Wheat berries will keep for thousands of years. Flour, not so much. Wheat from the pyramids sprouted.
600 years? If you're talking about flour you put away as a kid I have to ask, what was your personal opinion of George Washington?
Many seeds (Wheat berries) including green/ not roasted coffee beans, last a lot longer than grinded or cooked seeds.
Amaranth was a staple of Aztec culture, until Cortez, in an effort to destroy that civilization, decreed that anyone growing the crop would be put to death. Seeds were smuggled out to Asia, where local dialects referred to Amaranth as “king seed” and “seed sent by God” as a tribute to its taste and sustenance. Amaranth kernels are tiny; when cooked they resemble brown caviar. Amaranth is a “pseudo-grain” – like quinoa and buckwheat, it’s not in the Poaceae botanical family, but is listed with other grains because its nutritional profile and uses are similar to “true” cereal grains. (Two other amaranth species — A. hypochondriacus and A. caudatus — are also grown for their edible seeds, but A. cruentus is most common.)
Today amaranth is making its way back, thanks to a lively, peppery taste and a higher level of protein (it’s roughly 13-14% protein) compared to most other grains. In South America, it is often sold on the streets, popped like corn. Amaranth has no gluten, so it must be mixed with wheat to make leavened breads. It is popular in cereals, breads, muffins, crackers and pancakes.
A cousin of quinoa, kañiwa ( pronounced
kah-nyee-wah) also hails from Peru and Bolivia. You may also see it spelled
cañihua. Like quinoa, it is a “pseudo-cereal” with a high level of protein (15 to 19 percent) and a more complete balance of amino acids than most grains. Unlike quinoa, kañiwa is not coated with bitter saponins that must first be rinsed off.
Quinoa (
keen-wah) comes to us from the Andes, where it has long been cultivated by the Inca. Botanically a relative of swiss chard and beets rather than a “true” grain, quinoa cooks in about 10-12 minutes, creating a light, fluffy side dish. It can also be incorporated into soups, salads and baked goods. Commercially, quinoa is now appearing in cereal flakes and other processed foods. Though much of our quinoa is still imported from South America, farmers in high-altitude areas near the Rockies are also beginning to cultivate quinoa.
Quinoa is a small, light-colored round grain, similar in appearance to sesame seeds. But quinoa is also available in other colors, including red, purple and black. Most quinoa must be rinsed before cooking, to remove the bitter residue of saponins, a plant-defense that wards off insects. Botanists are now developing saponin-free strains of quinoa, to eliminate this minor annoyance to the enjoyment of quinoa.
Farmers on the Great Plains from South Dakota to Texas appreciate that sorghum thrives where other crops would wither and die; in drought periods, in fact, it becomes partially dormant. Worldwide, about 50% of sorghum goes to human consumption, but in the U.S., most of the crop is fed to animals, made into wallboard or used for biodegradable packing materials.
That’s a shame, because sorghum, also called milo and believed to have originated in Africa, can be eaten like popcorn, cooked into porridge, ground into flour for baked goods, or even brewed into beer.
