Red, White and Where’s the Blue?
Here are a few tips before going to the market to buy your wheat.There are many varieties of wheat. Luckily we can break those varieties down into a few simply groups. There is Red wheat, and White wheat each with hard and soft versions. Simple enough.
So what should I store?
This is also simple. What will you use it for?
-Bread, rolls and pancakes are best if made out of HARD wheat, red or white.
-Pastas and cookies are best if made out of SOFT, red or white.
If you are still unsure, hard red wheat is the most versatile (the cookies are still really good), and stores the longest. Many times you can find it on sale at case lots already packaged in a six gallon bucket. 45 pounds for under twenty dollars. Grrrreat!!!
Now a quick note…Where can I buy red flour at the store? Funny thing, look for the package that says white flour. WHAT!?
…to be continued…next week, same time, same place…
4 comments:
So what's the shelf life of soft wheat? Is it worth keeping some on hand, or is hard wheat just the way to go??
Sweet, my first comment. I don't know what to do. Jac should I try to answer this or are you going to?
What the heck, I'll give 'er a try.
The thing about 'shelf life' is that there are many different opinions.
(In the ensign this month, BYU students have found that milk can be stored for 20 years. I have never heard of that before and I am looking into it to see how they recommend storage.)
So back to your question. USU has a pretty simple way of looking at wheat shelf life.
-Try to rotate your wheat every 5 years.
-But, wheat has been found to yield a perfect loaf of bread after 23 years.
-And, wheat will store for more than 30 years, but taste/structure may need to be enhanced with glutten and enhancers.
It seems that both the hard and the sorf varieties follow these simple rules, but hard wheat will "maintain" better over the long term.
Bottom line, soft wheats can be stored for at least 23 years, but best if used every 5 as a rule of thumb (whoever thumb is).
I think Jac's comments are shorter...SORRY.
Nice comment Coop...nice and long! Just kidding! I store soft wheat, about 50 lbs or so, so I think it night be worth storing a little. It makes a great cookie or pancakes. Nice and light. That may be particularly handy if you are transitioning into wheat consumption. I have found in my storage that the wheat does really well up to 10 years (of course storage conditions can either increase or decrease this number). You see, soft wheat has a lower protein level than hard wheat, so that is why it doesn't store quite as long. That is what I have read...Joey, refute me if you must!
Jac, I have heard the same data. I don't know the science why the hard varieties store longer than the soft, but protein would have to play a role in shelf life. Hard wheats have about 11-15% protein where the soft varieties have between 9-12%.
I think that there is a connection with a difference of water content too, but again, I am not sure.
I just eat the stuff...
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