Experimenting with wheat berries leads to tasty dish

Before all of the leaves fell and we entered the gray months, some friends and I took a ride to visit Amish quilt shops.

We found some wonderful fabrics that will add color and warmth to our winter months. One of the shops included a general store where I also found inexpensive bags of wheat berries.

I’ve purchased wheat berries online from specialty grain stores in the past in order to sprout the wheat and grind it into my own wholewheat meal, but it was a bit cost prohibitive and time consuming when those same stores also sold sprouted whole-wheat flour, which was much finer than I could ever grind.

But I have a hard time passing up a bargain so I grabbed a two-pound bag of white soft wheat berries.

If you are looking for an unprocessed, whole grain to add to meals that won’t spike your blood sugar, wheat berries fit the bill perfectly.

They are the whole wheat grain minus the inedible husk.

When they are boiled, they plump up to twice their size, but maintain a slightly crunchy outside and a tender inside, giving the cooked kernels a slight pop when you eat them.

Their flavor is mild and slightly sweet and they easily take on the flavor of the foods they are cooked with, so they can be added to either sweet or savory dishes, rather like rice.

While I like cooked wheat berries with cream, honey and cinnamon in place of oatmeal, my husband isn’t as fond of them plain, so I started looking for recipes.

Most of the recipes use them in their plain state, added to various salads similar to the way bulgar wheat would be used.

Other articles simply said they could be added to baked goods, but didn’t offer any recipes and I didn’t want to have a large batch of bread or cookies that I might have been the only one in the house who liked them. That led me to experimenting with a recipe of my own using the items I had at hand. With that in mind, consider today’s recipe to be a work in progress.

The next time I make it, I will chop the mushrooms and onion finer to help the patties hold together better and I may even add a bit of grated cheese for both flavor and consistency. They might even make it into my salmon patty recipe. The nice thing about a grain as versatile as wheat berries is the nearly endless options for their use.

Basic Cooked Wheat Berries

1 cup dry soft white wheat berries 2 quarts of water *** Rinse the wheat berries in a colander with small holes.

Place into a medium saucepan and cover with water, with a few inches of water above the berries. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 30 minutes.

Check for the desired tenderness, cooking for another 10-15 minutes if they are still too al dente. Be careful not to overcook, or they can become tough like old corn.

Drain and store until ready to use.

Cooked wheat berries may be served seasoned and buttered like rice or warmed with cream and honey like oatmeal, or added to your favorite recipe in place of the grain.

Wheat Berry-Mushroom Bites

1/2 cup cooked wheat berries 2/3 cup chopped mushrooms 1/4 cup chopped onion 1-2 cloves of chopped garlic 1 egg, slightly beaten 2-3 tablespoons of flour (to help hold things together) Ground pepper to taste Worcester or soy sauce to taste Oil for frying, or may be baked on parchment until browned *** Mix all of the ingredients together, adding enough flour to help hold things together, but not so much that the mixture becomes dry.

Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan on medium and add the mixture using a small spoon, flattening into patties about 2 inches in diameter or slightly smaller.

Cook on the first side for 3-5 minutes, until the patties hold together when you try to slide them from their original position. Turn and cook on the second side for a few more minutes to brown.

Serve hot as a side dish or appetizer.

Christine Haines is a retired reporter and a culinary enthusiast who collects recipes from around the world and throughout historic time periods, often adding her own twist to an old tradition. She encourages her readers to cook adventurously.