What are wheatberries?
Wheatberries are – quite literally – the berries from wheat plants. These golden-coloured grains are whole, unprocessed wheat kernels which contain all three parts of the grain, but with the inedible, outermost hull removed.
Wheatberries are the least processed form of wheat. They come in lots of different varieties: hard or soft, winter or spring, and red or white.
Big on flavour
They have a sweet, creamy yet nutty flavour that works just as well in savoury meat and veg dishes as it does in sweeter puddings and breakfast recipes. The berries hold their shape and keep their chewy bite long after cooking, which makes them perfect in winter soups.
And did you know? Wheatberries are the main ingredient for kutya – the Eastern European Christmas porridge.
How healthy are wheatberries?
Wheatberries are high in fibre and low in calories. Wheat is naturally rich in folate, calcium, phosphorous, zinc, copper, iron, vitamin E and many B vitamins. Many of these nutrients are lost in refined flour products, but they are retained in the wheatberries themselves.