Editing Flour

{{Quality|Superior|03:00, 22 February 2023 (CST)}}
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[[File:flour_preview.png|right]]'''Flour''' is an ingredient in [[cooking]], made by [[milling]] one of the many available [[Crops|grains]] at a [[millstone]] or [[quern]]. Milling involves grinding the grains beneath the wheel, rendering it from an inedible plant to an edible [[powder]] suitable for cooking. Milling plants needs one [[bag]] for every job, and one plant will be processed to make one bag of flour. Flour in [[bag]]s or [[barrel|mill barrels]] does not [[Wear|wither]] like crops, and possesses an indefinite shelf-life if kept free of [[vermin]]. It is also a very efficient use of space, since a single barrel can store up to ten bags of flour. Given these attributes, flour serves as an excellent foodstuff. A relatively small [[stockpile]] can sustain a number of dwarves during a [[siege]] or the first few months of a new outpost. 

Flour that is stored in a bag is not recognized by the [[Manager|manager's]] work order conditions, unless it's given the trait 'cookable'. If the trait is not added to the item specification, the item count will always be handled as if it was 0 (meaning that all comparisons <X will be true, resulting in unlimited production). Example: If you want your Kaniwa flour stockpile to be 50 at all times, you need to add the following conditions to the work order: [a]dd item condition, [i]tem type powder, [m]aterial Kaniwa flour, [t]rait cookable, [n]umber 50.

== Value ==
Flour will be used in the [[kitchen]] when 'prepare meal' tasks are queued if it is enabled in the [[Status#Kitchen_Status_Screen|Kitchen tab]] in the Status screen. Flour is more valuable than a raw mill-able [[crop]], meaning prepared meals made with flour will have a higher value. Bags and barrels of flour are often quite [[Item value|valuable]] and suitable for export or import with [[caravan]]s; a single barrel of flour can easily be worth more than 200☼. Typically, a stack of 2 plants will be ground to produce a single bag with 2 flour and 2 seeds. 


''The Flour Economy''

Since meals have a quality modifier, they can be ''very'' valuable; a skilled [[cook]] can consistently produce masterwork meals. Combine this will the higher value of flour as an ingredient, and you have a recipe for financial success. Literally. 

If you end up selling flour-based meals for trade, just make sure not to interrupt your own food supply. It's important to keep enough flour/dwarven wheat around for food and alcohol for your own people.

== Flour Varieties ==
The following crops can be made into flour:

{| class="wikitable sortable collapsible"
|-
! Crop name
! 
! Crop value
! Flour
! Flour value
{{flour table row|name=Cave wheat|tile=τ|colour=7:0|fname=Dwarven wheat flour}}
{{flour table row|name=Longland grass|tile=τ|colour=6:1|fname=Longland flour}}
{{flour table row|name=Whip vine|tile=§|colour=3:1|cprice=1|fprice=25}}
{{flour table row|name=Single-grain wheat}}
{{flour table row|name=Two-grain wheat}}
{{flour table row|name=Soft wheat}}
{{flour table row|name=Hard wheat}}
{{flour table row|name=Spelt}}
{{flour table row|name=Barley}}
{{flour table row|name=Buckwheat}}
{{flour table row|name=Oats|fname=Oat flour}}
{{flour table row|name=Rye}}
{{flour table row|name=Sorghum}}
{{flour table row|name=Rice}}
{{flour table row|name=Maize}}
{{flour table row|name=Quinoa|tile=τ|colour=2:0}}
{{flour table row|name=Kaniwa}}
{{flour table row|name=Pendant amaranth}}
{{flour table row|name=Blood amaranth}}
{{flour table row|name=Purple amaranth}}
{{flour table row|name=Pearl millet}}
{{flour table row|name=White millet}}
{{flour table row|name=Finger millet|tile=τ|colour=2:0}}
{{flour table row|name=Foxtail millet|tile=τ|colour=2:0}}
{{flour table row|name=Fonio}}
{{flour table row|name=Teff}}
{{flour table row|name=Flax}}
{{flour table row|name=Hemp}}
|}

[[Flax]] and [[hemp]] are unique among flour-producing plants in that they also produce [[plant fiber]]; that is, it is possible to make both the flour and the containers that hold it from one plant.  Their [[seed]]s can also be used to produce [[oil]].  Most of the other listed plants can be brewed into [[alcohol]] instead and are functionally about the same.  [[Blood amaranth]] and [[purple amaranth]] deserve special mention since they also grow edible [[leaves]].  [[Whip vine]] flour is more expensive than others, and [[oats]] are inferior to other choices as they cannot be brewed.

[[Dwarven sugar]], milled from [[sweet pod]]s, is also mechanically similar to flour, except it's (notionally{{verify|dwarves can't eat raw powder, right?}}) edible raw.

== Associated Technology ==
{{D for dwarf}}
Dwarven science continues to research improvements in the milling process. Dwarven histories give many examples of new and innovative [[Artifact|quern and millstone designs]], few of which are reproducible on an industrial scale, as well as [[Stupid dwarf trick|elaborate mechanical schemes]]. Scholardwarves continue to predict that the next major advance in flour technology will be a new, advanced foodstuff known as "bread" – some sort of solid beer – but they have been promising to produce this miracle substance for years and have not yet shown any progress.

No self-respecting dwarf (even when motivated by starvation) will lower themselves to eating what promised to be perfectly good beer. Many cunning chefs in the mountainhomes have, however, been known to serve a meal made entirely of the stuff to both haulers and nobles alike, claiming it to be "masterfully ground" cave wheat. Elven and human traders are similarly duped much to the pleasure of the kitchen staff.

The few human traders to make any comparison between cave wheat flour biscuits and the nigh-legendary solid beer found themselves suffering [[unfortunate accident|from terrible, sudden misfortune]].

Also, on the topic of humans, some may be seen expressing joy over minced flour meals, apparently believing it to be another form of solid alcohol.
[[Image:cave-wheat-flour.jpg|thumb|360px|center|A [[jute]] [[bag]] filled with flour.]]
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{{Category|Food}}
[[ru:Flour]]