Great Grains - Get to Know Your Ancient Grains

There was a time that whole grains were for cranks. They were the preserve of dusty health food stores and you only ever ate them under duress. Times have changed. Traditional whole grains have been successfully rebranded as ‘ancient grains’ and they’re now recognised as the sustainable, healthy, and, above all, delicious ingredients that they are. Unlike modern wheat, corn and rice varieties that have been bred for large scale agriculture, ancient grains are less processed and have a higher vitamin, mineral and fibre content. There’s no scientific definition, but the term is broadly considered to include varieties of wheat (e.g., kamut, einkorn, emmer), millet, barley, teff, and oats, and the so-called ‘pseudocereals’ (seeds such as quinoa, chia, and buckwheat).

How To Use Ancient Grains

Grains can be cooked ahead and kept covered in the fridge for up to five days. Bulk-cooking grains in advance is a great way to approach meal planning for the week, especially as there are so many options and flavour combinations that will work brilliantly to produce really delicious and nutritious meals. Adding fresh ingredients such as herbs, flavoured oils and vinegar, citrus fruits or juice, crunchy raw vegetables, or even sautéed or griddled vegetables like aubergines or courgettes, as well as store cupboard essentials such as chickpeas, toasted nuts and seeds, harissa and pesto can all elevate your creations. One of the main points for consideration is that grains can take a great deal of seasoning and are well suited to strong flavour pairings, so make sure you taste regularly and don’t hold back in adjusting to enhance base flavours and create harmony in your dishes.

Buckwheat

Contrary to what the name suggests, buckwheat is not actually a wheat but a seed. It has a wonderful nutty flavour and crunchy texture. It is sometimes described as a ‘pseudocereal’ in that it has a high starch content that helps it behave like a cereal when cooked. It is naturally gluten-free and is high in fibre and protein, containing all eight essential amino acids. On our Nutrition in Culinary Practice online course, you’ll see buckwheat used in a nutty, seedy brittle, served with spiced, steeped pineapple. While on our Plant-based Cooking course, we use buckwheat flour in pancakes. Do read labels if cooking for a coeliac as some buckwheat flours and soba noodles contain wheat flour. 

Millet

Millet is gluten-free and is, with its mildly nutty flavour, very versatile in what it can be paired with. Millet was one of the first grains to be domesticated and is a staple food across parts of Africa and Asia. If you’ve done our Chef Skills course, you will have used it to make a side dish with roasted broccoli, lemon and basil oil. In this recipe, we cook the millet in stock to impart flavour and depth into the dish. You can tell when millet is cooked because the grain fluffs up and absorbs all of the cooking liquid, leaving no obvious crunch to the grain. If you can’t get hold of millet, quinoa is a good substitute. If you like overnight oats, then you’ll love the overnight grains recipe from Nutrition in Culinary Practice which combines millet with oats and amaranth (see below) soaked in a plant-based milk.

Amaranth

Amaranth is a very good source of protein, fibre and calcium, minerals and vitamins B2, B3, B5, B6 and folic acid. Note, it contains a small amount of gluten. Amaranth seeds have a small grain so take slightly less time to cook than, for example, quinoa.

Fonio

Fonio is a West African ‘superfood’ cultivated from two species of grass with small grains. It’s a type of millet which you can use to make porridge, bread and beer. You can also use it in salads, as an alternative to couscous or rice, as in this roast pumpkin and fonio salad by Sierra Leonean chef Maria Bradford, found in her book Sweet Salone. 

Quinoa

Quinoa dates back to the times of the Incas and is one of the best-known ancient grains, produced and eaten widely in Peru and Bolivia. Promoted as a superfood, it’s been such a success, most of us even know how to pronounce it by now (keen-wah). It’s a good source of protein, vitamin B2, dietary fibre, iron, phosphorus, copper and zinc, and an excellent amount of essential amino acids. Quinoa generally takes from 10-15 minutes to cook; there will be no obvious white specks with the tail of the grain having been released. One delicious way to enjoy it is with heaps of fresh herbs, poached chicken breast, and a preserved lemon dressing, which students cook on Nutrition in Culinary Practice.

Pearl Barley

Humble pearl barley is one of the less ‘exotic’ of the ancient grains, being familiar to many of us from traditional dishes such as Scotch broth. Pearl barley has its husks removed and is ‘pearled’ (i.e., polished). Pearl barley is high in protein and nutrients. It also contains gluten. We advise rinsing pearl barley before cooking to remove any excess dried husks. Pearl barley takes around 30 minutes to cook and is quicker to cook than barley that still has its husk on. When cooked, it becomes opaque and slightly puffed, still with a nuttiness and bite in the centre. It can be soaked in advance to reduce the cooking time. Drain it well through a sieve and leave to steam dry for a few minutes so it’s less watery. You can use pearl barley as a substitute in a risotto recipe such as our spelt and beetroot risotto. We serve it simply cooked and dressed with olive oil, with spiced roasted cauliflower and herby yoghurt is a favourite recipe from Leiths Online’s Essential Cooking. 

Farro

Farro is a category of grain that refers to a number of different grains: emmer, einkorn, and spelt. All are ancient forms of wheat that have a high protein content and a low gluten content. They are characterised by a nutty flavour, chewy texture, that work well in soups, stews, risottos, and salads.

Spelt

On the Nutrition in Culinary Practice course, we teach a wonderful ‘risotto’ made with pearled spelt (use pearl barley if spelt is not available) instead of rice. We also use spelt flour in baking, for example in an unusual beetroot and chocolate cake. Using wholegrains in baking is increasingly important as we explore on Introduction to Patisserie, where students make a breakfast muffin with Bramley apple, cinnamon and wholemeal spelt flour. We use the flour for the slightly denser structure it gives and for its nutty background flavour.

Rye

If you want to learn more about working with rye flour, our Basics to Baker course is a great place to start. Like wheat flours, different rye flours are determined by how much of the rye kernel (i.e., the endosperm, brand, and germ) is present. Dark rye flour is milled from the entire rye kernel which makes it a wholegrain flour; it makes for a darker flour, more intense flavour and denser texture. Rye chops AKA kibbled rye are formed when the whole kernel is cracked or cut; the resulting chops are similar to cracked wheat or steel-cut oats and are quicker to cook than the intact rye berry.

Oats

Good old-fashioned oats may be a workaday ingredient but they are not to be overlooked for their nutritional properties. Rolled oats are a good source of minerals, soluble dietary fibre, and vitamin B1. ‘Rolled’ is the process of steaming then rolling the oats into flakes. This process helps to stabilise the healthy oils in the oats, keeping the oats fresher for longer. Rolled oats cooked faster than unrolled oats. Rolled oats are interchangeable with instant oats. If cooking for a coeliac, make sure the packaging clearly states ‘gluten free’; often suppliers cannot guarantee oats are gluten free due to where they are processed.

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