Butterbeer in Hogsmeade

Bikini Beach Babe

A Few of My Favorite Things

A “Wheatie” Plane Ride

My daughter and I sat by a really nice Grandpa on our flight to Florida. He gave his extra cookies to her, and she let him play “Temple Run” on our iPad. I had a nice chat with him, and during our conversation I discovered that he owns a little farm in Minnesota. I told him about my Backyard Chickens and asked him what he farmed. When he told me he grew wheat I actually squealed and said “I have a basement FULL of wheat!” I think I took him by surprise. lol. He was impressed that I grind my own wheat and cook with it, and he was awesome about answering my questions for the next thirty minutes or so.

Winter wheat versus spring wheat
A few years ago we did a post about the different Types of Wheat, so I was proud of myself that I could ask him what type he grew and sort of know what I was talking about. However, I discovered I was not very well-educated on spring versus winter wheat. I assumed he grew winter wheat since Minnesota is so cold, but he told me it’s the opposite. Winter wheat is germinated in the fall and then sits dormant over the winter, it resumes growing as the weather warms up and is harvest in early summer. Spring wheat is planted in April or May and harvested in August or early September. Very cold regions have too harsh of winters to be able to plant in the fall for winter wheat. This totally makes sense to me now. Also winter wheat produces more wheat per square foot, but spring wheat has a higher protein content.

Home-grown wheat
After learning about HIS wheat, I proceeded to hound this nice gentleman with questions about growing my own wheat in a small space. He told me I could grow wheat from my stored wheat kernels (as long as they will sprout you should be able to use them for crops). You can grow as much or as little as you have room for. If you have a yard that’s 20 feet by 50 feet, you could plant 6 pounds of wheat and harvest nearly 50 pounds of grain (source). You will need to learn the proper harvesting methods for home harvesting, but that information seems to be readily available online.

I told my new farmer friend that I would love to try to grow a little wheat and see how it works in my area. Then if some major long-term catastrophe occurred I would know that I could tear up my whole yard and plant lots of wheat if I had to. By the end of our flight he had asked for my address because he wants to send me a little packet of his wheat to try growing in my yard next spring. I thought it was really cute and nice of him and I’m excited to give it a whirl. I may even try doing a couple different kinds of wheat (using some of my stored wheat as well). We’ll see how ambitious I get!

Who knew you could have a food storage adventure in the middle of a Florida vacation?

Red vs. White

Red wheat tends to have a stronger wheat flavor and produces a heavier denser bread than white wheat. Red wheats are typically the hard varieties and whites are typically soft. However if you prefer the flavor of one over the other you can find soft red and hard white. Experiment with different varieties in your recipes to find out what works best for you and your family.

Hard vs. Soft

Hard varieties of wheat are the most common and versatile. Hard wheat has a higher gluten (protein) than soft wheat. It is better for making breads, pastas, pancakes, etc. Soft varieties have lower protein and nutrients but are better for pastries and other items where a light fine flour is required.

Spring vs. Winter

Wheat is categorized by which season it is harvested in (either winter or spring). Winter wheat has a tiny bit less protein than spring wheat. Winter averages about 12% protein while spring wheat is closer to 14%. The winter wheat is a little harder than spring as well. Red winter wheat tends to be better for baking than red spring wheat. There isn’t much difference between winter and spring varieties of white wheats.

Our preferred variety of wheat to use is hard white (either winter or spring, whatever you can find). We don’t do much pastry cooking so the hard white has been great in everything we have tried to make. Our families don’t object to any of the meals or foods where we have replaced store-bought white flour with whole wheat hard white wheat flour. To view some of the success we’ve had with using our wheat visit our Wheat Recipes category page.