Breakfast Wheat Berries Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Can you eat wheat berries like cereal? ›

Add ½ cup warm, cooked wheat berries to a cereal bowl. I'm using our Farm Fresh Wheat soft white wheat berries grown on our family farm. You can buy your Farm Fresh Wheat berries here.

Unlike seeds, which can absorb water overnight or during the first rise of the dough, wheat berries need to be sprouted*, cooked**, or soaked for a couple of days, changing the water every 12 hours or so. Otherwise, the berries are dry and hard — perfect for milling into flour but not for chewing.

Wheat berries actually contain the bran, germ and endosperm of the entire wheat kernel. Typically the wheat kernel is processed to form things like bread and pasta. But with the entire kernel still intact, the wheat berry packs serious health punch of fiber, protein and vitamins.

That's right, wheat berries' shelf life, when properly stored, is 30 years or more. Remember, it's not just about storage, it's about proper storage. Think cool, dry, dark, and pest-free. Don't do it right, and you'll have ruined wheat before you know it.

Wheat Berries are short hard kernels that are ground up to make wheat flour. Instead of being ground up, you can just eat the wheat berry itself.

Phenolic Acid: Wheat berries contain phenolic acid, a type of antioxidant associated with various health benefits, including anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties. Lignans: These plant compounds found in wheat berries have antioxidant properties and may contribute to heart health.

Today we'll be talking about the simplest way to eat it, simply cooking the wheat as you might cook rice. Although you'll find that cooked wheat berries are far chewier than rice. You might like the texture, you might not. It's a personal preference thing.

One fun way to eat wheat berries is to pop them like popcorn.

GRIND THE BERRIES

The longer you grind, the more fine your flour will be. The coffee grinder can only get so fine however. The finest level you can achieve is a bit more coarse than fine store bought flour which is one of the drawbacks of using the coffee grinder.

Wheat is the most commonly consumed grain in the United States, yet wheat berries are surprisingly uncommon on American shopping lists. They are wheat at its most basic: the whole grain kernels with only the inedible husk removed. Wheat berries are the original source of all wheat products before any refinement occurs.

Do you clean wheat berries? ›

Most commercial wheat farmers will “clean” the wheat berries (kernels) before you purchase them. In most cases, No, it is not necessary to wash wheat before grinding. However, quickly skim through the wheat for foreign materials before you mill, and just be pick any out by hand.

Additionally, a cup of wheat berries actually makes more than a cup of wheat flour. In general, a cup of wheat berries makes closer to a cup and a half of wheat flour, taking the price per ounce down even further. To break it down, 45 pounds = 720 ounces.

Grinding the wheat adds air to it and produces more volume. So, in my experience, every 1 cup of wheat berries yields about 1.65 cups of flour. Then there are roughly 2 1/2 cups of wheat berries for every 1 pound, so that equates to a little more than 4 cups of flour per pound of wheat berries.

White wheat berries have a milder flavor than red wheat. Soft white wheat is a popular choice for pastry flour because the taste will not compete with the other flavors in the cake or pastry. If you have a picky eater in your household, a white wheat berries may be the way to go.

Wheat Berries can easily be milled into fresh flour and don't need to be cooked at all before milling into flour.

Traditional societies usually soak or ferment their grains before eating them, processes that neutralize phytates and enzyme inhibitors and, in effect, predigest grains so that all their nutrients are more available.

Cooked Wheat Berries

Bring it to a boil and cook for a few minutes. Then let simmer for about 45 minutes. Drain the wheat berries and stick them in a tupperware container in the fridge. These are delicious to add to yogurt or to use to replace some meat in recipes.