Wheat

Wheat is one of the oldest cultivated grains no one can say where it originated. The Chinese were cultivating wheat nearly three thousand years before Christ. It was milled into flour in the Ancient Egypt.
It is the most important cereal crops in the world, mainly in the form of bread and noodles, nourishing more people than any other grain.Whole wheat is a highly nutritious food, offering a good supply of protein, B vitamins, and minerals (iron, magnesium, and manganese)

Forms of Wheat
There are a lot of wheat varieties. They are determined depending of the planting season, hardness of the grain, and the color of the kernel.

These wheats may be combined in these different products:

  • Wheat berries
  • Bulghur: wheat kernels that have been parboiled, dried and crushed. It has varieties of textures from coarse to fine. It has a soft but chewy texture.
  • Cracked wheat
  • Rolled wheat
  • Flour

Basic Cooking Instruction
Whole wheat berries are cooked in twice their volume of water for 45 minutes or until the kernels are just tender.
Bulghur and cracked wheat can be use inerchangeably. The cooking time varies with the coarseness of the broken pieces of grain. Bulghur will cook faster than cracked wheat of the same size.

Composition

Values are for 100 g
Wheat germ Sprouted wheat
Proteins 23 g 7.5 g
Fats 10 g 1 g
Carbohydrates 52 g 42.5 g
Fibre 13 g 1 g
Main Nutrients
Calcium 39 mg 28 mg
Iron 6 mg 2 mg
Potassium 892 mg 169 mg
Phosphorus 842 mg 200 mg
Zinc 12 mg 1.5 mg
Magnesium 239 mg 82 mg
Thiamine 1.8 mg 0.2 mg
Riboflavin 0.5 mg 0.15 mg
Niacin 6.8 mg 3 mg

Recipe

Vegetables pilaf
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
100 g mushrooms, sliced
100 g bulghur or cracked wheat
4 tablespoon sunflower or sesame seeds
1 tablespoon fresh parsley
salt
Sauté vegetables and mushroom together in oil until tender.
Add bulghur and seeds, stirring until grain is slightly browned.
Sprinkle with parsley and salt.
Cover and simmer over low heat until all moisture is absorbed, about 15 minutes.


Realized by Laurence LIVERNAIS-SAETTEL, dietitian
© Copyright L. Livernais-Saettel 2002
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