glorious.grains

I continue to find myself confused yet excited to discover that someone doesn’t know what a true whole grain is. Confused because marketing leads everyone to believe that whole grains are trapped in the packaged, processed products pushed on consumers through the power of creative marketing.

Excited, yes very excited to educate others on the benefits and ease of cooking of those good for you whole grains.

For myself and I, whole grains are essential. They are an excellent source of nutrition containing iron, dietary fibre, vitamin E and B complex vitamins. The body slowly absorbs these whole grains providing you with sustainable high quality energy.

Here are some great grain worth trying that do NOT contain any gluten; brown rice, wild rice, millet, buckwheat, quinoa, kamut, oats, corn and amaranth. Here are some additional grains that DO contain gluten; wheat berries, cracked wheat, bulgur, couscous, wheat bran, spelt, barley and rye.

1 cup grains Water/broth Cooking time
Brown rice 2 cups 60 minutes
Buckwheat/kasha 2 cups 20 minutes
Oats (whole groats) 3 cups 90 minutes
Oatmeal (rolled oats) 3 cups 20 minutes
Quinoa 2 cups 30 minutes
Amaranth 2 cups 20 minutes
*Barley (pearled) 2-3 cups 60 minutes
*Barley (hulled) 2-3 cups 90 minutes
*Bulgur (cracked wheat) 2 cups 20 minutes
Cornmeal/polenta 3 cups 15 minutes
*Couscous 1 cup 5 minutes
Kamut 3 cups 90 minutes
Millet 2 cups 30 minutes
*Rye berries 3 cups 2 hours
*Spelt 3 cups 2 hours
*Wheat berries 3 cups 60 minutes
Wild rice 2 cups 60 minutes

Cooked grains keep very well, I like to cook up a variety of grains and reheat with a little water throughout the week especially in regards to my morning steel cut oats.