How I Began Whole Grain Cooking

I was about nine years old when my parents were converted and began keeping the Seventh Day Sabbath. Up until that time my parents ran a farm and raised cattle and pigs. Our diet consisted of the same types of foods as most other people. Lots of vegetables and fruits, but lots of pork products also. We ate all white bread products as well.

Once we started attending church services, we began to understand some of the basic laws of health. One of these, of course, was to get rid of the hogs we were raising and eating.

The one thing that stuck in my mind and has been an influence on my life ever since has been the fact that my mother started buying hundred pound sacks of whole wheat and making her own bread.

I remember riding many miles with her every two or three months to a place that had a large wheat grinder so we could have flour to make the bread with. We also made many trips to the Seventh Day Adventist health food store to buy other healthful products.

After I married Richard, I tried to carry on this practice. I still have a picture of my first feeble attempt! I bought flour from a health food store at first and would knead it and make a loaf or two at a time.

Needless to say, this was very difficult for a beginner. Sometimes, my loaves would turn out beautifully, and others would be just awful. All sunk in the middle, split on the top and sagging around the pan. Those are the times I felt like quitting!

After a year or so, we bought a hand stone grinder and Richard spent hours trying to grind enough flour to make a couple of loaves of bread. It was usually too coarse to make decent bread and I’m afraid I became disheartened and basically gave up until we were blessed by finding Magic MillTM products. They have helped us produce a quality product.

We then bought an electric stone mill grinder with a one horsepower motor through an ad in the paper. I still had to hand knead my bread but the efforts were more often a success. We still had to buy bread to supplement because it was too hard to bake enough to last for a week or so. We then bought a Bosch Magic Mixer (in 1976, and it still works fine in 1992). With the Bosch Magic Mixer, I can knead enough dough to make up to nine medium size loaves of bread at one time.

Later we were able to obtain the Magic Mill IITM. It uses a different method of grinding flour than the historic method of stone grinding. It actually explodes the grain and there is no difficulty with moisture the way there is with stones. My stone grinder would often overheat, get clogged and stop, and then I would have a difficult time getting it started again. I also found it could breed worms in between the stones where a residue of flour was always left. It was very difficult to take the two stones apart, and to get them set back together just perfectly was almost impossible. There are none of these problems with the Magic Mill IITM. The only problem with it is that it will not grind corn or soybeans (I do grind a few soybeans from time to time but I’m taking the chance of hurting the motor.) We use a lot of corn products and the cornmeal on the market has been degerminated and bleached, except that obtained from a health food store. Magic Mill now sells the Magic Mill III PlusTM that grinds anything.

With the Magic MillTM grinder and Bosch Magic Mixer, I find breadmaking to be a breeze and we are very seldom out of bread. I usually spend one day a month and bake several runs. Our freezer is well stocked at all times with enough for making sandwiches to take to school and work.

Today, it’s not like it was when I went to school. Everyone took white bread and it was rather embarrassing to be different and have all the kids asking you what you were eating. When I was in high school, I remember eating in the bathroom so no one would laugh at my food. Now there is more awareness about the kinds of food you should eat. Our children take whole wheat bread to school for their lunches. They say that the kids at school are amazed that I actually made the bread. I've also had a lot of fun with my kid’s friends who come over and watch me bake bread or grind flour. Barbara likes to make cookies or cupcakes with her friends and of course she uses whole wheat flour.

My basic whole wheat bread recipe is:

Mix 5 Cups of warm water and honey, molasses and yeast. Let set for a few minutes until it becomes bubbly with yeast. Then add oil, applesauce and 9 Cups of flour. Start mixer and add 3 Tbsp. of salt and gradually add about 5 Cups more flour. Knead 10 minutes and add a little more flour as needed until flour starts to clear the bowl about 2/3 of the way up.

While the bread is kneading use vegetable shortening to generously coat the pans. When the bread is ready put oil on your hands and pick up enough bread to make a loaf. Form it into a loaf around your hand and then seal the bottom and put it in the pan. It doesn’t have to be perfect and I usually push the edges down around the pan. Set oven to 1500 and put pans in the oven to rise. Rise 20 to 30 minutes and then, leaving the pans in the oven, turn oven to 3500 and bake 22 minutes for small loaves and 30 minutes for larger loaves.

If you are using the conventional method of kneading bread, mix the ingredients as listed and add enough flour gradually to be able to knead by hand. Many use an electric mixer as long as they can until it becomes too stiff. If you knead it by hand you will have to take more effort in forming the loaves or you will have a lot of bubbles in the loaves which will leave holes in your bread after it is baked.

A variation to the above recipe is:

Ingredients same as above, finish as above.

Grind 6 Cups wheat, 1 Cup barley, 1 or 2 Cups millet (a source of Vitamin B 17), 3/4 Cup soy beans (for protein balance), 1/2 Cup mung or kidney beans (B 17 & protein).

My Mother-in-law gave me an exceptionally tasty and easy recipe that I have converted to whole wheat rolls.

COTTAGE CHEESE ROLLS

2 sticks butter or margarine, 2 Cups whole wheat flour, 1 1/2 Cup cottage cheese, 1/4 tsp. salt

Beat together cheese and butter until creamy. Add salt and gradually add flour and mix well. Will be very stiff. Refrigerate overnight. Divide into 3 balls and roll into a circle. Cut into small pie wedges and roll up wide end first. Experiment with temperature and I’ve found I have to vary the time and temperature with different ovens, but bake approximately 20-30 minutes on 325o to 350o.

Here is one of my favorite Bran Muffin Recipes:

BANANA BRAN MUFFINS

1 Cup sifted whole wheat flour, 1 well-beaten egg, 3 Tbsp. sugar or molasses w/egg, 1 Cup mashed banana, 3 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 Cup milk, 1/2 tsp. salt, 2 Tbsp. oil, 1 Cup bran

Sift flour and dry ingredients. Add bran. Mix remaining ingredients and add all at once to flour mixture. Stir just to mix. Bake 400o for 20-25 minutes

Note: You may add raisins, nuts or coconut. If you do, you may want to add another 1/2 cup of milk so they won’t be too dry. I sometimes use applesauce or other fruits instead of bananas. If you use berries, coat them in flour before adding and you may need to add additional moisture.

I use wheat flour for most of my recipes. So far I have not been able to make a decent pie crust and I usually make it with white flour, but there are a lot of compromises on pie crusts that you can use. For example:

BLACKBERRY TORTE

1 No. 2 can blackberries*, 1 Cup water, 3/4 Cup raw sugar**, 3 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1 Tbsp. butter

Pour berries into a saucepan along with sugar and butter. Heat. Combine cornstarch and water and add to the berry mixture, stirring only until it thickens.

* You can use any type of berry or fruit pie filling, I use a cherry pie filling recipe and find it to be our favorite (1 quart of pie cherries, 3/4 Cup sugar, 1/4 Cup cornstarch, 1/2 cup cherry juice, 1 tsp. almond extract, cook until thickened). For apple torte, I add cinnamon and allspice to the recipe.

** I usually don’t use near this much sugar and since raw is hard to find I sometimes use white.

PIE CRUST #1

Use 1 3/4 Cup Wheat in Magic Mill on fine. Combine all ingredients in Magic Mixer bowl. (You can buy already ground wheat flour and use any method of mixing it.) Blend thoroughly. Press 1/2 of it into a 9" x 13" baking dish. Pour berry mixture over the top, distributing evenly. Place remaining mixture over the filling. Press gently. Bake at 3500 for 35 minutes.

Another simple crust for a cream pie is:

PIE CRUST #2

Blend 1 Cup butter or margarine, 1 Cup whole wheat flour, 1 Tbsp. sugar. Add 1/2 Cup ground nuts. Press in 9" x 13" pan and bake 3500 for 15-20 minutes.

You can revise most of your recipes, but I just automatically use wheat in my cookie recipes, even sugar cookies. Raw sugar and brown sugar are interchangeable. If you are short of brown sugar, use some white sugar, molasses or both.

3/4 Cup Whole wheat flour plus 1/4 Cup cornstarch = 1 Cup whole wheat cake flour. If a given recipe calls for cornstarch, add the cornstarch and blend for just a moment. Stop the mixer and check to see if the batter looks curdled. If it is, add a small amount of whole wheat flour until the batter is smooth. Then bake according to the directions. Barley flour may be substituted for cornstarch in cakes.

When making pancakes or waffles, I use wheat flour. I sometimes find I am short of ground flour and can’t get any right away, so I keep a store of wheat bran and wheat germ in the freezer. I sometimes use white flour and a cup of both germ and bran combined. It looks and tastes almost like the whole wheat. I also grind several kinds of grains and make pancakes. For example, wheat, barley, soy, millet, buckwheat.

One of my family’s very favorite pancake recipes is what we call German Pancakes, but are actually crepes:

WHOLE WHEAT GERMAN PANCAKES OR CREPES

1 Cup unsifted whole wheat flour, 1 3/4 Cup milk, 1/4 Cup cornstarch, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 Tbsp. oil or melted butter, 3 eggs

Put all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. Heat a large fry pan; put enough oil in pan to coat, and have pan very hot. Tip and roll the pan in order to spread the batter thin and evenly. Brown quickly on one side and flip over. It takes a minute or two for the whole process.

Put a small amount of your favorite filling for pancakes and roll jelly roll fashion; then top with whipped cream sweetened with honey. (Example: Blueberry sauce listed below.) Our favorite is hot applesauce. Or my kids just eat it with butter or syrup. Pure maple syrup is best if you can afford it.

Note: As crepes, fill with your favorite filling and roll up. Makes a change for your children’s or husband’s lunch box.

Preparation time: 10-12 minutes. Yield: 4-6 large or 9 (7-inch) pancakes.

BLUEBERRY SAUCE FOR PANCAKES

1 Cup blueberries (fresh or frozen, unthawed), 1 tsp. lemon juice, 2 Tbsp. fructose (or honey, or sugar), 1 tsp. cornstarch, 2 Tbsp. water

Blend all ingredients except blueberries briefly in blender. Stir in blueberries and cook over medium heat until thickened, 4-6 minutes. Yield 1 cup of sauce. Use on crepes.

ORANGE WHOLE WHEAT HOT CAKES

2 Cups sifted whole wheat flour, 2 eggs separated, 1/2 tsp. soda, 1/4 Cup oil, 1/2 tsp. salt

Enough fresh orange juice to make hot cake batter. Mix egg yolks and oil and beat. Add dry ingredients with orange juice. Add stiffly beaten egg whites. Bake on lightly oiled, medium hot griddle. One cup of corn flour may be used instead of stone ground whole wheat flour. These are very delicious.

Richard loves my whole wheat waffles. I like to spoil him with his all-time favorite:

WHOLE WHEAT WAFFLES

1 Cup sifted whole wheat flour, 2 eggs, separated, 3 tsp. baking powder, 1 1/4 Cups milk, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 Cup oil*

* You may cut the oil in half if you prefer.

Sift together, three times, the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add egg yolks, oil and milk gradually. Batter will be very thin. Beat hard for 2 minutes. Fold in beaten egg whites. Bake in preheated waffle iron.

Note: You may add 1/2 tsp. soda and substitute buttermilk for milk to make a richer waffle. Serve with applesauce and table cream or your favorite topping.

One of my favorite waffle recipes other than wheat follows:

BROWN RICE FLOUR WAFFLES

2 Cups brown rice flour, 3/4 Cup milk, 2 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/2 Cup sour cream, 1 Tbsp. brown sugar, 2 eggs, separated, 1/2 tsp. salt, 6 Tbsp. melted butter, pinch of soda or oil

Combine beaten egg yolks, sour cream, melted butter, then the milk. Add slowly the mixed dry ingredients. Fold in stiffly beaten egg whites. Bake on hot waffle iron. Makes about 6 medium size waffles.

Note: These are a little heavier than normal waffles, but very tasty. Especially with a good syrup or honey.

I make Pizza quite often for the family and use a combination of wheat and barley flour. My family says my pizza is better than the store bought type. The recipe follows:

PIZZA

2 1/2 to 3 Cups unsifted flour (use a combination of white, wheat, and barley), 2 tsp. salt (I have found this is too much for us.), 1 1/2 tsp. sugar, 1 Cup very hot water, 1 pkg. active dry yeast, 2 Tbsp. salad oil

1. In a large bowl thoroughly combine 1 cup of the flour, sugar, salt and active dry yeast. Gradually add very hot tap water and salad oil to dry ingredients and beat 1 minute at low speed with electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally.

2. Stir in enough additional flour to make a soft dough.

3. Turn out onto a lightly floured board; knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 to 10 minutes. (My Bosch comes in handy, I just let it knead for 10 minutes, but with this small amount of dough it tends to walk off the counter, so I have to watch it closely.)

4. Place dough in a greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place, free from draft, until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes. While this is happening prepare your pizza ingredients.

5. Punch dough down and divide in half. Press each piece of dough into a greased 12-inch pizza pan, forming a standing rim of dough. These may also be shaped on a greased baking sheet, forming a standing rim of dough.

6. Fill with desired filling and bake as directed.

7. Makes enough dough for 2 pizzas.

Note: I usually make 4 pizza and freeze 2 uncooked, then when I’m short on time, we have pizza for dinner! Just cook as directed for unfrozen, but I usually put the pizza in the oven while it is preheating and then cook 15-20 minutes.

My favorite pizza filling recipe is as follows:

PIZZA FILLING

Brown 1/4 pound ground chuck or more in a skillet over medium high heat.

1 8 oz. can tomato sauce, 1/4 tsp. pepper, 1 Tbsp. minced onion, 1 tsp. oregano, 1/2 Cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1/2 tsp. salt, 2 unbaked pizza crusts, Lots of grated Yellow and White Cheese (Cheddar, Mozzarella or Monterey Jack)

1. Heat oven to 4250.

2. Combine tomato sauce, minced onion, oregano, salt and pepper. Spread half of the mixture over the top of each pizza crust.

3. Sprinkle with the ground chuck.

4. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Put the cheeses all over the top of the pizzas.

5. I chop up black olives and spread it over the cheeses, or you can use mushrooms or any other item that you especially like, peppers, onions etc.

6. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until browned and bubbly.

Another fun thing that I make is corn tortillas. My husband prefers my enchiladas and tortillas to store bought ones.

CORN TORTILLAS

1 cup unbleached flour (can use whole wheat but texture is not as good), 2 1/2 Cups milk, 5 Tbsp. cornstarch, 1 cup yellow corn meal, 1 tsp. salt, 2 eggs, 2 Tbsp. oil

Place all ingredients except oil in blender or food processor and blend well. Put oil in a very large pan. Put a small amount of batter in center of pan. Then tip and tilt the pan until the batter is very thin and covers the whole pan. When it is browned, flip to the other side. Then make your favorite Mexican recipes. My family even likes to eat them as tacos, except you roll tortilla around the ingredients.

Stack tortillas on top of each other, wrap in oiled paper then cloth or foil to keep moist. Refrigerate if not used at once.

There are many wonderful recipes you can make without the normal processed foods. It takes time, obviously, but I feel that one of the most important things that we do in our lives is eat and how we feel depends on what we put into our bodies.

One recipe I found was made by a delightful older diabetic lady that we met:

PINTO BEANS AND CORNBREAD

Simmer over Medium heat 10 minutes

3 Cups cooked pinto beans, 1/3 Cup chopped onion, 1/3 Cup tomato sauce, 1/3 Cup chopped green onion

Preheat oven to 4000.

Mix: 4 Tbsp. melted butter, 1 Cup ground cornmeal, 1 tsp. chili powder (optional), 1 Cup milk

Put beans in 8 X 8" dish. Pour cornmeal mixture on top and bake at 4000 for 15-30 minutes uncovered. Can bake with the bread on bottom.

One of my old standby recipes that I made up myself and use quite often is:

HAMBURGER BARLEY CASSEROLE

Heat 3 cups water to boiling. Add 1 1/2 cups of barley and cook approximately 30 minutes on simmer or medium.

Brown 2 pounds of hamburger and pour off all grease. Add small chopped onion. Add three or four 6 oz. cans of tomato sauce. Add salt, garlic powder, spices to taste. I may use oregano, basil or various other spices. (You can make it taste Mexican or Italian.) Simmer uncovered for 35-40 minutes, stirring often.

Layer cooked Barley, grated cheese, and Hamburger Sauce. Make 2 or 3 layers, depending on size of casserole dish. If you like, I sometimes chop olives and add to the top with a last layer of cheese. Bake in oven 3500 for about 30 minutes, longer if it has been refrigerated. This is an excellent dish to warm up for the Sabbath.

One of my all time favorite recipes is found in Feasting Naturally. The ingredients don’t seem to go together but the results are marvelous.

BROCCOLI AND RICE BAKE

1 (10 1/2 oz.) pkg. frozen (or fresh) chopped broccoli, 1/4 Cup melted butter or margarine, 1/2 Cup shredded cheddar cheese, 1/2 tsp. pepper, 3 Cups cooked brown rice*, 1/2 Cup chopped onions, 3/4 Cup mayonnaise, 1/2 Cup broken walnuts, 1/2 Cup water, 1 tsp. parsley, 2 eggs, 1/2 tsp. salt

Steam broccoli 2 minutes only. Place rice in a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish; stir together mayonnaise, water, eggs, and onion; blend into rice. Add walnuts, parsley, salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Lay steamed broccoli around the top of the casserole dish and pour melted butter over it. Cover with grated cheese and bake 35 minutes at 3500.

Preparation time: 50 minutes. Yield: 6-8 servings.

Hint: Add 2 cups leftover, cubed chicken or turkey to the rice for a satisfying one-dish meal. What a unique idea for that left over Thanksgiving turkey! This is our favorite choice.

* I use Lundberg’s organic short or long grain brown rice (found in health food stores), cooked as follows: 2 cups boiling water to 1 cup rice for 30 minutes on simmer or medium. I never buy super processed white rice on the market, which has absolutely no food value. It’s easy to fix, which can’t be said of brown rice, but what is its value? Brown rice may come out sticky so experiment with learning to cook it. Cook it up ahead of time, let it cool then saute it in oil until it is crispy crunchy and lovely for dishes that call for rice.

One thing that we do to get away from the super processed breakfast cereals and not eat them all the time is to cook whole grains for breakfast. "Captain Crunch" is expensive, loaded with sugar and refined cereals and additives. Instead, start your day the natural way!

Using a crockpot, put in a ratio of 2 parts water to 1 part grain. Whole wheat, millet, whole oats can all be cooked this way. Add salt if you find you like it and cook overnight. Millet and oats will not take as much time as wheat so you may want to cook them during the day. Then the next morning, add milk or cream and honey to taste. It will take a little longer to eat because it is very chewy, but is very nutritious and sticks to your ribs.

Here’s a couple of whole wheat based desserts. You may try substituting honey in place of sugar in these recipes.

WHOLE WHEAT OATMEAL CAKE

Pour water over oats, cover and let stand 20 minutes: 1 1/4 Cup boiling water, 1 Cup oatmeal - uncooked

Beat until creamy, add and cream: 1 Cup brown sugar, 2 eggs, 1 Cup white sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla

Sift together: 1 1/3 Cup whole wheat flour, 1/4 tsp. nutmeg, 1 tsp. soda, 1/2 tsp. salt, 3/4 tsp. cinnamon

Stir oats into creamed sugar mixture. Then add flour and dry ingredients. Stir to mix. Bake in 9 x 13 x 2 1/2 inch greased pan at 3500 for 50-55 minutes. For a topping, Combine: 1/2 Cup chopped nuts, 1/2 Cup brown sugar, 3/4 Cup coconut, 3 Tbsp. light cream, 1/4 Cup butter

At end of baking time, remove hot cake, sprinkle at once with topping and return to 4000 oven for about 7 minutes to bubble topping.

Watch not to over brown coconut in topping.

WHOLE WHEAT COOKIES

Preheat oven to 3500. 1/2 cup shortening, or 1/2 tsp. soda, vegetable oil, 1 tsp. baking powder, 1 cup raw or brown sugar, 1 cup raisins, 1 egg beaten, 1 cup chopped nuts, 2 cups whole wheat flour, 1 cup unsweetened, 1/2 tsp. salt, applesauce, 1/2 cup powdered whey, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, 1 tsp. cinnamon

Cream sugar, eggs, shortening or oil, and vanilla. Mix all dry ingredients together and add to creamed sugar alternately with applesauce. Add nuts and raisins. Drop by spoonfuls on greased cookie sheet. Bake 15 minutes. Makes 3 dozen large cookies.

As you can see, our family learned the hard way. It took lots of work. It still does. You can benefit from what we and others have learned.

Feasting Naturally has three exceptionally good recipe books. If you are interested in the Magic MillTM and Bosch products, please contact me. See our List of Sources at the end of this article.

Someone who has eaten white flour products all their lives may find it a little hard to convert to wheat products. I still do not like the taste of whole wheat noodles and spaghetti, although Richard really likes them. I find them coarse and funny tasting. I would advise starting out slowly, if you find this to be the case, use maybe 1/2 wheat and 1/2 white flour. Then gradually add more wheat over a period of time.

A friend of mine who eats nothing but processed foods, and buys forty nine cent loaves of bread for her family is crazy about my bread. She says it has body and substance to it and when you eat a sandwich, you feel like you’ve eaten something.

Even "store bought" bread advertised as "100% Stone Ground Whole Wheat" may not be as nutritious as you might think. Here are some of the listed ingredients of one such brand: Calcium sulfate, ammonium sulfate and monocalcium phosphate, monoglycerides, ethoxylated mono and diglycerides, sodium stearoyl lactylate, succinylated monoglycerides, potassium bromate.

Who knows what some of these chemical additives do to our bodies? As one person said, "If you can’t pronounce it, don’t eat it!" The answer is to make bread at home with whole wheat.

I would love to receive some of your favorite recipes even though they may not call for whole grain products. Some of my best and most used recipes have come from acquaintances and friends. If you start out on converting to whole grain cooking and run into problems, I would be glad to help you.

NOTE: Developing your sources for grains and natural foods requires hard work and is usually good only for a limited geographical area. The following list is not intended to be comprehensive.

Feasting Naturally, by Mary Pickard. Over 300 excellent natural recipes. Feasting Naturally From Your Own Recipes, by Mary Pickard. More natural recipes.

Feasting Naturally With Our Friends, by Mary Pickard. Additional natural recipes.

Wheat for Man Cookbook, by Rosenvall.

The Wonderful World of Honey, by Parkhill.

Magic Mill III Plus^TM. The world’s finest home flour mill. Its stainless steel micro milling heads rotate at 28,000 rpm and explode the grains by impact at low temperature to preserve nutrients. It never clogs like stone mills do. Mills any grain from bread coarse flour to pastry flour. It is important to use flour immediately after grinding to preserve nutrients. Never buy another sack of flour again. Make your own flour at home with the Magic Mill III Plus^TM! To order, contact: Total Juice Plus, 1125 East Glendale Avenue, Phoenix, AR 85020, telephone (602) 488-7808. A recent price was $236.95, plus $13.00 USA shipping, and it comes with a five-year warranty, six cup grain hopper, 1.75 horsepower motor, which can output 75 pounds of flour per hour. Another unit that looks like a Magic Mill, with the same specifications, can be had for $179.00 from from The Preparedness Mart, telephone (800) 773-0437.

Bosch Universal Kitchen Machine. German craftsmen have designed one machine to perform dozens of kitchen chores and last a lifetime. It can knead 10 lbs. of whole wheat bread dough, changing gears automatically when the gluten is worked up and the dough becomes thick. Attachments such as a blender, meat grinder, pasta maker, juicer, ice cream maker, vegetable slicer, etc. make this machine your most important kitchen appliance. We love our Bosch! You will too. You may view the Bosch family of kitchen machines on the Internet at http://www.adg-bosch.com. To obtain a discount, contact Shirley Nickels at (307) 686-5191 for details on ordering the Bosch Universal Kitchen Machine. Bosch also makes a whisper quiet Grainmaster Mill, and the Air Preserve II Food Dehydrator.

We have received good testimonials for the West Bend Breadmaker, available at many retail stores in the USA, such as Wal-mart, for around $100-$120. It kneads and bakes 1-2 pounds of bread all in the same unit. This equipment appears to be designed for low volume usage, and is not heavy duty like Bosch equipment.

Wheat, etc.:Arrowhead Mills, Box 866, Hereford, TX 79045. (806) 364-0730. (Order from your local health food store.)

Rice: Lundberg Farms, P.O. Box 369, Richvale, CA 95974. (Order direct from Lundberg Farms, or your local health food store.)

A source of non-organic whole grains, dehydrated foods and other food storage items is: Walton Feed, Inc., P.O. Box 307, Montpelier, ID 83254. (800) 847-0465. Call them for the address of a distributor nearest you. Mormons buy storage grains and dehydrated foods from Walton Feed.

We particularly like Walton Wheat because it is stored in durable plastic bags and is guaranteed weevil free, with no poisonous chemicals added. Most other non-organic wheat is treated with powerful poison chemicals to kill weevils. We use Walton’s hard high protein red winter wheat.

Until you learn how to store grains, it would not be advisable to purchase very large quantities, because you may lose portions due to spoilage or insect damage. Walton sealed plastic storage bags take all the worry out of storage loss. If you buy grain in paper bags, you will need to do something to store it properly, or bugs such as weevils and moths can get into your grain and make it unusable. Obtain large white plastic containers (3-5 gallon) from restaurants (shortening cans, etc.). Clean the containers thoroughly and dry. Pour your storage grains into these containers. Mingle bay leaves and/or dry ice with the grain and seal tightly. Bugs hate bay leaves, and dry ice kills any larvae. Obviously, if you have problems with mice and rats, you better eliminate the vermin or you will lose your storage grain.

Another idea: if you have a large freezer, store sacks of grain in your freezer. Corn, wheat and soybeans are the easiest to store without loss. Rice, millet, barley and oats are more susceptible to damage.

Our family of five goes through 50 pounds of wheat in 4-6 weeks, so we like to keep half a dozen 50 pound sacks on hand at all times.

• written by Shirley L. Nickels

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