Going with the grain

"The gluten-free products are milled and prepared in a separate room, where gluten-containing grains are never processed," says Matt Cox, Red Mill’s marketing coordinator. "The GF products have become much more popular over the last 10 years, as people discover that celiac disease is really disabling."

Waxy barley is a different rain from regular barley and contains about twice the amount of beta-glucan. Wally Coram, vice president of sales for NuWorld Nutrition (no connection with Nu World Amaranth), Minneapolis, notes that a number of consumers who eat the cereal daily have maintained their cholesterol levels. "There are a number of clinical trials in progress, as well. Waxy barley is a naturally occurring mutant and a distinctive, different grain with a lot of utility."

NuWorld Foods (www.nuworldfoods.com) sells hulless waxy barley flakes by mail order to the public in 3-lb. bags.

Getting back to Bob’s Red Mill, some of the company’s special grains are Identity Preserved and are grown by selected farmers. One such grain, buckwheat, is related to rhubarb, sorrel and dock. It isn’t a cereal, but is a three-cornered seed that looks much like a beech nut. There are two types—common buckwheat grown for buckwheat flour and Tartary buckwheat, used primarily for animal feed. Buckwheat flour, of course, is used in pancakes and pancake mixes, but it has also shown great versatility in natural grain mixes.

Flaxseed is a grain that contains Omega–3 oils, and so it is a popular grain for addition to cereals. It’s sold as a whole seed in health food stores, but the whole seed should be milled to make the omega-3 oils digestible, according to Robert Weishear, a food scientist with Hodgson’s Mill Inc. (www.hodgsonmill.com), Effingham, Ill.

Photo courtesy of Hodgson's Mill Inc.

Hodgson’s Mill uses a patented selection system for flaxseed, then chill-mills it to keep the oil intact and adds it to the company’s Multi-Grain Hot Cereal and a variety of other products. Products include oat bran, cracked wheat, soy flour and other carefully ground grains. "Our low-temperature milling process, seed selection process and careful handling permit ground flaxseed, in products or as a grain supplement, to maintain about a year’s shelf-life," says Weishaar. "We do as little to the grain as we can to provide all of the benefits possible to our customers."

Hodgson’s Mill has been around since 1882 and has national distribution in supermarket chains and health foods stores. The company’s product line includes whole-grain pasta, baking mixes, flours and ingredients for bakers, as well as the specially cold-milled flaxseed. The key to its 122-year success is not to follow fads, but to provide good, healthy foods. Says Weishaar, "I haven’t really noticed a lot of concern about carbs in response to the Atkins diet. Our customers are already aware of good nutrition. Whole grains offer fewer net carbs than refined flours in any case, and our customers generally know that."

Another major company has been vitally involved with unusual grains is Roman Meal Baking Co. (www.romanmeal.com). Located in Tacoma, Wash., the family-owned firm has produced multi grain bread and similar products designed after the diets of Roman soldiers for nearly a century.

Photo courtesy of Roman Meal Baking Co.

Terry Elliott, brand manager, notes the firm has long held that whole grain is the "in" thing. While the low-carb trend may have caused marketing problems for some bakers, it hasn’t for Roman Meal. Its Carb Aware bread, a loaf that is especially high in fiber and protein, continues to do well in selected markets. Elliott says the company "continues to study unusual grains for inclusion in products. We’ve been looking at quinoa because it has some remarkable characteristics and the romance of being an ancient grain."

Wheat, rice and corn

Wheat (red and white, hard and soft, and durum) will produce a record yield this year, according to the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture, and global production is expected to exceed projected demand for the first time in about six years. The key word here is global, as increases in China, Russia, Europe and South America are the result of more acres and better yield. However, the U.S. crop, except for durum wheat, is down, caused by fewer acres planted.

Wheat annually has been squeezed by the demand for $6 billion sales of fresh bread consumed every year. As a result, prices for flour — both whole grain wheat and refined flour – have stayed high. But with "the Atkins effect," single-loaf sales of bread fell by about 1.3 million units over the past 12 months, according to data from Information Resources Inc. Dollar sales were flat at $2.2 billion. However, the number of wheat and whole-grain loaves sold rose 3 percent, with the value of the sales up 7 percent to $1.8 billion.