Cooked on the stove-top, amaranth is similar in texture to southern corn grits or “cream of wheat.” It is creamy and smooth with a slightly peppery finish. It can be made into a sweet or savory delicious meal that is truly satisfying and will keep you and your family full for hours. It’s great for breakfast, lunch or dinner as well as many delightful loaves of bread, tortillas, appetizers and dessert.

Creamy wheat farina porridge is classic breakfast for people all around the world. It is a mild smooth cereal made from the endosperm of whole wheat. It can be made sweet by adding dried fruit and syrup or it can be served savory with cracked pepper, butter and cheese. Farina has been used as a portion of the flour in baked products like muffins and bread, but it is most often consumed as a breakfast cereal.

Millet is an amazing grain that packs a nutritional punch of fiber and vitamins. It is not a complete protein but is a seed grain. It cannot cross-pollinate with wheat and will always be gluten-free. In spite of how delicious and versatile it is as a staple, it is most often used as birdseed in the USA. That’s sad…because as much as we love big bird, we’d rather see you make this healthy grain a part of your life.

Here on the organic grains blog, we’re not only covering some pretty amazing gourmet recipes, but we are also all about the simple basics. That being said, cracked wheat cereal is just about as wholesome, natural and basic as you could ever get!

Rye has long been a staple grain in countries around the world, but in America, we rarely see it used in anything other than bread. Rye is a variety of grain that is not nearly as appreciated as wheat, and it should be! Because of its grey color, bakers usually add caramel color or molasses to bread doughs containing rye flour to improve the visual appeal of the finished product.