May 20, 2022 - 3:31pm
Harvest Date
I was going to order some 5 pound bags of Hard Red Spring Wheat from Eden Foods, I asked the harvest date and they said 2019. I am new to milling but sounds old, already 3 years. Should I be able to find newer Hard Red Wheat maybe 2021 or 2022.
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I’m just about to the bottom of a 5-gallon bucket of wheat that had been given to me by an individual who had purchased it in anticipation of the Y2K meltdown that wound up never happening. So, this wheat is old enough to vote and it makes pretty good bread.
I would expect that wheat harvested in 2019 should be perfectly fine.
Paul
Paul, That's great to hear.
Was it vacuum sealed when originally packed? (IE, was an "oxygen absorber" inserted before the bucket was originally closed/sealed?)
And how long has it been since you opened the bucket?
My experience is that "the clock starts ticking again" when a sealed container of wheat berries is opened.
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The old "garbage in/garbage out" rule also applies. The quality of the container of wheat one opens up today depends on the quality of wheat that originally went into the container (as well as the storage conditions.)
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I've recently been hand sorting/cleaning, then milling, some HRWW that I vacuum sealed in 2008. Granted, I didn't closely inspect it when I packed it. But now that I'm minutely hand sorting/cleaning it, it seems grade 2 (grade 1 being the highest). I haven't actually weighed the culls, so I can't make a defiiitive statement on that.
I've yet to bake a near 100% WW loaf with it, merely using it at a lower fraction so far, but I need to, to see how it bakes up. So far, at a low fraction of the total flour, it seems okay.
And it did contain an oxygen absorber. The bucket was also stored in a shed in NW Arkansas, so it experienced whatever ambient temperatures existed without any climate control for 18-19 years. I’ve had it for going on 4 years, although it was a few months (3? 4?) before I opened it after receiving it.
YMMV, obviously, but grain is remarkably stable stuff if stored under favorable conditions. While I wouldn’t hold this up as an example of how things ought to be done, it’s a pretty good illustration of what is possible.
Paul
How would Eden Foods store the wheat for 3 years? They say the wheat is good for three years but they already used up 3 years. My plan would be to put in bucket. Thank for the help.
If Eden Foods doesn’t describe their storage methods on their website, drop them an email with your question. The rest of us would just be making guesses, which won’t be useful.
From my experience, I wouldn’t be at all worried about 3-year old grain.
Paul