The Wheats
Food historians agree that wheat in its various forms may be one of mankind’s oldest foods, but just where wheat growing and eating first originated is disputed. What experts agree on is this: people in most countries rely on wheat for their diets, so wheat growing covers more arable land than does any other crop. In the United States alone, figures from the USDA show that in 2007, American farmers produced more than 2 billion bushels of wheat.
Why Wheat?
What makes wheat so coveted is its transformation into a delicious and nutritious end product, from cereals to flours for breadstuffs to pastas to certain alcohols. It’s also a source of proteins, vitamins, and minerals.
Fact
According to the Western Organization of Resource Councils, people in almost every country get at least 20 percent of their overall calories from wheat.
In its whole form, wheat is found as whole wheat kernels, or wheat berries, or as cracked wheat that is coarse, medium, or fine grained. What’s confusing is that cracked wheat is commonly mistaken for bulgur—also known as bulghur or bulgar—a popular Middle Eastern wheat product made from steamed or parboiled, dried, and crushed wheat kernels. Cracked wheat comes from the whole wheat kernel that is broken into small, medium, or fine pieces. Both make fine pilafs and salads.
Alert
Not everyone can follow a wheat-based diet. Wheat contains the protein gluten, an element that helps bread rise but also causes negative immune responses in about 1 out of every 100 Americans, a condition know as celiac disease.
Other wheat varieties gaining in popularity are the less familiar—and ancient—wheats known as farro (triticum dicoccum) and its cousin, the European wheat spelt (triticum speltum), and the American-trademarked wheat known as Kamut. While relatively hard to find in supermarkets, whole-grain farro and spelt are available at health food markets. Almost indestructible, these firm grains do require soaking, but then can be boiled or sautéed for wholesome entrées.
