Striking, rubbing, or crushing the cut stalks breaks the physical bond holding the seeds inside the seedheads. Historically done by beating sheaves with hand flails on a hard floor, the action loosens the grain without crushing the kernel itself. Once separated, the mixture must still be winnowed to blow away the lighter husks and debris.
If we let the wheat dry down two more days, it will thresh much cleaner through the rotor.
Do not mix it up with
- Winnow: Threshing breaks the grain loose from the plant structure; winnowing uses air to separate that heavy grain from the light chaff.
Related terms
Winnow
The process of using airflow to separate heavy grain from lighter chaff and dust.
Harvest
The act or season of gathering a mature crop from the fields.
Combine harvester
A large self-propelled machine that reaps, threshes, and cleans grain crops in one pass.
Threshing floor
A hard, flat surface where harvested grain is beaten to separate the edible kernels from the stalks.