Crushing

(mining engineering) The quantity of ore pulverized or crushed at a single operation in processing.

Crushing refers to the pressing, grinding, or pounding of an item into smaller particles, a powder, or a paste. The largest of the human teeth, the molars, are designed for crushing food into small particles that can be swallowed and digested. Digestion is enhanced by the breaking of food into small particles that expose more food surface to the action of digestive enzymes; the more food surface exposed, the more efficient the process of digestion.

The crushing of cereal grains (wheat, corn, rye, buckwheat, rice) into flour is a good example of the use of tools to reduce particle size. The flour can then be eaten raw, cooked with water into porridge, or moistened, formed into a loaf, and baked as bread. Another nutritional advantage of flour over the whole grain is that the flour can be sifted to remove the bran fraction, which is largely cellulose and indigestible. The germ fraction of the kernel is typically removed with the bran and hence considerably reduces the nutritional values of the flour in terms of protein, vitamins, and minerals. Flours, rather then whole grains, also have the advantage of cooking faster and can be used to make gruels that are useful for feeding infants and the elderly, who have a limited ability to chew foods into small particles.

A number of devices have been used to crush grains into flours. The Australian Aborigines used a simple wooden mortar and stone pestle to roughly crush grass seed, which they used a make bread, or damper. The ancient Egyptians developed a mill made of two circular stones to crush wheat into flour; modern mills operate on the same principle. Traditional peoples in Mesoamerica used a stone mortar and pestle to crush presoaked corn kernels into a wet mash to make tortillas. Foods with hard, inedible shells are crushed to facilitate removal of the shell and extraction of the edible component. Examples are hard-shelled nuts like walnuts and shellfish like lobsters. The devices used are tools like hammer-stones and metal pliers.

Other foods are crushed to extract a component of the food from the more fibrous matrix of the whole food. Seeds and palm fruits are crushed to extract the oil. Grapes and other soft fruits, as well as sugarcane, a tall grass, are crushed to extract the juice. Oils and juice tend to be more readily digested than the whole food. Also, the liquid can be added to other foods to improve their energy content and hence the energy content of the diet. This is especially important in rootcrop-and tuber-based diets, which are typically low in energy density.

The tools used in crushing foods vary with the foods themselves and level of technology. Grapes are crushed gently to avoid damaging the seed that can release bitterness into the wine. They were traditionally crushed by workers' treading on them or with wooden paddles. Olives are crushed to separate the pit from the pulp and the latter then pressed to extract the liquids. For the initial step the Romans used a roller-mill (trapeta), designed to ensure that the olive pit itself would not be damaged. Sugarcane was crushed historically in South America by squeezing the cane through a set of rollers (trapiche). The juice was then boiled to evaporate the water and the concentrated sugar allowed to crystallize.

Still other foods are crushed to achieve a particular texture in the preparation of certain dishes. In Hawaii, cooked taro corms (enlarged portion of the plant stem) are crushed to a smooth paste and then pounded in a mortar and pestle to make the famous poi. In Africa, cassava roots are left to soak and ferment in water and then crushed into dough that is molded into loaves and sun dried. Cooked yams are crushed with water to form soft dough called fufu in Ghana. In the highlands of Peru cooked potatoes are crushed on a grinding stone and then added to water or broth to make a thick soup or masamora. In Europe and North America, cooked potatoes are crushed to a soft uniform mass to make mashed potatoes. Nuts and meat are crushed into pastes to make sandwich spreads like peanut butter and potted meats or pâté.

In a number of different cuisines, spices are crushed to stimulate the release of flavor. In India, spices are ground in a mortar and pestle. In Mexico, spices were traditionally crushed to a paste with chili peppers using the same grinding stone (mano and metate) used for grinding maize, or in a stone bowl made from lava stone. Garlic, a flavoring agent, is also often crushed before being added to food. In all cases flavor enhancement and flavor release are the goals of the cook, but the crushing should also facilitate digestion.

Crushing is also used to meld two or more foods together. A classic example is the pemmican traditionally made by North American Indians. Pemmican is dried meat and animal fat pounded into a paste and preserved in the form of pressed cakes. A less well-known example is "desert fruitcake," a cake made of crickets pounded together with berries. Another example is kibbeh, a Lebanese dish made by pounding lamb and cracked wheat together in a stone mortar until they form a paste and seasoning the mix with mint and pine nuts. The resulting mix is rolled into sausage-like forms and cooked in oil or eaten raw.

Bibliography

Davidson, Alan. The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

Kimball, Yeffe, and Jean Anderson. The Art of American Indian Cooking. New York: Doubleday, 1965.

Kuper, Jessica, ed. The Anthropologists' Cookbook. New York: Universe Books, 1977.

Nickles, Harry G. Middle Eastern Cooking. New York: Time-Life Books, 1969.

Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne. History of Food. Translated by Anthea Bell. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1992. Original edition: Histoire naturelle et morale de la nourriture. Paris: Bordas, 1987.

Whitney, Eleanor N., and Sharon R. Rolfes. Understanding Nutrition. 8th ed. Belmont, Calif.: Wadsworth, 1999.

—Darna L. Dufour

The most common way of extracting the juice from grapes. (pressing is the second most frequent method.) At commercial wineries, grape clusters are dumped into a receiving hopper that feeds the recently picked grapes into a crusher (or crusher-stemmer). There the grapes are broken, and the juice, skins, and seeds are separated from any stems and leaves that are attached. White-wine juice is normally separated from the skins and seeds, which are pressed for further juice extraction. For red wines, the juice, skins, and seeds (must) are then placed in tanks or vats for fermentation.

Deaths of newborn animals, especially those in litters, caused by the mother lying on them accidentally. Contributed to by weakness of the neonate or awkward accommodation. A problem in piglets and puppies. Called also overlying.

This article is about a method of execution. For industrial crushing equipment, see crusher. For the fetish, see Crush fetish.

"Pressing" redirects here. For other uses, see press.

Death by crushing or pressing is a method of execution that has a long history during which the techniques used varied greatly from place to place. This form of execution is no longer sanctioned by any governing body.

Louis Rousselet described this Central Indian execution in "Le Tour du Monde" in 1868.

A common method of death throughout South and South-East Asia for over 4,000 years was crushing by elephants. The Romans and Carthaginians used this method on occasion. In Roman mythology, Tarpeia was a Roman maiden who betrayed the city of Rome to the Sabines in exchange for what she thought would be a reward of jewellery. She was instead crushed to death and her body cast from the Tarpeian Rock which now bears her name.^[1] The method was also used extensively by the Nguyen Dynasty in Vietnam to punish their enemies during the early 19th century.

Crushing is also reported from Pre-Columbian America, notably in the Aztec empire.^[2][3]

Contents 1 Crushing under common law 2 External links 3 See also 4 References 4.1 Further reading

Crushing under common law

Peine forte et dure (Law French for "hard and forceful punishment") was a method of torture formerly used in the common law legal system, in which a defendant who refused to plead ("stood mute") would be subjected to having heavier and heavier stones placed upon his or her chest until a plea was entered, or as the weight of the stones on the chest became too great for the condemned to breathe, fatal suffocation would occur.

The common law courts originally took a very limited view of their own jurisdiction. They considered themselves to lack jurisdiction over a defendant until he had voluntarily submitted to it by entering a plea seeking judgment from the court. Obviously, a criminal justice system that punished only those who volunteered for punishment was unworkable; this was the means chosen to coerce them.

Many defendants charged with capital offences nonetheless refused to plead, since thereby they would escape forfeiture of property, and their heirs would still inherit their estate; but if the defendant pleaded guilty and was executed, their heirs would inherit nothing, their property escheating to the Crown. Peine forte et dure was abolished in the United Kingdom in 1772, although the last known actual use of the practice was in 1741.^[4] In 1772 refusing to plead was deemed to be equivalent to pleading guilty. This was changed in 1827 to being deemed a plea of not guilty. Today, in all common law jurisdictions, standing mute is treated by the courts as equivalent to a plea of not guilty.

The elaborate procedure was recorded by a 15th-century witness in an oft-quoted description: "he will lie upon his back, with his head covered and his feet, and one arm will be drawn to one quarter of the house with a cord, and the other arm to another quarter, and in the same manner it will be done with his legs; and let there be laid upon his body iron and stone, as much as he can bear, or more ..."^[5]

Giles Cory was pressed to death during the Salem Witch Trials in the 1690s.

The most famous case in the United Kingdom was that of Roman Catholic martyr St Margaret Clitherow, who was pressed to death on March 25, 1586, after refusing to plead to the charge of having harboured Catholic (then outlawed) priests in her house (in order to avoid a trial in which her own children would be obliged to give evidence). She died within fifteen minutes under a weight of at least 700 pounds (320 kg). Several hardened criminals, including William Spigott (1721) and Edward Burnworth, lasted a half hour under 400 pounds (180 kg) before pleading to the indictment. Others, such as Major Strangways (1658) and John Weekes (1731), refused to plead, even under 400 pounds (180 kg), and were killed when bystanders, out of mercy, sat on them.^[6]

The only executee of peine forte et dure^{[citation needed]} in American history was Giles Corey, who was pressed to death on September 19, 1692 during the Salem witch trials, after he refused to enter a plea in the judicial proceeding. According to legend, his last words as he was being crushed were "More weight", and he was thought to be dead as the weight was applied. This is referred to in Arthur Miller's political drama The Crucible, where Giles Corey is pressed to death after refusing to plead "aye or nay" to the charge of witchcraft. In the film version of this play, the screenplay also written by Arthur Miller, Corey is crushed to death for refusing to reveal the name of a source of information.

External links

• Forfeiture in England and Colonial America
• The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, Reference Number: t16760823-6 (23rd August 1676)

See also

• Crushing by elephant
• Crush syndrome

References

1. ^ Sanders, H. (1904). Roman historical sources and institutions. Macmillan. pp. 1–47. http://www.archive.org/stream/romanhistorical02sandgoog. 
2. ^ Summerson, Henry (1983). "The Early Development of Peine Forte et Dure."
3. ^ Law, Litigants, and the Legal Profession: Papers Presented to the Fourth British Legal History Conference at the University of Birmingham 10-13 July 1979 ed E. W. Ives & A. H. Manchester, 116-125. Royal Historical Society Studies in History Series 36. London: Humanities Press.
4. ^ Drug Control and Asset Seizures: a review of the history of forfeiture in England and colonial America
5. ^ Curiosities of Cowell's "Interpreter"
6. ^ "Mackenzie, The Practise of Peine Forte et Dure in 16th and 17th Century England". http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/lhr/23.2/mckenzie.html. 

Further reading

• McKenzie, Andrea. "'This Death Some Strong and Stout Hearted Man Doth Choose': The Practice of Peine Forte et Dure in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth-Century England". Law and History Review, Summer 2005, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp. 279-313.[1]

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