Peeled green wheat
Dec. 26th, 2004 08:40 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vgqnDinner tonight was chicken in white wine sauce (slow cooked with leeks, carrots, and salt pork -- yum!) and a side of peeled green wheat. We're fans of grains other than white/brown rice: wheat berries, rye berries, black rice, kamut, black barley, etc. One day I was in an international market and spied a packet of Peeled Green Wheat. Of course I couldn't resist, although at $2.99/lb it's more expensive than most of the other grains.
It's delicious!! Apparently it's wheat that's picked before it's totally dry (hence 'green'). It has an amazingly rich flavor, as if it had been cooked in chicken broth, not just water. No other grain compares. I particularly like pairing it with chicken dishes since they enhance each other's flavors.
They must treat the green wheat somehow to stop its natural enzymes from causing it to deteriorate. There's an Egyptian grain called freekeh which is green wheat that's been smoked and chopped. I can definitely taste the smoky flavor in the latter, but if the former is smoked, it's very, very lightly. A mystery.
So I cooked a packet tonight. Since many grains take 40-60 minutes to cook, I've taken to cooking large batches of them and freezing the extra in 2-person serving sizes. Not only does it save time, it means I'm cooking the grain while it's fresh instead of letting it go rancid in storage (whole grains have oil in them that can go bad). The alternative, of course, is to store the whole grain in the freezer and cook as needed, which I also do, but having ready-to-heat packets of grain is just so nice. The green wheat actually only takes 20 minutes, one of the quick ones, but I'm still happy to have a new stack of round containers in my deep freeze awaiting future meals.
I'll rave about kamut and black rice, our other current faves, at some future time. But if you ever see Peeled Green Wheat (imported from Peru -- the brand pictured in the link is the only one I've ever seen), do give it a try.
It's delicious!! Apparently it's wheat that's picked before it's totally dry (hence 'green'). It has an amazingly rich flavor, as if it had been cooked in chicken broth, not just water. No other grain compares. I particularly like pairing it with chicken dishes since they enhance each other's flavors.
They must treat the green wheat somehow to stop its natural enzymes from causing it to deteriorate. There's an Egyptian grain called freekeh which is green wheat that's been smoked and chopped. I can definitely taste the smoky flavor in the latter, but if the former is smoked, it's very, very lightly. A mystery.
So I cooked a packet tonight. Since many grains take 40-60 minutes to cook, I've taken to cooking large batches of them and freezing the extra in 2-person serving sizes. Not only does it save time, it means I'm cooking the grain while it's fresh instead of letting it go rancid in storage (whole grains have oil in them that can go bad). The alternative, of course, is to store the whole grain in the freezer and cook as needed, which I also do, but having ready-to-heat packets of grain is just so nice. The green wheat actually only takes 20 minutes, one of the quick ones, but I'm still happy to have a new stack of round containers in my deep freeze awaiting future meals.
I'll rave about kamut and black rice, our other current faves, at some future time. But if you ever see Peeled Green Wheat (imported from Peru -- the brand pictured in the link is the only one I've ever seen), do give it a try.
