how to make cooked sprouted wheat

Whenever I eat cooked wheat berries, it takes me back to early in the morning in high school. We had to be out the door at 6:20 am to be to school on time. Most of the year it was still dark out when we ate breakfast. Often there would be a pot of cooked wheat that had been slowly cooking through the night. My mom would serve us a large scoop with a bit of brown sugar. My dad would say it was as perfect a food as he could think of. He told us to eat up because all the vitamins, minerals, and protein would feed our brains and help us ace the test.

A little while back I read Wheat Belly, an interesting read exposing modern wheat as the worst thing ever. William Davis makes some great points about the sad story of agriculture over the past 50 years. He explains how wheat has been genetically altered so much that it is no longer healthy. He argues that it is making us fat and sick and allergic. The “ancient grains” (wheat from pre-1950), are apparently much better for you. Anyway, I haven’t gone and thrown out all my wheat products, but I did track down some einkorn wheat. I have seen einkorn pastas at stores like whole foods, but it isn’t everywhere, yet. But you can find Einkorn Wheat Berries here.

As I have experimented with my new wheat, I had found that it does not work well in my cookies, but I love love love it cooked whole. Cooked wheat is very easy to make. You could simply simmer it in a pot of water until it is tender, just like any other grain, but, sprouting it first takes it to the next level.

cooked sprouted wheat berries

• wheat berries (ancient or modern) about 1/4 cup dry berries per person
• water
• grade B pure maple syrup, optional
• you favorite cereal toppings

Rinse the wheat berries well. Cover with an inch or two with water and set aside overnight (you can do this right in the large sauce pan you are going to cook them in). In the morning, you should see little white buds starting to come out of the ends of the wheat berries. These are the sprouts, yay! life, enzymes. If we allowed the wheat berries to continue to grow, those sprouts would start to grow into wheat grass (a project for another day).

If the soaking water looks cloudy, go ahead and give the berries another rinse before putting them in a large sauce pan and covering with an inch of water. Place over medium high heat and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to low and simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Soaking the berries brings the cooking time down quite a bit. Simmer the berries until they are tender. Drain and serve as desired. My favorite is a tiny drizzle of maple syrup and cut up berries. You may want to add milk or yogurt or raisins or…. what? what are you thinking would be good?

Store the leftover in an airtight container in the fridge and continue to enjoy for about a week. Feel free to use these in your favorite wheat berry salad, too.