[Homesteadingfamily] Grain types and uses

All whole grains are a healthy choice for long term storage. It is good to store a variety of grains for nutritional purposes. All of these grains should be stored under the same conditions. Amounts of each grain will need to be considered for your specific family needs.

Millet Pearled or Hulled Barley Wheats
Quinoa Amaranth Triticale
Oats Rye Buckwheat
(whole oats will store years longer than rolled or quick oats)

Wheat is one of the most staple food items in many countries..second only to corn. Wheat availablity changes as it does with any commodity. The USA used to keep a minimum of 3 years worth of whole wheat berries stored for use in case of an emergency in our nation. Today, that has amount has dwindled to less that a 45 DAY supply! Reread that last statement. I would advise buying up as much as one could for storage...even if you don't know how to use it yet. As days move
on, prices will increase or fluctuate with each passing season and they almost never seem to go down! My advice is to "get it while you can". Not only will prices increase, but availability can change in an instant with a few crop failures or blights! With demand, prices will surge upwards.

I would like to introduce you to the different kinds of wheats and their uses in the homestead. All of the wheats below can be purchased from vendors listed on a previous post. Compare prices between them. They sell various sizes, with the 50# bag or 45# pails, being the best deal price wise. You will get, on average, about 40-50 loaves of REAL bread from one 50# bag of whole wheat berries! Think of the savings here, on an annual basis..not to mention the tremendous health
benefits. With store bought bread (which is devoid of natural nutrition) loaves vary between $2-$4 PER LOAF. The only other thing you will need to make nutritious whole grain breads will be a grain mill (grinder). We will discuss those in another post.

HARD WHITE WHEAT
Hard white wheat berries are used for baking loaf type breads. They should be a golden tan to light brown color. This wheat is very versatile. The higher the wheat protein, the lighter the breads. Wheat with at least 14%-16% protein will be great for making really good breads. If the wheat protein is not that high, you can add VITAL WHEAT GLUTEN..which is the extracted protein from wheat. The recipes that I will be posting for making whole wheat bread, will use the extra
gluten, since our wheat came from different vendors and I don't remember whose was what protein at the time of purchase.

HARD RED WHEAT
This hard winter wheat is a darker brownish red in color than the hard white. Hard red is a bit higher in nutrition, but will make a more dense(heavy)bread. I blend several types of wheat for our bread, getting the best from each one. Unless you are blending this wheat with others, use it only for loaf type bread, too.

HARD SPRING WHEAT
Hard spring wheat is my all time favorite for baking breads. It is almost the color of the hard white, but can be a bit darker, although not as dark as hard red. It has an excellent protein and rivals the red for nutrition.

SOFT WHITE WHEAT
Soft white wheat is usually harvested in the fall. It is a lighter colored grain and is fatter than the other grains. Soft white has somewhat less gluten, so use it for making cookies, pastries, cakes,
and biscuits. I sift my soft wheat through a double wire sifter, to remove part of the wheat bran. This lightens the flour even more. We simply add that removed bran to other recipes, so it is not wasted.

TRITICALE
Triticale is a hybrid grain, originated in this country. I have not found many uses for it, other than blending it with other wheats for breads. It is larger and looks like an elongated wheat berry, but about the same color. Triticale can be difficult to obtain.

All wheats need to be stored in their whole, unbroken, state. Cracked wheats lose all of their nutrition within about 72 hours after cracking, so avoid these unless you have a need for immediate use or you can freeze them. To store whole wheat berries, you may put them into mylar bags, fill food grade pails, or any other containers in which rodents or bugs cannot get in(no metal, it can "sweat" and sour the grain). You will always use Oxygen Absorbers, nitrogen or dry ice
methods to assure that your grains are deprived of oxygen. This keeps any would be varmints from hatching and destroying your grains while your grains are being stored. The grains stored in this manner will keep for an indefinite period of years. The things you will want to avoid in storing grains is moisture, heat, rodents, bugs, and light. If you stack grains in pails or such, you will always need to make sure not to store them in direct contact with concrete. This will
cause condensation to form underneath the pail, eventually penetrating the pail and spoiling the grain. Odors and moisture CAN permeate plastic pails, so don't store your grains near gasoline or other noxious chemicals. Filled pails need airflow around them to keep condensation to a minimum.

Next, I will discuss the methods of preparing the grain for long term storage. You may fill large mylar bags with the grains then seal airtight, and place inside of the pail for even more protection. If you purchase pails already prepared this way, they will be called "superpails". I am not sure that the extra cost warrants this, unless you have a very limited choice of places to store your grains.

Store as much of these wheats as you can afford to buy. You can learn how to use them on this site and others, as we grow. You can always use some for barter, too. There may come a time in our near future, when a loaf of bread will cost a days' wages! So, the time to prepare is now!