Grain info and cooking chart 12-1

1 info

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
Forms of Wheat
The Versatile Grain
and the
Elegant Bean
by Sheryl and Mel London
ISBN 0-671-76106-4

Directions

Whole Grain Wheat Berries: The whole grains of wheat. After soaking, the berries can be soaked and used for pilafs, stews or as a crunchy addition to breads. When they're sprouted, they can be made into croquettes or added to salads or baked goods.

Whole Peeled Wheat Berries: Pale golden in color with only the outer hull removed. Can be used in desserts or eaten as a pilaf or breakfast cereal. Can also be added to baked good or soups; they have a gelatinous quality and a delicate flavor when cooled.

Whole Green Wheat Berries: The kernels of wheat picked while still unripened and then dried. They have a grassy flavor and are commonly used for casseroles, soups, stews and pilafs. Be sure to spread the grains out and pick over them to remove foreign matter before using.

Available in health food stores, specialty shops or by mail order.

Cracked Wheat: Whole wheat berries that have been cracked into coarse or medium granulation. Use for cereals, casseroles, soups or as a meat extender. Cracked wheat is often confused with bulgur. To identify and distinguish cracked wheat, note that the interior of the uncooked grain is white; bulgur is uniform in color.

Bulgur: Whole wheat that has been washed, steamed, hull removed, then parched or dry-cooled. It is then cracked or sifted into its basic forms. Cracked wheat is uncooked, while bulgur is essentially "precooked", so they are handled quite differently.

Whole Wheat Grits: The wheat berries are cracked into six or eight pieces, the same process as that used for cracked wheat. However, since the grits are finer, they cook more quickly.

Shredded Whole Wheat: Manufactured commercially in several forms, including large biscuits and small bite-sized morsels.

Whole Unprocessed Bran Flakes: Sometimes called Miller's Bran, it is the outer layer of the hard wheat kernel or berry. It's used to add extra fiber to baked goods or it can be sprinkled on hot or cold cereals. Buy the unprocessed variety.

Wheat Germ: The untreated natural embryo of the wheat berry. Ready to eat, either raw or toasted, and can be used for breading, as a meat extender or for nutritional enhancement in baked goods. Wheat germ must be refrigerated after opening, since the germ contains oils that will quickly turn rancid at room temperature.

Whole Wheat flakes or Rolled Wheat: These are wheat berries that are heated and pressed in the same manner as rolled oats. The flakes are quick-cooking and can be used as a cooked cereal or scattered on the surface of baked goods.

Puffed Wheat: The whole wheat berry is heated and then puffed up with air. Ready to eat as is and requires no cooking. Can be eaten as a breakfast cereal or added to baked goods and candy.

Cream of Wheat: Sometimes called farina. It is finely ground, hulled wheat that still contains the germ and the endosperm. Only the outer bran layer is missing. Used as a hot breakfast cereal and for desserts and dumplings.

Wheatina: A finely ground whole grain cereal that includes the bran.

Wheat Grass: It is made from the young wheat plant cut at the moment that the embryo is moving up from the roots through the stalk about twenty days after sprouting. At that point, it has a high concentration of nutrients, quite similar in quality to green, leafy vegetables. Generally available only in natural food stores and by mail order in powdered from, in tablets and as a seasoning to sprinkle on food.

Submitted By DIANE LAZARUS On 03-16-95

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