Introduction
Germination is the process by which a seed emerges from dormancy, sprouts and grows into a plant. Different plant species will have different germination processes. In general, the seeds require the right combination of conditions to germinate. Water, time, temperature changes, oxygen and even light are some of the factors. Germination occurs when a dry seed soaks up water and metabolic processes begin. The root will grow first to continue providing water and nutrition to the new plant.
The process of germination can be understood in five different stages mentioned below:
The seed’s radicle grows first to form the root, which grows down into the soil and begins to absorb water and minerals from the soil. The plumule then grows upwards to form the shoot.
Why are Germinated Flours beneficial as a Superfood?
Grains like rice, wheat and corn are the one of the major grains in the human diet (Donkor et al., 2012), especially rice and corn, which are widely used in the production of expanded products. Corn is nutritious, providing fibre that aids in digestion, plus folate, thiamin, phosphorus, vitamin C and magnesium, but nutritional enhancement occurs more after germination. The antioxidants (polyphenols and flavonoids) present in these cereals are one of the most active elements of nutritional and functional foods. They can help prevent cellular and oxidative damage in humans by delaying or blocking oxidation processes. Not only cereals, but also pseudocereals such as buckwheat, quinoa, amaranth and underutilized crops like millets and teff are rich in antioxidants, flavonoids, proteins, essential amino acids and minerals. Germination process increases the antioxidant activity of these compounds. (Sharma et al. 2016)

Germinated flour is prepared from germinated grains. Nowadays germinated flours have been trending. They have occupied an important space in the food research field. Along with flavour, germinated flour packs a powerful nutritional punch. There are number of researches which have been conducted over the past few years on germination of cereals and pseudocereals.
Nutritional Enhancement
Grains are rich in nutrients, but germination helps in enhancing their nutrition twice the amount. Most studies have reported that polyphenolic compounds, such as phenolic acids and flavonoids have been characterized in corn (Adom and Liu, 2002). Adom and Liu (2002) determined that the highest total phenolic content was found in corn, followed by wheat, oats and rice. Corn has the potential to be a value-added functional food ingredient for lowering the risk of type 2 diabetes. Germination has been proposed as a low-cost and effective method of improving the nutraceutical quality of cereals, pseudo cereals and legumes (Nelson et al., 2016). Presently, germination is carried out in almost all of the cereals, such as millet (Pradeep and Sreerama, 2015; Sharma et al., 2016), brown rice (Ti et al., 2014), wheat (Zhu et al., 2017; Nelson et al., 2016), sorghum (Singh et al., 2017), oats, barley, rye and buckwheat (Donkor et al., 2012). Grain germination has been proposed as an effective means to not only enhance flavour, but also improve bioavailability of proteins, minerals and vitamins and increase gut-friendly easily fermentable sugars and dietary fibre and antioxidant properties. (Ispiryan et al., 2021)
Sprouted flour is becoming increasingly popular among health-conscious consumers, due to its numerous health benefits. Bakeries and bakery product manufacturers primarily use this flour, but sprouted grains are also grown and milled. Sharma et al., 2016 also reported the development of cookies from germinated minor millet flours and analyzed that cookies were nutritionally rich, as compared to the cookies prepared from the raw millet flours. Similar kind of reports were also published in case of rice, oats, corn, buckwheat, amaranth cookies, which shows that germinated flours could be widely used for the preparation of different kind of food products in a normal household practice that could lead to the development of good health in individuals throughout the world.
Health Benefits
The antioxidants (polyphenols and flavonoids) present in these cereals are one of the most active elements of nutritional and functional foods. They can help prevent cellular and oxidative damage in humans by delaying or blocking oxidation processes, which may further help in preventing cancer. Pseudocereals like buckwheat, amaranth and millets are already less in glycaemic index, which may further be beneficial for diabetic patients. Germination helps in reducing the glycaemic index of flours, thereby making them a superfood no doubt. Germination enhances the mineral in grains, which further helps in absorbing macro and micronutrients in the gut. Added to the benefits of pseudocereals like buckwheat, amaranth, quinoa and some gluten-free grains like millets, these gluten-free grains post germination can be referred to as a superfood for human health.
References:
1. Adom, K. K., & Liu, R. H. (2002). Antioxidant activity of grains. Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, 50(21), 6182-6187.
2. Donkor, O. N., Stojanovska, L., Ginn, P., Ashton, J., & Vasiljevic, T. (2012). Germinated grains–Sources of bioactive compounds. Food chemistry, 135(3), 950-959.
3. Ispiryan, L., Kuktaite, R., Zannini, E., & Arendt, E. K. (2021). Fundamental study on changes in the FODMAP profile of cereals, pseudo-cereals, and pulses during the malting process. Food Chemistry, 343, 128549.
4. Nelson, K., Mathai, M. L., Ashton, J. F., Donkor, O. N., Vasiljevic, T., Mamilla, R., & Stojanovska, L. (2016). Effects of malted and non-malted whole-grain wheat on metabolic and inflammatory biomarkers in overweight/obese adults: a randomised crossover pilot study. Food Chemistry, 194, 495-502.
5. Pradeep, P. M., & Sreerama, Y. N. (2015). Impact of processing on the phenolic profiles of small millets: Evaluation of their antioxidant and enzyme inhibitory properties associated with hyperglycemia. Food chemistry, 169, 455-463.
6. Sharma, S., Saxena, D. C., & Riar, C. S. (2016). Analysing the effect of germination on phenolics, dietary fibres, minerals and γ-amino butyric acid contents of barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentaceae). Food Bioscience, 13, 60-68.
7. Singh, A., Sharma, S., & Singh, B. (2017). Effect of germination time and temperature on the functionality and protein solubility of sorghum flour. Journal of Cereal Science, 76, 131-139.
8. Ti, H., Zhang, R., Zhang, M., Li, Q., Wei, Z., Zhang, Y., … & Ma, Y. (2014). Dynamic changes in the free and bound phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity of brown rice at different germination stages. Food chemistry, 161, 337-344.
9. Zhu, L., Adedeji, A. A., & Alavi, S. (2017). Effect of germination and extrusion on physicochemical properties and nutritional qualities of extrudates and tortilla from wheat. Journal of food science, 82(8), 1867-1875.