Grains Category

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Grains form the base of the Food Guide Pyramid, and nutritionists are constantly nagging us to eat more of them, since they're high in nutrients, low in fat, and dirt cheap.

Cooks usually consign grains to supporting roles, letting them absorb the flavors of other ingredients while adding texture and body. It often helps to toast grains briefly before cooking them so as to bring out the flavor and speed up the cooking time.

Most grains have been processed by the time they reach us. The first step at the mill is to remove the inedible outer hull, yielding what's called a whole grain, berry, or groat. Whole grains are nutritious, but they're chewy and slow to cook.

To fix that, the nutritious bran layer beneath the hull is sometimes scoured off as well, resulting in a pearled or polished grain. Whole or polished grains are then sometimes ground, rolled, or chopped into flakes, small grits, meal, or flour.

spelt flakes

Like rolled oats, spelt flakes are commonly cooked to make a hot breakfast cereal.

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sprouting barley

This is unrefined barley, used for making barley sprouts. Don't try to cook with it--it's got a very thick hull.

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steel-cut oats

These are groats that have been chopped into small pieces. They're chewier than rolled oats, and grain aficionados often prefer them for hot oatmeal cereals and muesli

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teff

This Ethiopian staple is the world's smallest grain. Since it's too tiny to process, teff isn't stripped of nutrients like other, more refined grains. As a result, it's a nutritional powerhouse, especially rich in protein and calcium, and it's gluten-free. It has a sweet, nutty flavor and is sometimes eaten as a hot breakfast cereal. It comes in different colors that range from creamy white to reddish-brown.

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Thai purple sticky rice

This turns a rich dark purple when cooked. The color bleeds, so it's best to pair it with other dark ingredients. Thai cooks often use it in desserts.

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triticale

Triticale is a wheat-rye cross that's higher in protein than either of its parents. It has a pleasant enough wheat-like flavor, but it's prized mostly for its hardiness and ability to grow in poor soils.

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triticale berries

Triticale berries are similar to wheat berries, though they also have a subtle rye flavor.

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triticale flakes

You can use these like rolled oats to make a hot breakfast cereal. They cook up in about 15 minutes.

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unhulled buckwheat groats

These are used for making sprouts.

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Wehani rice

This russet-colored rice is derived from basmati rice.

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wheat

Wheat's got a pleasant, nutty flavor and lots of nutrients, but it's prized most for being rich in gluten, the stuff that makes baked goods rise. Most wheat is ground into flour, but whole or cracked grains are used in pilafs and salads, and wheat flakes are made into hot cereals or granolas.

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wheat berries

These are wheat kernels that have been stripped only of their inedible outer hulls. They're nutritious, but they take hours to cook. If you don't have the patience to use the whole berries, try the more convenient cracked wheat, bulgur, or wheat flakes.

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wheat flakes

This is wheat that's been steamed, rolled, and flaked. Wheat flakes are often cooked as a hot cereal, or added raw to granola mixes.

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white corn

Peruvians make popcorn and corn nuts out of this.

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white rice

Most varieties of rice are processed into white rice at the mill, where the grains are scoured to remove the husk, bran, and part of the germ. This processing strips some of the nutrients, but make the rice tender and fast-cooking. Many producers sell enriched white rice, which restores some of the nutrients. If well-sealed, white rice can be stored almost indefinitely in a cool, dry place.

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whole grains

These are grains that are either unprocessed or stripped only of their tough outer hulls. By themselves, whole grains are bland, so it's best to combine them with more assertive ingredients. It also helps to toast the grains before cooking them--this boosts their flavor and speeds up the cooking a bit.

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wild pecan rice

This chewy, nutty-tasting hybrid contains neither wild rice nor pecans. It's only partially milled, so it retains some of the bran and has a nutty flavor.

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wild rice

This isn't a rice, but rather a grass seed. Compared to rice, it's richer in protein and other nutrients and has a more distinctive, nutty flavor. The downside is that it's more expensive than rice and takes longer to cook. It's especially good with poultry and game. Cultivated wild rice isn't as expensive--nor as flavorful--as "wild" wild rice. Wild rice or manoomin is an important traditional food source for North American Indians. It grows naturally in marshes and the wet margins of lakes but is also grown commercially. There are three main species of the genus Zizania in North America; palustris (northern wild rice), aquatica (annual or southern wild rice) and texana (Texas wild rice).

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