Communicating about flour is difficult, if not impossible, because the word “flour” is used to describe at least three completely different qualities. These are produced from grains grown in at least three different types of agriculture (Demeter/Biodynamic, Organic, Conventional). Yet, none of these common qualities fulfill the original meaning of the word flour.

What then is Flour?

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Flour is obtained by grinding cereal grains—most commonly rice, corn, or bread grains. Bread grains are grains from which one can, unsurprisingly, bake bread. Traditionally, this refers to spelt, wheat, rye, emmer, kamut, and the like.

A bread grain essentially consists of husks that surround the endosperm and the germ. For flour production, the following parts are significant:
ed. Endosperm (The starchy body)
f. Bran or Aleurone layer
k. Germ (The embryo)

Essentially, the endosperm is the food for the germ, while the bran envelops and protects the whole structure. The germ consists of the actual embryo and a thin membrane that separates the embryo from the endosperm. This membrane is extremely rich in vitamins, bears the resonant name “Scutellum,” and—after germination—initiates the enzymatic breakdown of starch, unlocking the endosperm as food for the germ. The germ, thus nourished, would grow into a new grain plant.

So much for grain and flour in themselves; now let us move on to the different qualities.

… Almost Always: Degerminated Refined Flour

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This is today’s “normal” flour. The global industrial standard.
Imagine it like an egg without a yolk and without a shell - just the egg white - which is called an “egg.” The majority of flours on the market, as well as the various dark-colored flour products made from them, consist of degerminated refined flours.
Most people fill themselves with this quality, and that is a real problem. But more on that later.

… far too often: Heat-Stabilized Flour

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In the case of heat-stabilized flours, the germ is “stabilized” using dry heat, steam, or microwaves and then mixed back into the flour. You can visualize this like an egg where a hard-boiled yolk is floating in raw egg white. It is still labeled an “egg” and marketed as containing a “valuable yolk.”
This practice primarily affects industrially produced whole-grain flours (including organic); refined flours of this type are far less common.
This process is noteworthy for two reasons:

1. Logistics: Modern distribution networks are now so efficient that the natural shelf life of the grain is entirely sufficient for industrial processing. Compared to dairy products, flour is remarkably stable. Therefore, there is no logistical necessity for stabilization.
2. Transparency: Products advertised as having a “valuable germ” conveniently omit the fact that they have been thermally stabilized. While not legally “false,” it is highly misleading, as heat fundamentally alters vitamins, amino acids, and fatty acids. Just like an egg: once cooked it is different than raw.

… Out of Competition: Fortified Flour

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Fortifying means that, on one hand, vitamins (mostly produced by genetically modified microorganisms) are added to replace those previously removed with the germ and bran or, on the other hand, vitamins are mixed in that do not naturally occur in flour at all. Imagine an egg where, instead of the yolk, you find a bit of fish and banana - or and since 2023 insects. This is done to compensate for deficiencies in the population that were previously caused by degermination. Being “clever” can sometimes be very, very stupid. Fortified flours are a excelent example.

… Almost Never: Goldkeim Flour

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This is the quality most people believe they are eating. Goldkeim flour is by no means something new; quite the opposite! It consists of the endosperm, the untreated germ, and the bran in unchanged weight proportions. In other words: simply ground grain. You can imagine it as an egg that actually is one.
For Goldkeim “white” flour (refined), the bran is partially or entirely (not recommended) sifted out. Depending on the type of milling, part of the germ may also be lost in the process.
Apart from the last ~160 years, whenever flour is mentioned in human history, it refers to these Goldkeim qualities from organic agriculture.
It should be clear that Goldkeim flour cannot be genetically modified.

Important Note: “Goldkeim” was coined as a synthetic word for flour to make communication more fluid. Before the creation of the word Goldkeim, a typical dialogue went like this:
“This is bread made from flour from non-GMO organic grain with unchanged weight proportions and a non-heat-stabilized germ.” > “So, whole grain bread?” > “No, because industrial whole grain flours are disassembled into their individual components during milling, and the germ is heat-stabilized.” > “What do you mean, disassembled?” > “The bran and germ are separated from the endosperm and…” > Such conversations were made one despair.

Now: “This bread is made from Spelt Goldkeim Flour.” “What is Goldkeim Flour?” *“You can read about it on the Goldkeim website”. Way! easier!

The word Goldkeim serves purely for the sake of distinction!
Yet, the quality of Goldkeim flour is as old as the relationship between humans and grain itself. Anyone who grinds their own grain at home produces Goldkeim flour - provided it isn’t from genetically modified grain.

Note: Producing Goldkeim flour is easy.
Making non-Goldkeim flour - that is the difficult part!
We have only been capable of doing it since 1860.

Distinguishing Methods of Cultivation

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Grains still come from the field and are cultivated in Biodynamic (Demeter), organic, or conventional agriculture. These differences have a major impact on biodiversity, water (and thus the climate), and, of course, human health.
The term “conventional,” meaning “usual” or “traditional,” would actually apply to ecological agriculture, but it is erroneously used for industrial agriculture based on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. However, as has been quite impressively shown, this is a failed field experiment of the human species, not even 150 years old, which has caused immense damage to people and nature. Therefore, Demeter and organic grains are clearly to be preferred.

Why is Flour Degerminated in the First Place?

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Grains have allegedly been cultivated for 20,000 years. In more than 20 years of research on the subject of flour, however, historical accounts often contradict one another—sometimes it’s 10,000 years, then 100,000. But basically: until 1860, the term “flour” must always have meant Goldkeim quality, as there is no historically documented technology that could have degerminated flour.

The reason for the interrupted “bran line” is that removing the bran was a fad, first mentioned in Egypt in 4000 BC, which reached its peak during the French Revolution.
Part of the “new freedom” was to eat like the previously beheaded nobility, who supposedly ate white flour. From today’s health perspective, this development was revolutionary but unfortunately (albeit unwittingly) very, very stupid. Still, at this time at least the germ was part of flour.
Until the Industrial Revolution began in 1712, grain was stored and ground into flour as needed. This was done either by the people themselves or by small, local mills. Accordingly, there were many mills, spread across the land and dependent on natural energy (wind, animal, human, and water power).
The hallmark of the Industrial (diligent) Revolution (which also means “reversal”) is the increasing disappearance of small, local mills and the emergence of centrally operated large - scale mills.
In 1785, Oliver Evans constructed the first fully mechanized flour mill in the USA. Gradually, natural energy was replaced by thermally generated energy (wood, peat, coal, and oil), and later nuclear energy. Milling was no longer tied to local conditions, but transport routes became longer. Not only was the grain stored, but so was the flour produced industrially for stock.

The Central Problem of Industrial Flour Production

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Producing for stock — combined with long transport routes and relatively slow means of transport (no cars, no railways yet) — collided with the natural shelf life of the flour, specifically that of the germ. When air reaches the germ — which happens during milling — the fats in the germ begin to oxidize; it becomes rancid, giving the flour an unpleasant aftertaste. Depending on the local climate and the quality of the raw material (grain), this process takes, depending on the climate, between some weeks to up to 9 months. This time span was too short for industrial stockpiling, distribution, and processing in the 19th century.

The Solution as well as the Problem: Degerminated Flour

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Until the middle of the 19th century, grain was ground between millstones. In this process, the oily germ was inevitably crushed, and its valuable oils mixed with the flour. As a result, the flour was “alive” but would become rancid after a few weeks or months, depending on the climate.

The solution to this industrial problem came around 1840 from Switzerland, with the development of the first efficient roller mill by Jacob Sulzberger. Unlike a millstone, a roller mill does not grind by friction; it works with pressure and shear forces. Because the germ is elastic and oily, the metal rollers do not pulverize it; instead, they flatten it (like a flake), while the brittle endosperm “crumbles” into flour dust and semolina.

The invention of the roller mill, combined with the sifting machines developed around 1860 in Austria-Hungary by Ignaz Paur, made it possible to simply sift out the flattened germ. What was invented in Europe (primarily in Austria-Hungary and Switzerland) began its global triumph around 1860. More or less simultaneously, the large milling centers in the USA (such as Minneapolis) adopted this technology. For the first time in human history, it was now possible:

1. To completely remove the germ.
2. To produce a flour that is more or less indefinitely shelf-stable.
3. To turn a “dead” food product into the global standard.

It wasn’t until 37 years later that the Dutch physician Christiaan Eijkman discovered the first vitamin. At the time of the technological shift, little was known about the significance of amino acids, minerals, and the like for the human body. Thus, based on the knowledge available then, the solution was brilliantly logical: if the germ is missing from the flour, it can no longer go rancid.
And so, the germ was removed from the flour and, consequently, from the human diet. This process became established worldwide by the end of the 19th century—first in urban centers, and about a generation later in rural areas. Following the bran, the germ also vanished from the flour.
It is interesting to correlate this development with the years in which vitamins were discovered:

Heat-Stabilized Flour: The Industrial Compromise

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Heat-stabilized flours were the industrial response to the Life Reform Movement (Reformbewegung). This movement began almost simultaneously with the introduction of degerminated flours but gained significant momentum toward the end of the 19th century. Pioneers such as Theodor Hahn (1824–1883), Maximilian Bircher-Benner (1867–1939), Thomas Allinson (1858–1918), Sylvester Graham (1794–1851), Werner Kollath (1892–1970), and Hans-Adalbert Schweigart (1900–1972) are well-known figures who addressed this issue. What these men shared was the fundamental observation that degerminated white flour leads to illness and physical decline. Back to heat-stabilized flour: it was the industry’s answer to the rising demand for whole-grain products—designed to be implemented without requiring any logistical changes in industrial mass production. This “innovation” of heat-stabilized whole-grain flour took hold around the middle of the 20th century. The industrial justification for heat stabilization is identical to that of degermination: by “inactivating” the enzymes, one prevents them from breaking down the fats in the germ, thus stopping the flour from turning rancid. However, this purely technical view ignores a crucial biological fact: by “inactivating” the enzymes, the biological vitality of the germ is destroyed. To stay with the egg analogy:You cannot boil an egg to make it last longer and simultaneously expect a chick to hatch from it.

Conclusion

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There is no sensible reason to remove the germ from flour or to alter it using heat. There simply is none – period.