January 21, 2017 - 2:15am
Newbie about old wheat berries
I purchased some fairly old wheat berries several years ago, and they have been sitting under my counter or out in the garage since then (in a food-safe white bucket). The garage is heated, but we keep it set to 60 degrees out there. Do I need to dump the whole bunch? Give it a try? Can I get some advice for storage? Buy only as much as I need for a couple weeks at a time? (But it's cheaper to buy online in greater quantity, right?) Thanks in advance!!
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Berries keep a very long time, so long as they don't get bugs in them, and are kept airtight and cool. so I would try them . I have read that shelf life is around 10 years at 60 F, other places suggest shelf life is indefinite. I buy is bulk 25 or 50 pounds, and store them in a food safe plastic containers with gamma seal lids. https://www.lowes.com/pd/Encore-Plastics-12-in-White-Plastic-Bucket-Lid/50094688?cm_mmc=SCE_PLA-_-Paint-_-Buckets-_-50094688:Encore_Plastics&CAWELAID=...
I have read that ancient wheat found in the Egyptian pyramids will still sprout and grow (though I just tried to confirm that and it is something repeated a lot but I couldn't find any proof - so who knows?).
In any event, I just finished up the last 50 pound bag of wheat berries that I bought over 5 years ago and the bread I've been baking with it has been delicious. I keep it in a large plastic bucket to keep mice/bugs out but other than that, I haven't done anything special. It gets the full temp swings (I'm in the San Francisco Bay Area so it's mild - I don't heat/cool my house) from 40F some days in winter to 100F in Summer -- but in general the temps are mild here.
I just bought a fresh 50 pound bag yesterday and this time I've divided it up into smaller airtight containers (after reading many comments in the forums got me worrying about my storage bad habits). I don't notice any difference in flavor or baking behavior from the 5 year old wheat I just finished.
Buying grains in large 25kg sacks is the way to go imo. It's usually far cheaper than buying flour and it means you have a very long term food storage solution in case of any national disaster.
I bought a small and simple vacuum packing machine like this kind of thing:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/d/Vacuum-Sealers/Andrew-James-High-Quality-Vacuum-Food-Sealer/B001HBP7HW/ref=sr_1_3?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1488366841&sr=1-3&keywords=vacuum+packing+machine
This is an invaluable kitchen tool all round which I use for all sorts of things. For example if we cook a large gammon joint (e.g. at Xmas) then we put it through a small meat slicer (another invaluable and cheap kitchen appliance) and then pack the slices in vacuum bags some of which we can give to friends. The vacuumed bags means the ham will last ages in the fridge.
So, for my grains, (Wheat, Spelt and Rye), I buy in bulk 25kg sacks and immediately upon delivery pack them in small vacuum bags. I choose a bag that holds about the same quantity as a standard large Kilner/Mason jar.
So that means I can regularly pull out a bag from the garage, empty it into the Kilner jar which is kept in the kitchen by the grain mill and then I have an adequate quantity of my grains to hand when I need them.
The rest of the grains in the vacuum bags will last indefinitely. It's important to get the oxygen out when you pack them though. They will lose some nutritional value over time but still quite usable. Grains and a grain mill are really an essential for anyone seriously wanting to prep for the eventual world melt down.