I love this little company that grows ancient grains with a variety of wheat berries. They have lots of info on their website. I particularly love their Potlach Pilaf, which does include some wild rice with the wheat.

Bluebird Grains

My mother-in-law used to make kutia for Ukrainian Christmas supper. She used wheat berries from their farm. They just scooped them from the grain bin. It was delicious, full of poppyseeds and honey.

Kamut is a trademark for khorasan, an ancient grain with a different structure from hybridized wheat. It's bigger than modern. I have some puffed kamut which is not all that tasty, but plain cooked kamut is supposed to taste good. I've had einkorn and spelt that way, as well as modern wheat and bulgur of modern wheat. I tend to like the higher protein modern better, but I dislike rice because it just tastes like sugar to me. Without such prejudices, it's fine. ;)

My own choice is to buy one of the farm brands, with known source, but for Kamut they may not sign up to use the name and say ”khorasan”, so you need to check out their reputation and all. Both Bob's and Shiloh offer organic Kamut. I like Palouse for modern wheat for bread.

Look for old posts by Grainlady to learn a lot about wheat.

As the names suggest, hard wheat berries are harder than soft ones. Soft ones are often used as the kind for breakfast. Both can be used for breakfast or bread. After that, it's kind of like asking for the difference between several kinds of green beans- a matter of personal taste. Red or darker wheat berries can be more flavor, white or lighter ones more mellow. Sometimes you can tell by the kind of berry- like a rye one will taste much like rye.

I miss Grainlady...

So...some variety of soft wheat is best for using as a grain side dish - ? .

Depends on what you want in your side dish. A soft white berry will give you a mellower, softer bite. A hard red berry will give you a heartier chew. Both are good, but not necessarily suited to all dishes. Kind of akin to how different rices can have different flavor profiles and bite, and some are better for some dishes than others.

^^ Ah, that makes sense.

Quite popular right now is emmer, which is commonly referred to as farro ,though farro also can be spelt or others. Both emmer/farro and kamut are commonly used as a grain side dish.

Bulgur is parboiled cracked wheat, and very popular as a side dish and the base for a lot of Middle Eastern recipes. It's also quick to make because it's already half cooked.

I believe that my former-no-longer-made oatmeal bread (commercial) had some tiny little "nuggets" of what I assumed were wheat berries. They were slightly chewy. Would that be true possibly? AND if I were to try to make a similar oatmeal bread at home (ha ha) could I include some wheat berries to replicate my former bread? Or is there something like "oatmeal berries" (and where on earth do I find those??)

I use freekah and farro -- the freekah has a wonderful smoky flavor. I use those two interchangeably, depends on which I feel like using that day. The wheat berries that I use(d) are different, though -- they're chewier; I just don't know what kind of berries they were, exactly.

I don't use bulgur much -- mainly in tabbouleh. It just doesn't fill me up. IDK why, since it's all wheat, maybe because it doesn't have a very hearty texture compared to the others I use.

Mares eat oats and does eat oats

And little lambs eat ivy.

(except I don’t this this is true)

From Quora:

Earl Millard
Big Music Fan Author has 177 answers and 122.5K answer views
· 4y

What!?!

Here ya go, porkchop.

➡️ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mairzy_Doats

@goddessluna2020

Lyrics For Confused 21st Century Listeners:

I know a ditty nutty as a fruitcake

Goofy as a goon and silly as a loon

Some call it pretty, others call it crazy

But they all sing this tune:

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey

A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

Yes! Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey

A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey

Sing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy"

Oh! Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey

A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you-oo?

A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

This company is local for me. They have a variety of whole grains. Maybe something here would work for you?

https://mainegrains.com/collections/grains

If yoi're going to include whole wheatberries in your bread, do soak them first.

Our nearest Big Lots carries Bob's Red Mill, including Kamut (I did not know that was a trade name.) Big Lots is soon closing, though. I have only had Kamut boiled. It cooks up with a "bouncy" chewiness that I find satisfying.

According to ecorod.ua, emmer, spelt, dinkel, and kamut are, actually, the same – the ancient wheat species

Like all cats are the same, but some are tabby,, manx, siamese or presian. Different sizes, colors, temperments...

Update with question 6/7/25: I couldn't find the Bob's Red Mill freekah locally or on-line (from places I'm comfortable ordering), so I went with another brand called Yupik off A*n. It takes different -- not so much smoky as grassy, the taste it reminds me of the smell of hay I used to feed the horses. I really don't like it, the taste made me kinda queasy. I might toss it if I can get over the guilt of tossing a new package of food. IDK if it's the brand or what -- is this what it is actually supposed to taste like and the Bob's was off the mark, or the other way around. ?

Wikipedia says it better than I could:

The wheat is harvested while the grains are green and the seeds are still soft; it is then piled and sun-dried. The piles are carefully set on fire such that only the straw and chaff burn. Under these conditions, the high moisture content of the seeds prevents them from burning. The roasted wheat is then threshed and sun-dried to achieve a uniform flavour, texture, and colour. This threshing or rubbing process of the grains gives this food its name, farīk or "rubbed". Finally, the seeds are cracked into smaller pieces that resemble green bulgur.

I think with your experiences it's always going to remind you of hay, and if you don't like it why waste any of your life eating it? Surely you can give it away. The "wonderful smoky flavor" is probably because what you had before was more roasted. The only Yupik I see on A* is organic cracked. The only Bob's I see there is also organic cracked. It's the chlorophyll that makes it green which is going to taste grassy. I assume that roasting alters that. You could try roasting what you have, but I don't know how well that will work with it being cracked. It could work better than whole just for being cracked, but it could get way too dry.

There's a brand called Duru, which I'm pretty sure is Turkish, which has roasted freekeh. ETA—or it could just be referring to the initial processing.

Before tossing, I would try toasting it, either in the oven or stove top. You won't have the resulting product you were trying to buy, but you should have an edible grain that you can treat like farro, with the grassiness toasted out of it. Add liquid (I use bouillon) and cook until tender. Use like rice as a side dish or for cold salad base.

Hmmm, yes I could try toasting it first. I do that with kasha (buckwheat groats). If that doesn't work, I guess I could just cook up what I have left and give it to the dog, she'll like it.

I think I'm more disappointed than anything -- the other brands I had were terrific (there was another brand I used before Bob's but it was so long ago I don't remember the name, I bought it locally)

Another update: I bought some Kamut from Bob's this week. I was feeling lazy so I put it in the rice cooker set to brown rice; it didn't come out perfectly because not all the water soaked up, but I did enjoy it after I buttered and salted it (most things are remedied by butter and salt, aren't they? LOL!). I really liked the texture -- it was plumper than regular wheatberries. I'll play around with making it the non-lazy way on the stovetop, but I would definitely buy it again when it runs out.

Side note: I checked out Maine Grains. That website was "stalking" me for days after I browsed its webpages; sent me multiple emails reminding me something was in my cart (which I added then deleted because shipping was too $), then I got followed on Y*T*be and pretty much constant pop-ups everywhere on the 'net I went. Yes, I get it -- that's the age we live in, and I fully expect that from a big company but it typically doesn't happen with small, local establishments IME. I don't mind a reminder email or two, but M.G.'s marketing behavior crossed the line for me. It was such an turn-off that I refuse to order from them because of it, shipping cost aside.

I've had that from a small company, too. They let So-and-so's kid do the social media stuff for a class project or a small fee, instead of paying the pros big bucks. I told that company flat out what a turn off it was, and how it felt like stalking. This is customer repellant, not retention! But Unsubscribe works wonders.

Congrats on finding a grain you like!

"But Unsubscribe works wonders."

As does clearing trackers. But they still found me....

OMG!! That's awful!

Hi porkchop,

Did they send you 47 or so messages?

How about messaging them your reply - 47 or so times?

Either an identical message - or with amendments (offerofferoofferonofferofferofferoofferonoffering possibly more variety than theirs to you)?

(Don't try making amendments around here: you almost always get more than you bargained for).

Maybe you'd get a reply- maybe not: but your reaction would have been delivered.

ole joyfuelled (had to edit to repeat the last word - as it disappeared because (stupidly, as it's happened dozens of times - ((and just did again here, with "times")) as I forgot to hit "space", and often need "return", after typing it - or it disappears).

Another update: Maine Grains is STILL sending me emails, even after I unsubscribed. I can't shake them. This is such an incredible turn-off and downright violation if you ask me (if a person unsubscribes, they should be unsubscribed...period.) I will never, ever do business with them.

I had something like that happening to me in the past. I finally emailed them and asked them what it was going to take to "unsubscribe". That did the trick. Good luck. I know how aggravating that can be.

There's no reason to be bothered with something that can usually be easily remedied. When you receive something you don't want, indicate it as being properly rerouted to your folder that begins with an s and rhymes with ham. Your mail system should deliver future items from the same sender to that folder and not to your inbox.