Kernza® → A Grain of the Future!
You've heard of ancient grains, but what about this futuristic one?
In 2021 at I was introduced to a gentlemen in northern Utah with a family history in agriculture. He had been interested in getting back into it, and saw his way through a promising grain that was still in its infancy:
Kernza®
In order to double-down on it as a crop he needed to help establish more commercial viability. My interest in working with local grain producers made it natural for him to share a few batches of Kernza with me in a Walmart parking lot. A couple batches from his plot in Box Elder County, and a couple from Montana. I promised to experiment with it and share my findings back with him.
Kernza is promising for multiple reasons. It is perennial, with super deep roots. It sequesters a lot of carbon in the soil, and you don’t have to use fuel and labor and time and money to replant it each year. You can graze livestock in the fields a couple times a year. Wheat is already a crop that grows with minimal water, so add these on top and the future is exciting.
Take a moment to digest all that. Awesome benefits for planet earth, great news for farmers, and great news for a growing population across the globe ever hungry for bread and its relatives. Also, a Kernza plant can generate more seeds than a wheat plant.
But what about the nutrition? The gluten content? The bakeability?
But first, Kernza is a domesticated version of a wild prairie relative of wheat. Lee DeHaan of the Land Institute had met my northern Utah contact, Sam Holdaway, at a conference and got him interested in the grain. Dive deeper into Kernza’s background story and Lee’s involvement as the Lead Scientiest at landinstitute.org.
I had heard Kernza is about 10 years old, and that is likely the case from it reaching shelves in some way more recently, but the reality is that from inception to today has been 40 years. Which coincidentally is a theme here as I am coming up on my own four decades. Just like my land cruiser and the City Weekly alternative newspaper. It was at the City Weekly Best of Utah awards where I got Sam’s contact info from the Utah’s Own representative. The lady at the booth was best friends with the girl who was born the same day as me in small town Utah, an hour south of where City Weekly was launched, and a couple hours south of Sam’s Kernza plot.
Each year the seeds should be more abundant, edible and hopefully millable. Milling it, separating the Kernza from the chaff, is the main hurdle Sam and others are working through. More on this and his journey in the next edition of Mooon Bread Monthly.
Okay, there was a question earlier still unanswered. Is it edible? Commercially viable?
I made sourdough Kernza crêpes, 100% Kernza sourdough, mixed Kernza and wheat sourdough, and a few other combos. Kimchi Kernza sourdough, Mooon Bread style. Apple cinnamon sourdough because the Kernza starters put off a natural apple crisp flavour. That was one of my favourite things about working with it.
The pure Kernza loaves didn’t have as much structure as the gluten content is lower than wheat. This is where the 50/50 wheat/Kernza were excellent. Nutty earthiness with a hint of apples, fluffier than straight Kernza, while also having the satisfaction of treading lighter on our beautiful planet.
Let’s see what Martha Stewart(‘s site) has to say on the nutritional aspect, as they refer to it as a “super grain”:
Kernza is high in protein and antioxidants, and it has eight times the amount of insoluble fiber as wheat, making it an extremely healthy option. To be precise, it has 18 grams of fiber and 19.2 grams of protein per 100 grams (to compare, wheat has 10.8 grams of fiber and 9.2 grams of protein).
Like I mentioned, we’ll dive deeper into this grain in the next episode. I’ll even be sharing out the full interview with Sam for the paid subscribers (thank you!).
For my whole wheat I typically bump up the hydration as the bran can absorb quite a bit, but it seems the Kernza’s bran doesn’t need that high of a ratio. But I can confirm from the cheese awards and other times sharing it that the flavour was well received.
For now, if you come across this grain of the future either in its flatbread crisp form, as a breakfast cereal, in its beer form, or as some experimental other bread product, please drop me a note. Did you taste apple crisp?
I’d encourage you to give it a try and learn more about it from landinstitute.org
Remember the Cheese
For those in Utah just a reminder that the 2023 Utah Cheese Awards are Nov 18 @1pm @ Beehive Distilling. Let me know if you’ll be attending. I’ll be there providing sourdough to go with the winning cheeses, and will have bread bakers, bread boards, some loaves, and a couple other items for sale.
If you are looking to book an in-person sourdough workshop you can try this new site focused on SLC activities and events: exploringnotboring.com. For other dates or to book a virtual class just message me and we’ll get one scheduled.
Feel free to reply to with any questions or feedback. I love hearing from you all and seeing your bakes!
Heaps of love~
💚 Jordan