Wheat berries - hard or soft?

[siempresam]

How do I know if the wheat berries I buy are hard or soft? I bought some from GNC the other day, but I don't know if they are the ones I need for sprouting for the recipes that call for sprouted wheat berries.

Here is what I bought: http://www.arrowheadmills.com/products/product.php?prod_id=402&cat_name=grains

They are organic...but that's all I know. The reason why I am asking is because in Alissa's book she says that you have to make sure to get the right kind of wheat berries for sprouting - soft for sprouted wheat berries that will make crackers and breads, etc. and hard for wheat grass.

Any thoughts?

[Revvell]

Wild guess here. If it's mainly for flour, I'd think it was soft. Guess that doesn't help much though, huh? :D

Revvell

[tracyinfo]

Try sprouting them. My hunches, say they will sprout!

Blessings.

[Rawkinlocs]

Both will sprout...but I'm thinking that the softer ones are more easily ground/blended for making your breads, etc. What I usually do is soak, sprout, then dehydrate to dry them and those can be ground up into flour. If the recipe calls for just soaked, sprouted grains, then more than likely they want them to still be "wet" and not dried but drying them is better for making flours.

But again, soft or hard, they'll both sprout.

[siempresam]

I am sure that they will both sprout - no doubts there. It just sounds like, from Alissa's book, that in order to make certain recipes you have to make sure that you wind up with sprouted wheat berries and not wheat grass. At least that is how I view it.

I just don't want to waste my time with this package of wheat and wind up having the wrong kind of stuff. Oh well. Guess I'll have to do that anyway.

[Rawkinlocs]

Oh no...even if it IS hard wheat, you won't end up with wheatgrass unless you plant the sprouted berries if I remember correctly. Either way, when it comes to recipes, you are sprouting just enough to see a tail and then using it right then.

I've used both hard and soft for recipes and it worked fine. I've even substituted spelt berries for wheat in recipes that call for wheat with good success!

I don't think it'll be a problem for you if you use what you have. What I'm thinking is that one or the other might be the "better" choice for whatever you're using it for, but not necessarily the ONLY choice. Kinda like some recipes call for flax seed and some call for golden flax seed - more than likely the ones that call for golden are because the recipe needs a milder flavor than what the brown seeds will offer BUT I personally use golden regardless to what the recipe calls for because I prefer it.

So yeah, you should be fine...but one way to find out for sure is to simply sprout it and try it in one of the recipes you had in mind to try out - halve or quarter the recipe even and see how it turns out!

[PixieGreen]

I am sure that they will both sprout - no doubts there. It just sounds like, from Alissa's book, that in order to make certain recipes you have to make sure that you wind up with sprouted wheat berries and not wheat grass. At least that is how I view it.

I just don't want to waste my time with this package of wheat and wind up having the wrong kind of stuff. Oh well. Guess I'll have to do that anyway.

Sprouted wheat and wheat grass are just two different stages in the growth of the seeds. I use *just* sprouted seeds to make sprout bread and sprout flower [like rawkinlocs]. By continuing to water and wait and sprouting them horizontally rather than in my sprouting jars after 7-10 days these sprouts have grown into wheat grass. If I used soil instead of a water medium and continued to grow them they would grow into fine wheat stalks from which hundreds of seeds could be harvested* to start the sprouting all over again. :) One can in fact grow wheat grass from soft wheat but it doesn't have as much nutrition as hard wheat.

Christa

*Sometimes. If the seeds used initially are hybrids they will not produce sprouting seeds. Hybrids should not be confused with genetically modified seeds.

[siempresam]

Okay, that's good to know - that wheat is just in different stages when they are sprouted, and then wheat grass.

Ah - clarification is a great state to be in. Thanks guys! :)

I'd better go and start soaking. :)

[siempresam]

Just an update -

I went to soak my wheat berries and discovered it was full of bugs. :mad: So yesterday I finally got around to stopping by another store and I came across some wheat berries labelled as "Soft Wheat Berries." I forget what brand it was, but I was interested to see that it said "soft" on the package. Anyway, am now in the process of sprouting.