[Jamestown1630]

How do you can your wheat berries, and how long do you expect them to last?

[greeneyes]

At first, I just put them in a coffee can with a plastic lid, but since I wasn't using them up very quickly, I decided to put them in wide mouth mason jars, and vacuum sealed them. They are in the basement, and it's usually no hotter than 70 degrees, so I expect they will still be good long after I am six feet under.

Sometimes I put a desiccant in with them, if I have it on hand. If not, I sometimes use rice in a napkin. They say that wheat was found in the tombs of ancient civilizations that were still good, so as long as it is not exposed to moisture and/or air, I'd say at least 10-15 years.

This winter, I'm trying some different varieties, White Winter Wheat, Triticale, and the old reliable cereal rye. I have plenty of the Red Winter Wheat stocked, so time to branch out. Mostly, I don't want the beds to get taken over by weeds, so growing winter grains does that and provides, food, and good compost to boot.

[Nuocmam]

I don’t grow or can mine but buy them at the health food store. I seal what I don’t use in a seal a meal bag and put them in the freezer.

[greeneyes]

If I could find a good bread recipe that uses medium grind wheat berries, I might use them more often. I do understand that the wheat needs to be soaked to improve the ability to utilize the nutrients.

So far the recipes all taste too much like sour dough, which doesn't bother me, but hubby can't stand it. Since I'm low carb, I have to find something that he will eat. So once every other month or so, I try a new recipe.

Still, my all time favorite bread is a French baguette, so it may not be possible to get close enough to that with home milled wheat, but maybe the white wheat will give better results. Next year, I'm going to use the rye and/or triticale to try and cook some Boston brown bread.

[greeneyes]

I forgot to mention that the berries I used last weekend were from the 2011 harvest, and were just stuck in a metal coffee can with plastic lid - nothing else. Absolutely no hint of rancidity and smelled good.

The recipe was 2/3 wheat berries and 1/3 regular flour soaked for 24 hrs. I think that something 50/50 and maybe more water for soaking would be a better bread.

After I baked the bread, I did some research, and it seems that for regular bread, the flour is 60% flour to 40% water
and professional bakers use more than 90% water for whole wheat. So I’m going to keep experimenting. I have plenty of wheat that isn’t under seal to experiment with, and by next summer, I should have even more. LOL