I’m sure by now you’ve heard that general nutrition recommendation to include more whole grains in your diet to improve your health and well-being. Like consuming more Cheerios or whole wheat bread. Because whenever we consume whole grains, that additional fiber in the grain takes longer to digest so that the absorbable part of the grain, namely the starch or carbohydrate doesn’t flood the bloodstream immediately. So you don’t get that sudden spike in blood sugar then subsequent bonk when it drops but it creates a lower, sustained blood sugar with no spikes or bonks. And the additional fiber assists in making you “regular’.
So how about taking it a step further by consuming the grain as is? As in wheat berries or barley or farro or quinoa?
The Mother of all Grains
Farro is considered to be the mother or father of all grains and the Italian translation is simply “ancient wheat grain” but it actually refers to three different grains. Einkorn or farro piccolo, Emmer or farro medio and Spelt or farro grande though all three variations look just like uncooked wheat and more like barley once they’re boiled. They all have a slightly nutty flavor and pleasing chewiness. They are good sources of protein and fiber as well as magnesium, niacin, zinc and iron. Though there are semi-pearled and pearled which either has some or all of the bran removed and these cook faster than the whole grain variety, the whole grain variety is the way to go as you receive the full benefit of fiber as well as the nutrients found just under the bran layer.
Not Just for Beer
Though barley is the primary agent in creating your own micro-brewed beer, malting the barley simply creates simple sugars that yeast can ferment into alcohol. From a nutrition standpoint, you want those complex carbohydrates to remain as-is because along with the abundant soluble fibers in barley, they create a sense of satiety after meals, reduce the post-meal blood sugar spikes seen with refined carbohydrates and the soluble fibers can actually help lower serum cholesterol. Barley is a good source of the B-vitamins, niacin, pyridoxine, thiamine and riboflavin as well as magnesium, manganese, iron and zinc.
However, because of the soluble fiber and protein in barely, I find that cooking it can pose a challenge especially if your cooking vessel isn’t large enough. Cooking barley creates quite a bit of foam production and can easily boil over so either use a large, tall cooking vessel or a vacuum cooking device which I use. Tiger and Thermos make several vacuum contained pots that keep the temperature of the actual cooking pot close to the boiling point. I simply place the barley and water just to a boil then immediately cover it and place it in the outer vacuum sealed pot and let it sit quietly for the duration of the cook time. No boil over and no mess and no electricity needed.
Quinoa
Quinoa (keen-wah) is the newest darling of the grain family mainly because it’s one of the few plant foods that contain all 9 of the essential amino acids needed by humans. Most other plant proteins are either limited by a lack of lysine or methionine so you need to consume other foods with these amino acids but quinoa supplies a complete protein. Along with protein, it also is a good source of magnesium, manganese, iron and zinc like the other grains but also is a good source of folic acid and copper too. It also only takes about 15 to 20 minutes to cook and is a good source of insoluble fiber or roughage. It’s also the star of one of my favorite salads…
The Costco Salad
I’m not sure if your local Costco sells this salad but in the 50th, they’ve been selling this salad for several years now and it features several whole grains; lentils, mung beans (when sprouted, they turn into bean sprouts) and colored quinoa. If you peruse the internet, there are several sites that purport to have the Costco recipe and it is close as far as the solid ingredients but it’s missing one major flavor component. The salad has the distinct flavor of a good dill pickle, so I first tried simmering the grains in a sachet (fancy word for cheesecloth bag) of dill pickle spices. It added a little additional flavor, but it wasn’t the same as Costco’s version. I then added some dill pickle liquid which you normally would dump after finishing the pickles and it added a little more flavor than the pickling spices alone. Then I got really creative and purchased a food dehydrator from Amazon and dehydrated dill pickle slices – a whole bottle which was only 18 slices – then blitzed them in a coffee grinder yielding just a little more than a tablespoon.
Quinoa Salad
1 & 1/2 cups red and white quinoa (mixed)
kosher salt
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, more as needed
2 tbsp sherry vinegar, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, more as needed
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice, more as needed
About 3/4 cup pickle juice
2 tsp dill pickle powder
1 -2 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
fresh ground black pepper
4 chopped roma tomatoes
1 large diced English cucumber
1/2 bunch thinly sliced scallion
1 large diced red bell pepper
3/4 cup cooked red lentil
3/4 cup cooked mung beans
1 bunch chopped fresh cilantro (leaves and stems)
1/2 bunch chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
Because the mung beans, quinoa and lentils don’t cook in the same amount of time, I first bring a tall pot of water to a boil, add a quarter cup of pickle juice then add the mung beans. After 5 minutes, I added all the quinoa to the same pot and after another 7 minutes, add the red lentils. The whole mixture boils for another 8 minutes then I drain without rinsing and let it cool naturally. Therefore, the mung beans cook for a total of 20 minutes, the quinoa 15 minutes and the red lentils for 8 minutes.
Put the vinegar, lemon juice and remaining pickle juice in a small bowl and gradually whisk in the 1/2 cup olive oil (vinaigrette). Whisk in lemon zest; taste; season with salt, pepper and additional vinegar and lemon juice or olive oil as needed. Place cooked and cooled quinoa in large serving bowl and toss to break up any clumps. Add the tomatoes, cucumbers, scallions, bell peppers, lentils, mung beans, cilantro and parsley with the vinaigrette and toss. Taste and season as needed with more vinaigrette, additional pickle juice, salt and pepper.
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