Steve, Grainlady posts a lot on the Cooking Forum. You might have better luck catching her attention over there.

The one thing I would be concerned with is mold (aflatoxin), and that can be dangerous if ingested. So if your wheat smells moldy or has black mold spores on it, then I'd be sure to destroy it. You may also want to contact your County Extension Ag Agent for further information. The fact that it is 12-years old isn't a concern. I'm using wheat that was purchased and placed in storage in 2007, and most wheat sold for commercial or home milling is generally 2-3 years old before it's sold. Wheat has already been stored in temperature extremes, so that isn't an issue with me either. Because it was in oxygen-free storage, it is possible that a lower percentage of them will sprout than normal. You can find more information at the link below in the article by Rita Bingham (my food storage guru). -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Sprout Seeds for Cheap Nutrition

Thanks, Grainlady. Can't sleep tonight so I've spent a couple hours browsing Honeyville Grain's website. Lots of fun stuff! They're cheaper across the board, for sure, even not on sale & the savings on shipping adds up fast. The blackberry's review of only 3 stars wasn't too great though? Still, I'm going to order a small can & compare along with a couple other products I regularly buy from Emergency Essentials. I've purchased from ES for so long I'm stuck in a rut. I signed up for Honeyville Grain's email list. I also use a lot of freeze-dried fruits but don't have any apricots. I like them much better than the dehydrated we purchased for years. I also like that HG offers the smaller cans - nice for just the two of us or for trials. We always freeze fresh corn in August (scrape off the cob, freeze on trays, vac-pack, & repackage for the freezer in small packages). I never thought about snacking on the freeze-dried for snacks so I'm going to order a trial can of that also plus it's just good to have in rotation. Shelfreliance.com is out of my league. They're over $10 more per can than ES but thanks for the link. I'll keep an eye on them. I also order from Augason Farms but usually things I need/want in smaller quantity. Good article on berries, thanks. It was a little heavy reading for 3:00 a.m. but I'll try again Monday. BTW, don't you love the look & smell of the freeze-dried fruit when you open a can? Huge perfectly ripe fruit that looks/smells/tastes just like fresh. The blackberries are "amost" too pretty to eat! Thanks for the suggestions. It's good to try some new things & HG is significantly cheaper across the board. EM is a good company though with great customer service. I've been purchasing from them for getting close to 30 years & I'm one of those people that tend to stick with what I'm comfortable with. I'm going to try half a dozen of those smaller cans though from HG & if we like them they'll get my order come late summer when it's time for a major restocking. Many thanks. /tricia

Carol- You can make naturally-fermented bread with kefir - no sourdough starter necessary (you'll find a recipe at the link below. Maybe use half kefir and half warm water. It will help tenderize the crumb. Check the recipes for using kefir at the link below for more choices for you. I just finished fermenting a quart of kefir today and one yesterday so I was looking at these recipes for some inspiration. Perhaps it was our day to have a "deep psychic kefir bond". ;-) Happy Independence Day back at ya! -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Kefir Recipes