energy intake during the day and goes on to creating and planning meals and menus.

Children cooking at home

Mon, 21 Nov 2011 08:56:00 GMT

Children’s understanding and experience of food issues is better than many people think, according to the results of research recently carried out with over 2,500 school-age children.

The research, commissioned by the Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board (AHDB) in conjunction with Farming and Countryside Education (FACE), found that 79 percent of children aged 7 to 11 said they had cooked at home, with 32 percent doing so on a regular basis (once a week). The children described making snacks and sandwiches and helping parents prepare meals as experiences of cooking at home, alongside more traditional activities such as baking cakes.

grainchain.com has created a new Families section within the main website. Incorporated in this section is a recipe section where each month a selection of recipes are showcased including a recipe for bread; a breakfast or lunch recipe; a main meal and a sweet or savoury bake. November’s recipes include pizza scones; cauliflower cheese; and iced fairy cakes.

National School Meals Week

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 09:59:00 GMT

It's National School Meals Week so why not take this opportunity to teach your students where their daily bread comes from. What the wheat needs to grow strong and healthy in the fields; how it is harvested and then transported to the mill; how the miller uses his skill to grind and blend the wheat to create the best possible flour for the baker to turn into nutritious healthy bread.

We have a range of videos, worksheets, information pages and recipes to tell the story of the journey of wheat seed to bread. For the 5-7 age range click here; for the 7-11 age range click here.

Celebrations, recipes and competitions

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 08:51:00 GMT

This is a busy time of year for celebrations. No sooner have we finished harvest and Diwali celebrations and than we move on to Halloween, Guy Fawkes Nights and Eid Al Adha.

For Guy Fawkes Night why not bake some traditional Yorkshire Parkin. There is a delicious recipe on our sister organisation's website. Start baking soon though as the cake is best left for a few days before eating.

Eid Al Adha is an Islamic festival which in the Gregorian calendar falls this year on 6 November. Celebrations include family meals, most typically lunches and late breakfasts. This month our new Families section is showcasing Strawberry 'yoghurt' and cinnamon dippers which is a brilliant recipe for a leisurely breakfast and one which children of all ages will be able to enjoy preparing; and a fantastic Pizza scone recipe which is ideal for a shared lunch or for school lunches later in the week. The scone base means that the pizzas are prepared and baked in a fraction of the time of a traditional pizza.

grainchain.com has recently it's Inspire! competition. Have you got what it takes to inspire your teaching colleagues? Do you cook with flour in the classroom? We are looking for inspirational lesson plans involving the practical use of flour which stimulate learning in one of the following five areas:

baking for celebration events
exploring a variety of different flour and grains;
incorporating local ingredients;
making the most of seasonal foods;
celebrating bread making and/or cake making skills.

So if you do some work on the celebrations above, why not enter our Inspire! competition. You could win a baking masterclass with Paul Hollywood as well as £500 for your school. For more details see www.grainchain.com/competitions

Learning begins in the classroom

Mon, 10 Oct 2011 13:45:00 GMT

Welcome to the new look grainchain.com website. We asked for your feedback and based on this we have launched our new and improved educational resource for teachers.

grainchain.com remains a curriculum linked resource for teachers but also includes a new families section so that learning can continue outside of the classroom. It provides teachers with all of the educational resources they need in order to teach children about where grain based foods come from and their nutritional value. As well as resources such as lesson plans, activity sheets and interactive whiteboard activities to help teachers with their lesson planning, the site also includes many fun and exciting games, videos, podcasts and recipes which children will enjoy playing, watching, listening to and trying out. These interactive, educational activities and easy to make recipes, not only develop children’s knowledge of grain based foods but also build their cooking ability and confidence.

Furthermore, an events section has been created to give you the lowdown on food related, educational events which are taking place up and down the country such as the Taste Adventure with Slow Food UK. Teachers can also find information on how to get involved in the cooking demonstrations and continuing professional development (CPD) opportunities that grainchain.com offers. Furthermore, the new families section of the website means that learning can also be taken out of the classroom environment and back into the home.

Grainchain homepage

Fri, 27 Apr 2012 16:09:00 GMT

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UN International Day of Friendship: 30 July

Mon, 01 Aug 2011 15:42:00 GMT

The United Nations, as part of its Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, has designated 30 July as the International Day of Friendship.

The UN recognises the importance and value of friendships. Friendships, between individuals, countries, organisations, and cultures can inspire peace, transcend differences and provide opportunities to grow. grainchain.com has a handout on special days for families and friends which investigates how celebrations for individuals vary across cultures from Saints Days in Italy to Mother’s and Father’s Days.

The end of term might be an ideal opportunity to reaffirm the friendships between your students before the long summer break. Why not get them making cards or cooking fairy cakes to share.

Energy balance and healthy eating: Lesson plans, teaching resources and a fun game

Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:20:00 GMT

One-in-eight parents thinks that their children are fat – and most of them confess to being part of the problem; by giving them foods high is sugar and/or fat. Half of them would also like to do more exercise with their children but cited lack of time as an issue, a study revealed yesterday.

Parents and schools can help with a whole-family or whole-school approach. grainchain.com has developed a number of teaching resources looking at getting the right balance of food to match lifestyle of each individual.

You can teach your class how to measure their activity using pedometers (which are available from as little as £2 each) and using the Eat Well plate they can design their own healthy balanced menu.

We have lesson plans, activity sheets and complimentary resources on energy balance and healthy eating for both the 7-11 and the 11-14 age groups. Follow the links below to download them. They are all free of charge and there is no registration necessary.

7-11 Lesson plans and classroom resources

11-14 Lesson plans and cl assroom resources

Also available is a fun, end of year activity – The Energenie Energy Trail. An online interactive board game where children play individually rolling the dice, answering questions, avoiding forfeits and getting round the board. You can play here.

Pasta is the world’s favourite food

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 11:16:00 GMT

Pasta, in all its shapes and sizes, is loved the world over and can now call itself the world’s favourite food. In a global survey by Oxfam, pasta has overtaken other staples such as meat and rice to be the most widely eaten food as it soars in popularity in countries such as Brazil and South Africa.

Italy remains the number one producer and consumer of pasta.

Each region of Italy has its own variations and specialities. The most popular shapes are conchiglie (shells) and farfalle (bow ties).

By Italian law, all pasta made there must use durum wheat. This wheat is different to the wheat grown to make bread flour; having a higher gluten content and typically being more golden in colour hence the yellowy colour of pasta.

grainchain.com has a whole section on the science of baking. Aimed at 11-14 year olds this section aims to uncover the science behind the remarkable natural processes involved in making bread rise including the role that gluten plays.

You may also like to indulge in the world’s favourite foodstuff and get cooking. We have a quick, simple, tasty and nutritious recipe for tuna pasta bake that should feed a group of four.

Drought declaration in East of England may reduce crop yields

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:05:00 GMT

A drought will be declared later today (Friday 9 June) in parts of the East Midlands and East Anglia. The Government says that certain parts of the surrounding areas are experiencing their driest spring conditions since 1990.

The Environment Secretary, Caroline Spelman, will hold a ‘drought summit’ today involving farmers, water companies, the Met Office, and business and environmental groups to review the impacts of the weather and discuss strategies.

Farmers in the Fens have offered to irrigate crops at night which would reduce evaporation thereby using less water.

The National Farmers’ Union says the drought could reduce yields of wheat and barley in affected areas by up to 20 per cent; but added that this was unlikey to change food prices as these are determined globally.

grainchain.com has a number of complementary resources to this story. They are all free of charge, easy to download and mostly available in an editable format. Why not explore with your students how their food is grown; how farmers manage productivity today with sustainability tomorrow; the contribution farming makes to the economy; and the UK wheat market. Housed within two sections on sustainable development, these resources are written for 11-14 and 14-16 age ranges.

Also, for the 14-16 age group we have developed a podcast where teenager Katie explores food prices and food shortages.

The best things in life really are free

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:19:00 GMT

A recent survey of more than 2,000 people across the UK found that the simple things in life really are the best. Laughter was rated the most important pleasure – and it doesn’t cost a penny. Sharing great food with good friends closely followed with 21 per cent of people describing it as their favourite pleasure.

Here at grainchain.com we aim to please. Our site is full of easy-to-follow, easy-to-cook and great-to-share recipes for all occassions. From breakfast and brunch items such as pancakes and summer berry compote; perfect party food including cheese straws and fairy cakes, main meals like the sensational spicy bean burger with coleslaw and delicious desserts like sweet choux buns.

also offer a range of curriculum linked, free resources which aim to teach children where their food comes from, the nutritional value of grain-based food and the skills required to cook with them.

Resources are linked to the curriculum in all areas of the UK; and are easily accessible by both subject (design & technology, geography and science) and by age range. Take a look today!

World Environment Day: Sunday 5 June 2011

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:25:00 GMT

Welcome to your quick guide to celebrating World Environment Day (WED) on 5 June, 2011.

This year, WED supports the UN’s International Year of Forests with the theme, Forests: Nature at Your Service, which underscores the many essential life-sustaining values that forests provide and the intrinsic link between our quality of life and the health of forest ecosystems.

For all seven billion of us, our present and our future depend on conserving and restoring the world’s forests. On WED, why not resolve to do more to ensure that we continue to enjoy the important services that forests provide, in our generation and the next.

On the grainchain.com site you will find a section aimed at 14-16 year olds, but which can be adapted for other ages, focusing on all aspects of wheat farming including sustainable development, the use of pesticides and a case study of a real life farm. Also relevant is a podcast on ‘food and values’ which investigates factors influencing consumers in the food choices they make.

Eating breakfast helps weight maintenance

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:30:00 GMT

An article published in Obesity journal found that eating breakfast reduces food cravings, while those that skip breakfast can end up snacking and overeating, especially at night.

Currently it is thought that as many as six out of 10 adolescents skip breakfast; so researchers at the University of Missouri conducted a three-week study of a group of teenagers who usually skip breakfast. One group continued to miss breakfast while the other group now consumed a 500-calorie breakfast containing cereal and milk. At the end of each week volunteers completed a questionnaire and underwent a brain scan.

Finding show that those who ate breakfast felt fuller and less hungry throughout the day than breakfast skippers. Brain scans show that breakfast eaters experienced less activity in the areas responsible for controlling food motivation and reward.

grainchain.com has several related resources for various age groups. For 7-11 and 11-14 year olds we have complete sections on balancing energy input with energy output which also includes a section to design ones own breakfast.

Healthy active lifestyle with grainchain.com

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:37:00 GMT

Ahead of their Annual Shareholder Meeting, McDonalds have faced pressure from campaigners to stop advertising to children.

Hundreds of healthcare professionals have signed an open letter written by campaign group Corporate Accountability International, stating

“Our community is devoted to caring for sick children and preventing illness through public education … But our efforts cannot compete with the hundreds of millions of dollars you spend each year directly marketing to kids.”

McDonalds says it promotes important messages to children on safety, literacy and balanced active lifestyles as well as providing a diverse menu with healthier options available.

For more information on healthy balanced lifestyles visit grainchain.com. It boasts two sections on energy balance both bursting with lesson plans, activity sheets and information pages. Designed for ages 7-11 and 11-14.

Rainfall, wheat crops and farming: some activity sheets

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 14:47:00 GMT

While most of us are enjoying the glorious temperate weather, farmers are hoping for rain; and lots of it. Trade magazine The Grocer warned: “Supplies of British fruit and vegetables, as well as grains, such as wheat, could come under serious pressure if the dry spell continues.”

Learn more about the growing cycle of wheat including an investigation of average monthly rainfall and sunshine throughout the year via grainchain.com’s Farming Our Food activity sheet. It was designed for 7-11 year olds though with a word version available it can be easily adapted to suit younger or older children also.

The best thing since sliced bread?

Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:00:00 GMT

An article in today’s Times (The best thing that’s ever happened to sliced bread, Thursday 12 May 2011) investigates a great British invention: the sandwich. Rumoured to have been invented in 1762 when the 4th Earl of Sandwich, John Montagu, wanted a meal that he could eat during his card game and requested sliced beef in between pieces of toast.

I was brought up in a world full of pre-packaged sandwiches and it seems incredulous that it is just 30 years since the first one hit the shelves: at Marks and Spencers. Salmon and tomato apparently. Swifly followed by the now-retro prawn mayonnaise in 1981.

grainchain.com offers lots of resources and recipes for bread and flour. Take a look at our section on where bread comes from to find out how wheat from the fields gets transformed into something we can eat; or be inspired by some of our tasty lunchtime recipes. Try pitta pockets, or either tuna or ham & cheese wraps.