NNEMA

1/21/2007

Toasting Grains and miscellany.

A pretty bizarre topic, eh?
One can go to the bulk foods section of your local food store, and buy bulk grains.
Chances are these bulk foods are fairly fresh. And we all know that fresh is good. Fresh is not rancid.
Many of the foodstuffs we buy have been assembled and packaged long before we buy them.
Who knows how long they have set in the warehouse, in the truck, on the shelf before we purchase them?
There is a reasonable probability that bulk foods are fairly fresh.
Most of the seed foods that this author has purchased in mega-supermarkets are reasonably fresh.
If they are fresh they are still living.
If you can sprout your seeds, they're fresh, ergo-living.
And you might be surprised at how many of those foods on the shelves will sprout!
Most beans, barley, whole brown rice, sesame, raw sunflowers, and other grains are still living.
To test your foods, soak them in water for about an hour, and then drain, put them in a paper towel, and put that into a baggie.
Put the baggie in a warm place, and re-wet them a couple of times a day.
If, after a couple of days they start sprouting, then the chances are they are a living food.
It kind of makes sense that living foods help build strong bodies better than non-living (dead) foods.
In a society which is surviving on increasingly pre-prepared foods, the odds are that the healthier we eat, the healthier we are.
Also, one consideration about foods is the comparison between flesh foods and plant foods.
We know (most of us) that it takes about 15 pounds of plant food to make one pound of animal food.
Fifteen pounds of soybeans or corn will give us a one pound steak.
That steak is usually full of fats (unhealthy), and has come from an animal which has probably been fed hormones, antibiotics, and who knows what so that they are 'monetarily maximized' to give the biggest bang for the buck. They look real nice under that plastic wrap, infused with colorizers, and anti-listeria spray on organisms.
And whatever else that makes them more saleable.
One consideration is that the higher we eat on the food chain, the more pollutants we have in our foods.
When one eats lower on the food chain many benefits are realized.
First, there are less pollutants.
Secondly, less energy is used to produce that food.
Third, more people can eat, as less food is needed to give you that steak-equivalent of protein.
Sure, most of us love that nice prime rib, or other meat product, but it is increasingly evident that we do NOT need quite as much protein to survive as the beef/pork/chicken industry would have us believe. Although that nice filet mignon sure is tasty as hell, once in awhile....

So it is a good thing to start eating lower on the foodchain.
More grains, more veggies, less meats.
We really don't need as much meat to live healthily as we are told.
This writer has spent some good part of this day making toasted cereals.
Wheat and rice cereal, toasted over a cast iron frying pan, and coarsely ground make a delightful cereal.
And you can do this too.
It's pretty easy, and probably fairly healthy.
Get a couple of pounds of whole wheat berries from your local bulk foods store, and a few pounds of brown rice.
Now it's time to toast them. Toasting makes a much more pleasant cereal, and you can do this a couple of ways.
One is to toast them on a cookie sheet in your oven. On moderate temperature, spread the grains on a cookie sheet, and cook until they are slightly browned. Or, in a cast iron pan, cook on medium heat on your stovetop until they are golden colored. You should shake the pan as you toast, so that the grains are distributed evenly and cook evenly.
As the new James Bond said, when asked if he wanted his martini shaken or blended, it doesn't matter.
The point here is that if you don't agitate the grains, the bottom ones will burn and the top ones won't cook.
And, your next question is, "how do I know when they're done?"
Very simple, you use the 2-sense system.
If they start browning, AND they smell toasted, then they are probably done.
It's the smell test. The test that applies to many things in our lives. If it smells fresh and true, then it's probably ok.
If it smells fishy, then beware.
Toasted grains have a wonderful real smell. Unlike many other things in our lives.
So when your grains are properly toasted, then set them out to cool.
When they get down to room temperature, then it's time to grind them.
If you have had the foresight to buy (with your neighbors) a grain grinder, then simply put your blender on coarse grind, and run the batch through.
If you haven't bought a grain grinder ( to share with your neighbors hint hint...), then be aware that a simple blender will work very well for getting those pesky grains to edible size. Run them on the blender for a couple of minutes until they are somewhat coarse.
And now that you have your most excellent healthy fresh grain cereal, here's how to cook it.
For each cup of lightly salted boiling water, slowly add 1/4 cup cereal while stirring. Lower the heat and cook covered for about 12-15 minutes.
Add a pat of butter before serving, and stir in a couple of tablespoons of honey or pure maple syrup, or sugar if needed.
Add a bit of half and half milk, regular milk or that (ugh) blue looking low-fat crap.
Makes for a pretty darned good breakfast, especially with a couple of slices of whole wheat bread.
Probably healthy, too.
And, if you cook it in home-made soymilk instead of water, the taste just excels.
(directions on how to make your own fresh soymilk coming soon...on this site)
So why should we do this silliness of grinding our own cereals?
Well, after Peak Oil, when we are really on our own, and spending much of our free time growing our own foods, doesn't it make sense to eat closer to the bone from our crops?
If it takes 15 acres of crops to give us X pounds of beef/pork/chicken,and it takes 1 acre to give us the same nutrition via grains, well then there is the question -- would you rather grow 15 acres, or one acre for the same nutrition?
Pretty easy answer from this side of the monitor....
How about from your side?

The history of humanity shows some very dark dark episodes throughout time. And because we are hep and hi-tech, that is no guarantee that we are not susceptible to those very human failings of the past.
I'd rather pre-prepare and not need it, than not prepare and not have it.
How about you?

End NNEMA Log