1. Malting
Take a grain of barley (let's call it the hordeum disticum), matured under the setting sun on a summer evening. Convince it (with a little bit of persuasion) that it is ready to do its job, i.e. to germinate and give birth to a new generation of barley plantlets. At this stage it will need to find the strength to sprout.
It has its own larder, its starch reserves (a chain divided into amylose and amylopectin). All of this has been packed into its coat (cellulose wall), to help it get through the winter.
In order to germinate, it needs energy, simple sugars. First of all will make tools to help it break its starch reserves down into little bits: these are the enzymes called peptidases, beta-glucanases and alpha-amylases. With their help, it will be able to break down its wall and cut its starch reserves down into shorter sugars, which have the energy for growth....
...but this is not what lies ahead for the hordeum! Without realising (it does not feel a thing), we stop it from going any further in the drying process. It has become malt grain.
