I remember when I was in college, Yoplait had "breakfast yoghurt" that had fruit, nuts, and wheat berries mixed in, and I loved the stuff, so I thought I would try to make a home version.


I bought some red winter wheat berries at the health food store yesterday, soaked them overnight (and then some, it was evening, before I was able to get to them). I simmered them on the stove for about an hour (online recipes listed cooking times between 45 minutes to 3 hours, so I wasn't sure how long they were going to take to get tender).

Anyway, I haven't used them in a recipe or stirred them into yoghurt, but I had about a 1/4 cup with a bit of light butter, and WOW, they taste so good. They remind me of overcooked "shoepeg" corn. Chewy, and a little sweet. I can see using these in alot of recipes that I would ordinarily use rice or even meat (I was thinking of using them as a taco meat extender instead of or in addition to tvp. I think I could use even less meat than I do with tvp - right now about 50/50).

I think I'll try spelt or rye berries and some barley next time.

Thanks for sharing your wheat berry experience. I've looked at them but wasn't sure about what to do with them so I might give them a try now.

For lunch today, I used them in a texmex skillet casserole. It even passed the junk-food junkie hubby test. I browned 1/4 lbs groundbeef with onion, greenpepper, celery, an ear of fresh sweet corn kernels, and about 3/4 cup of wheat berries with garlic powder and taco seasoning and about 1/2 cup of salsa. It turned out sort of hamburger helper like.

It was really good, and filling without being heavy. I still have alot of the cooked wheatberries left, so I think I'll work them into some more recipes. I found a recipe online for a chicken wheatberry waldorf salad.

Gosh, you all are full of great ideas!

I'm itching to duplicate a delicious wheatberry salad that I tried ... it was wheatberries, toasted pecans, roasted red peppers, golden raisins and a light vinagrette dressing. The perefect combination of chewy, crunchy, and sweet.

If I come up with something palatable, I'll post the recipe.

Yum! That sounds wonderful.