DIVERSIFY
YOUR GRAINS
As well as transitioning away from white flour, it’s important that chefs help to create the demand for alternative grains. Cereals like rye, spelt, emmer, einkorn, naked barley, and oats are delicious, complex flavours, and are generally much more nutritious than wheat. What’s more, they usually require less from the land. This is important because organic wheat farmers can generally only grow wheat in a field once every 4 years (minimum), between which they must grow other crops to rest the field and rebuild the fertility necessary for wheat growing.
Buying other UK grains, many of which can be grown in between the wheat years, can help support organic farmers economically and create demand for more diverse grains in the field. This is vital because diversity is key to resilience, and one of the key tenets of agroecology: if we can maintain genetic diversity in our crops, we can hope that we will have the genetic material necessary to deal with changing climate in the future, which is essential for resilience.
‘Heritage’ grains are a good place to start, although the label is not regulated, so it’s not a failsafe! Working with population wheats (where the wheat is not just one single modern variety, but a ‘population’ of lots of different varieties) can also be a great solution, although it’s important to remember there’s no one-size-fits-all solution! This is where joining your local grain network can be really useful in finding out how best to support diverse grain farming in your area!
Hodmedod’s is a treasure trove of interesting and innovative grains, including unusual and delicious varieties of wheat, as well as alternative grains. Check out the recipes below!
Image Credits: David Bebber
