We love using grains in lots of ways—whole in soup, pilaf, or stir fry; cracked in cereal or baking; or ground into flour for pancakes, muffins, biscuits, pasta, etc.  We sometimes even make bread with our soft white wheat flour, but it’s a little dense for most people.  If you like rice dishes, but are serious about local, then try wheat or barley instead of rice.  It takes about as long as brown rice to cook (1 hr).  It’s way better for you, and tastes better, too.

In 2014, we started growing a new variety of barley called ‘Streaker’ bred by Pat Hayes at OSU.  It is naturally hull-less (like wheat), so you can eat the whole cooked grain.  Use it instead of pearled barley for full flavor and nutritional benefit (for those who don’t know. I like to say that naked barley is to pearled barley as brown rice is to white rice.)

Cooking with whole grains couldn’t be simpler.  For the rough-and-ready cook like Paul, you only need to remember two things:   the water-to-grain ratio is 3:1;  cooking time is about an hour.

Here’s the long version:  bring water (or broth) to a boil, add grain (plus a little salt if you like), reduce heat, cover, and simmer until the grain is as soft as you like it (about an hour), checking once towards the end to make sure you added enough water.  If there’s water left, pour through a strainer (try that with rice!).

I did recently take the time to soak some wheatberries overnight, and I do think I like the flavor better.  We’d be interested to hear from you about your favorite way to do it.

The nice thing about cooked grains is that they keep well in the refrigerator, and even better in the freezer.  Ideally you should always have some on hand to pull out of the fridge to go with some left-over pasta sauce or stir-fry or gravy, or whatever, for lunch.