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Recipe: (Herbal) Bubble Tea

Bubble Tea: A Recipe


There are times I want to get my children to drink herbal infusions for medicinal or calming reasons.  For instance, the four year old has been getting off schedule somehow and will not fall asleep until over an hour after bedtime.  My attempts at having him drink a soothing, calming tea have failed.  Until Bubble Tea.

Herbal Bubble Tea

 

 This has been a craze in Asian countries—some mix it with coffee for the grown-up set.  For the most part it has been a popular drink for kids, and my kids are no exception.  It’s healthy and as simple as a smoothie. 

   Herbal Bubble Tea


                1/3 cup small tapioca pearls
                 2 ½ cups water

                ***********************************

                1 cup milk (or less if using cream)
                1/3 cup honey
                2 cups cooled herbal tea
                Ice

 

1)     Small Tapioca Pearls:  Boil these in the water for approximately 5-7 minutes.  They’ll begin to look translucent, (and to us boring grown-ups) feel almost “slimy”.  Small pearls are better because they do expand (and they must be “suckable” through a straw!).  Rinse with cold water in a mesh strainer and set aside. 

 

Tapioca Pearls

               Add pearls         Pearls thicken in water

 

2)     Brew herbal tea and mix honey while the tea is warm, so that it dissipates evenly.  Set aside to cool.

 

3)     In a blender, chop the ice along with milk.  Add tea/honey and tapioca pearls.  This should be frothy.  The pearls will settle on the bottom quickly so make sure every kid gets an even number–they will fight over the cup with most!

                                       Pearls on Bottom            Frothy top & wide straw

 

4)     Serve in a glass cup with a thicker-than-normal straw.  The pearls sit on the bottom of the cup, and children enjoy sucking up the tapioca pearls through the straw.

                                                         Sucking the bubbles

Do you have a specific flavor you prefer? What is your variation to this?

 

–Chaya

The Seed Catalog

The kids were crying when we walked into the house, hungry from the lunch delay caused by “just one more stop”.  I threw the mail on the table, unsorted, un-scanned, even.  Lunch was the crisis of the moment.  But when the kids settled into the subtle murmurs of leftover-laments, my eyes caught something in the stack.  Seed Saver

It’s my seed catalog.

 

Some women cry over the heroine’s hardships in the newest romance novel. I have my catalog.

 

This isn’t just any catalog.  These are heirloom seeds; these are someone’s family inheritance, someone’s genealogical record found within grandma’s kitchen garden.

Seed Saver Catalog

I am enthralled with the pictures, yes.  But I’m enthralled with text.

There was a little old lady who took seeds to her friends, saying that her great grandfather brought them on the wagon train; all of her family is dead now.  She died six months after that visit.  Because of her gift, you can now sauté her family history with butter.  A tear dashes to the page.

 

There was a family reunion in the bean garden: grandma loved her beans, but the kids didn’t garden.  The granddaughter’s renaissance into the things of her grandmother’s day led her to a magazine article featuring her grandma and her beans! Those beans were brought to Missouri in the 1880’s by that granddaughter’s great-great grandmother! The granddaughter and the beans have been reunited.

 

Romance novels don’t have recipes for canning stuffed peppers! Did you even know that there is an heirloom breed of pepper called chocolate? This calls for a trip to the cupboard.  I settle back in, this time with some herbal tea and the chocolate covered hazelnuts my sister-in-law sent.

Tea, chocolate, and my catalog

Chocolate peppers, crimson carrots, white beets. Orange watermelon, blue potatoes, rainbow swiss chard!

Chocolate Peppers through Seed SaversDragon Carrots from Seed SaversAlbino Beets through Seed SaversMountain Sweet Yellow Watermelonblue potato from Seed Savers5 color silverbeet swiss chard from Seed Savers

 

We have snow on the ground here.  My dreams of summer vegetables get me through these cold months, sheathed in winter’s darkness.  My garden is only limited by my dreams.  For now.  In July I will tell you it’s the weeds, or drought, or something eating my radishes.  But for now?  It’s my vision of what the garden can hold—glossy pictures of glossy vegetables beckon me to dream. The stories of gardens-gone-by inspire me to try.

 

Get your free catalog at Seed Savers.

Sausage-Stuffed Apples

Sausage Stuffed Apples

yummy version of this back-to-basics easy recipe

 

Whenever a baked apple is part of the main course, invite me over!  This is an easy recipe I have made many  times over—I use the term “recipe” loosely.  Think of this sausage and apples recipe as more as a “guide.”

 

 For a recipe like this one, you will need the handy-dandy tool like this one: 

 

 Apple Corer

 

 

                                              Ingredients:

                                              8 apples, cored and halved into the top and bottom

                                              1 lb pork sausage

                                             2 tbs ground sage

                                             ½ cup maple syrup (approximately, to taste)

                                             1 cup chopped walnuts

                                             Olive oil

–Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

-Place apples cut-side-up in a greased baking pan.

-In separate bowl, mix the sausage, sage, maple syrup, and walnuts.

-Stuff the apples with the sausage mixture.

-Drizzle olive oil on top.

 

 Bake for approximately 45 minutes. 

 

sausage stuffed apples

 

As for side dishes that you could serve here to along with the sausage and apples, I like to either include fried red cabbage, sliced potatoes or carrots. 

 

These sausage stuffed apples are a hit with the children, so give them a try and let me know what you thought of them by leaving a comment at the bottom.

 

Chaya

 

Use It Up , Wear It Out, Make Do, or Do Without!

The inflation rate, even according to the government (who often tries to dissuade fears by downplay), is inevitable even within the year.  Now is the time to reevaluate our shopping habits and how we can get the most for our dollar ahead of food inflation.  We need to plan ahead.  We must …

 

WWII propaganda poster

Would you like a breakdown of the upcoming inflation of food?  Coming to a pocket book near you . . . 

http://www.ers.usda.gov/briefing/cpifoodandexpenditures/data/cpiforecasts.htm

SOURCE

 

Changes in Food Price Indexes, 2009 through 2012 September 23, 2011
Item
Relative importance1
 Month-
to-
Month		 Year-
over-
Year
Annual
Annual
Forecast
Forecast
Jul2011 to Aug2011
Aug2010 to Aug2011
2009
2010
20112
2012
Consumer Price Indexes Percent Percent change
All food
100.0
0.5
4.6
1.8
0.8
3.0 to 4.0
2.5 to 3.5
Food away from home
43.1
0.4
2.7
3.5
1.3
3.0 to 4.0
2.0 to 3.0
Food at home
56.9
0.6
6.0
0.5
0.3
3.5 to 4.5
3.0 to 4.0
Meats, poultry, and fish
12.5
0.3
7.7
0.5
1.9
5.5 to 6.5
3.5 to 4.5
Meats
7.9
0.7
8.9
-0.6
2.8
6.5 to 7.5
3.5 to 4.5
Beef and veal
3.7
0.4
10.4
-1.0
2.9
8.0 to 9.0
4.5 to 5.5
Pork
2.5
0.7
7.5
-2.0
4.7
6.5 to 7.5
3.0 to 4.0
Other meats
1.7
1.2
7.7
2.3
-0.1
3.0 to 4.0
2.5 to 3.5
Poultry
2.4
-0.1
3.4
1.7
-0.1
2.5 to 3.5
3.0 to 4.0
Fish and seafood
2.2
-0.4
8.3
3.6
1.1
5.5 to 6.5
4.0 to 5.0
Eggs
0.7
4.9
14.5
-14.7
1.5
5.0 to 6.0
3.5 to 4.5
Dairy products
6.1
0.9
9.1
-6.4
1.1
5.0 to 6.0
3.0 to 4.0
Fats and oils
1.7
1.0
10.8
2.3
-0.3
6.5 to 7.5
2.5 to 3.5
Fruits and vegetables
8.4
0.2
6.3
-2.1
0.2
3.5 to 4.5
3.0 to 4.0
Fresh fruits and
vegetables
6.4
0.4
7.5
-4.6
0.6
3.5 to 4.5
3.0 to 4.0
Fresh fruits
3.3
0.7
9.1
-6.1
-0.6
2.0 to 3.0
3.0 to 4.0
Fresh vegetables
3.2
0.0
6.0
-3.4
2.0
4.5 to 5.5
3.5 to 4.5
Processed fruits and
vegetables
1.9
-0.4
2.4
6.6
-1.3
1.5 to 2.5
3.0 to 4.0
Sugar and sweets
2.2
1.2
4.7
5.6
2.2
2.5 to 3.5
2.0 to 3.0
Cereals and bakery
products
7.9
0.8
5.3
3.2
-0.8
4.0 to 5.0
4.5 to 5.5
Nonalcoholic beverages
6.7
0.3
4.0
1.9
-0.9
2.0 to 3.0
1.5 to 2.5
Other foods
10.7
0.9
3.0
3.7
-0.5
2.5 to 3.5
2.0 to 3.0
Note: Bolded entries reflect changes from the previous month’s forecast. Green arrows indicate an increase and red arrows indicate a decrease in the forecast from the previous month’s forecast.

1BLS-estimated expenditure shares, December 2010. Food prices represent approximately 14 percent of the total CPI.

2Forecasts updated by the 25th of each month.

Sources: Historical data from Bureau of Labor Statistics; forecasts by Economic Research Service.

 

 

What is food inflation?  Basically, it is the worth of everything you eat going up except the money that you use to buy the food.  Classically the funny money inflation metrics do not include inflation on fuel or food.  I know, I know, you are thinking, “but those are the things that cost the most,” exactly.  This is what keeps the numbers looking so good.  Factor in that the Farm Bill commodities float on a sea of oil and subsidies and the real costs start to hit very close to home. 

 

You already know how serious the inflation on food is.  Have you priced bacon lately?  May be it is that the real paradigm was there all along right in front of us:

 

Food Pyramid

 

The USDA Food Pyramid?  Yes, the widest part at the base is what you are “supposed” to be eating more of—which is why we call it the Farm Bill Pyramid:

 

Food Pyramid Annotated

 

The commodities are based on cheap oil (artificial fertilizers, fuel for farming implements, trucking and transportation, etc.).  As there is an inflation in oil prices there follows an inflation in food prices as well. 

 

Let me illustrate further: try to find something in the grocery store that does not have corn syrup in it.  Actually, you would be very hard pressed to find foods without corn or soy derivatives in the food.  Since corn and soy are row crop commodities, which depend on oil to fuel the production you will naturally see inflation on food when you see inflation on oil. 

 

The food inflation markers are there—I hope that you are thumbing through your seed catalog for this spring. 

 

Chaya

 

Photo Credits:

WWII Propaganda Poster by http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/

 Food Pyramid from http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/imagepages/19836.htm

Clipart from www.cliparts101.com

What Did $1.00 Buy?

Meatballs Frying

This was one of our most popular articles from 2011. 

Food Inflation

 Food inflation over time

 

We were too young, did not listen and we were blissfully happy.  Everyone told us to wait until we were out of college to get married, that it would be better to land good jobs first and do not be in a rush to start a family, “But we really want grandchildren by the way.”  We were 21 years old, headstrong, and in love.  Is that not how the story is told, over and over again?  So Wilson and I were students during the day (I took 21 credit hours to graduate earlier), and he changed tires at an auto store in the evening while I sold clothes.  Both ($6/hr) jobs were at the mall, so I would literally run from my side of the mall to his so that we could see each other on our dinner breaks.  But we made it through the progressive food inflation somehow.

 Life is not much different now—we are still very frugal.  My memory of that first year is so clear—the difficulty of balancing the checkbook and the contents of the cupboard shelves, both were usually simultaneously on empty.  So I will engage in that “yes, I’m old” game of “I remember when…” as we take a look at an inflation marker. We were married in 1998 and one pound ground beef was only $.99 a pound!

Ground Beef

What year did you get married or move out on your own?  Do you remember any of the cost of living prices?  Here’s a reality check: http://www.dollartimes.com/calculators/inflation.htm  You can measure the value of a dollar from one year to the next and see the average rate of inflation. 

 How far did your dollar go then?  For me in 1998, my dollar then requires $1.36 to wield the same purchasing power as I had in my newlywed bliss.  Sigh. 

 What is food inflation?  It depends who you ask.  The number magicians tend to omit the cost of fuel and food when it comes to calculating inflation.  Hmmmmmm, here in reality town the grocery store does not pay much attention to that fuzzy math. 

 

Broken Piggy Bank

So, it is clear to me that when I look at ground beef or green peppers, a dollar does not buy what it used to—that is the inflation of food prices for you.  Food inflation is real, kind of like I cannot find my keys and I am late to get somewhere—not just perceived as in, “Is it me or has that comic strip has not been funny since Kennedy was president?” 

 Let’s just say that you work a job that allows for an annual raise of 3% yearly to compensate for the rate of inflation, as mine did (prior to becoming a stay-at-home mother).  Many jobs are better than that rate, some are worse, but work with me.  12 x .03 = 36.  That is 36% in 13 years. 

So there you have it: if you have received a consistent 3% raise for every year for the last 13 years, you have kept up with inflation, almost neck to neck.  If your raises do not average that, you have fallen behind the decreasing value of the dollar. 

 To me food inflation is just one more reason to make your kitchen self sufficient.  A bucket of wheat purchased in 2011 will still be good in 2021, 2031 or 2041.  Today it cost $28.00 for 26 pounds—anyone want to take a guess at what it will cost in 2041?  Food inflation is real, but if you are smart with your food shopping you can stock your pantry, grind your own flour (which is much better for you) and come out ahead.  Use coupons, grow your own, buy in bulk—all of these can help you stay ahead of the inflation of food.  Can those green beans in the summer, eat them in the winter and enjoy the savings—you know Grandma used to.   Have a tip on saving at the grocery store?  Please leave a comment!

 

Chaya

 

Photo Credits:

Bag of Beans by Pantry Paratus

Ground Beef by chidseyc  http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/mtLNWJW/sizzle

Piggy Bank by chidseyc  http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/mAbSBWW/Bankcrupt

 

Whole Wheat vs. Hole Wheat

Bread Making Supplies at Pantry Paratus

Whole Wheat vs. Hole Wheat

 Ingredients found in fresh ground whole wheat flour and why they matter

 

Wheat structure

Wheat Kernel Diagram

The wheat kernel (or wheat berry) has three components: the bran, the germ, and the endosperm.  White flour that you purchase in the store is simply the endosperm.  Actually, it would simplify so much if they called it “wheat starch” instead of “flour” so that you would know it was a kissing cousin to corn starch.  The bran and germ sections have been sifted out, and are sold to you again as health supplements (or additives in healthy cereal, granola bars, salad toppings, etc.) or other value added products like animal feed.  It is quite a racket: to sell the same thing to you three separate times. 

 

 

 

The bran is the outer shell or wrapper consisting of 3 fibrous layers that protect the dormant nascent plant inside. These layers are rich in fiber and in minerals. One of these layers, the Aleurone layer, contains protein as well as high levels of vitamins and Phytic acid.

 

The germ is the embryo (remember, the grain is a seed of a plant), therefore it is high in both protein and fat, as well as containing the highest level of B vitamins.  This is the engine inside the seed of the wheat kernel that will propel the new plant upwards.  When the seed receives moisture and the plant starts to germinate, it is the germ that forms the new plant shoot. 

 

The endosperm is all starch and protein.  If the bran were to represent the fuselage and the germ the engine, the endosperm would be fuel for the new plant to start growing until it can metabolize sunlight on its own.  When you buy enriched flour in the store, this what you are actually eating.  It is the starch in the endosperm that contains gluten, giving baked products the composition to hold together.

 

 

A quick history of flour

 

The history of how white, deconstructed flour became “all the rage” is really quite fascinating.  Basically, sifted flour was the European Royalty treat (think “corsets and fainting women”) and the robust peasants milled their own, hearty flours. Sifting (or boulting) has been a method employed since Roman times (they had seven grades of sifted flour).  Sifting into “white” flour is nothing new, but it was never industrialized because the labor involved to go from raw wheat flour to refined sifted flour was so intensive. 

 

                                                                  Boulting at the Bakehouse

 

Enter the Industrial age—then an American figured out how to sift it commercially, and it became the thing in 1928.  At about the same time, scientists discovered the causes of Pellagra, Scurvy and Rickets were deficiencies in niacin, vitamin C and D along with phosphorus respectively.  The population at large was simply malnourished, and viola—“enrichment” became the Band-Aid® commonly practiced by 1938, and eventually the law in 1941.  Flour enrichment was intended to bring ordinary flour back closer to whole wheat bread.  This process is also credited with lowering the Pellagra rate from 10.5% in 1933 to only .5% by the year 1949.  Even in recent history (the 2000’s), enrichment of folic acid became law and the number of babies born with neural tube defects decreased by 26%.  Short version of the story, when you need to get some trace element out to the people, write a law and put it in the flour.

 

The Stripping and Enrichment Processes

So is whole wheat whole grain?  No.  It is very important understand that the greatest nutritional content of wheat is in the bran and germ, and that the endosperm—the stuff modern white bread is made of—does not contain the vitamins and minerals necessary for our daily diets.  Modern day flour mills strip far more vitamins and minerals from the flour then they add back into it, and the enrichment is not sufficient to meet your body’s full dietary needs.  Please do not misunderstand—adding some nutrition into dead flour has saved lives.  But how many more could it save if the flour was served whole?

What is whole wheat?  To answer that, please contrast the following two nutritional charts: the one on the left is for 1 serving of plain wheat berries (or kernels) and the one on the right is for a serving (1 slice) of store-bought white bread.  When you compare them, understand that the 1 cup of wheat is simply 1 cup of the berries; your homemade bread, with honey, salt, liquid (potato water is full of nutritional benefits), and oil will have even higher levels.

 

Pure Wheat Berries:                                                                  1 serving of White Bread:

Nutritional Chart, 1 cup of wheat berries1 Serving of White Bread

 

It is interesting to note that in the early 2000’s the law required the enrichment of flour with folate (folic acid).  Although the quantities are different, look at the nutritional values again.  Raw wheat berries and enriched bread are virtually the same amount of folic acid.  There is no comparison between the fiber, iron, thiamin, niacin, magnesium, vitamin B6, phosphorus, and zinc!  

 

There is something unique about the iron level differences between the raw and the processed.   Anemia is the most widespread vitamin deficiency in the world, irrespective of the financial health of the countries.  The white bread has been enriched with iron and cannot compare to the natural iron levels found within the wheat.  Since there is more than one type of iron, and because the type naturally found within wheat oxidizes quickly, the enrichment process will insert a form less easily digestible than the one that comes integral to your wheat kernel.  Actually, the iron in enriched flour “usually begins not only in iron ore mines in Minnesota, which is no surprise, but also in oil wells, which is” (Ettlinger, 2007).  Ettlinger goes on to point out in hilarious detail that the ferrous sulphate (iron substitute) in enriched flour actually is derived from crude oil (sulphur) and the rust residue in acid pickling tanks from steel mills  production lines (ferrous). 

nfAVg1Y

 

If flour mills take far more out than they put back in through enrichment—so why take it out at all?  The reason is shelf stability.  True whole wheat flour (flour made from all three parts of the wheat kernel) will quickly oxidize and go rancid.  Actually, the nutritive value of the fresh ground whole wheat flour plummets in mere hours after it is ground (although the process can be stalled significantly if the whole wheat flour is immediately put into the freezer).

 

When flour mills strip the whole wheat grain of its bran and germ, they are taking more than the vitamins that you see on the label; they are stripping phytonutrients. Also called “phytochemicals,” these are plant nutrients that are not considered essential.  That just means that they enhance your life but might not be essential to it.  For instance, studies suggest that one such phytonutrient, Lignans, can guard against breast and prostate cancers (Mathis, 2005).  These may not make a label, but they are crucial for quality of life. 

 

“Let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food” -Hippocrates. 

 

To get quantity, there must be a bulk filler (typically starch) that is used to add nutrients back into the flour for enrichment.  Remember that starch consists of high levels of glucose, and this turns quickly into a “sugar” in your body.  So the enrichment process is not without the unfortunate side effect of making bread products “starchy” and a poor choice for diabetics.  True living bread is not this way.  The natural starches contained within the wheat are counterbalanced by the naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, fiber, and protein. 
 

Vitamin E—The original miracle drug  

 

Vitamin E is a fat soluble antioxidant. That means that they protect cells from harm done by damaging free radicals, which are molecules that contain an unshared electron (Office of Dietary Supplements, 2011).  The Ohio State University measured the amount of vitamin E in various foods, to include oils.  The highest item on the list was 1 tablespoon of wheat germ oil, just the oil!  That one tablespoon provides 20.3 milligrams of vitamin E—that’s 135.3% of your RDA! There is no greater known source of Vitamin E in the world than in whole wheat (Mosure, 2004).

 

Phosphorus

 

Phosphorus along with Vitamin D are needed in healthy diets to fight Rickets (a disease where the bones degenerate and soften).  Phosphorus is represented in adequate quantities in enough unprocessed foods so that deficiencies are only a concern in people who routinely consume antacids or who have a disease in the kidneys.  Whole wheat is perhaps the second best common source for phosphorus you can find—the highest value going to the yeast used in bread baking.   With the advent of enriched flour, the tracer bullet manufacturing sector has had to share its primary ingredient (Phosphorus) with bakers.  Hmmmm, I think I will just stick to whole wheat home ground flour.

 

Conclusion

 

Let’s consider eating God’s bounty as He designed.  We could discuss the various vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients of whole wheat for many pages more; this is not an exhaustive list of the health benefits to this fundamental grain.  Rather, it is a brief highlight of the value of this often underated food staple.  Please consider replacing the deconstructed flour in your diet with true whole grain.  Flour milling is as simple in modern times as flipping the switch on any kitchen appliance.  The lingering scent of freshly baked bread, the indulgence of a warm slice from the oven, the improvement in skin, digestion, and overall health—this is a wonderful gift to yourself and to your family. 

 

Chaya

 

Photo Credits:

Wheat kernel cutaway from the Montana Wheat and Barley Committee: http://wbc.agr.mt.gov/wbc/Consumer/Diagram_kernel/  

 Boulting Flour in the Bakehouse by Kentwell Hall Great Re-Creation, June 2010 (Depicting 1538) http://www.flickriver.com/photos/nigesphotobox/4741585459/

Bread by Viererie http://www.rgbstock.com/photo/nfAVg1Y/BreadBread

 

Works Cited:

Ettlinger, S. (2007). Twinkie, deconstructed, my journey to discover how the ingredients found in processed foods are grown, mined (yes, mined), and manipulated into what America eats. (First printing, March 2007 ed., Vol. 1, p. 32). London: Hudson st Pr.

 Mathis MD, C. (2005, April 01). Web md. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/diet/phytonutrients-faq

 Mosure, J. (2004, November). The Ohio State University Extension Office Online. Retrieved from http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/pdf/5554.pdf

 Office of dietary supplements. (2011, October 11). Retrieved from http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminE-HealthProfessional/

 For further study:

http://www.drcranton.com/nutrition/bread.htm (highly recommended reading)

www.americanbakers.org, “Celebrating 70 years of Enrichment”

http://cuny.edu/archive/cc/health-in-america/nutrition.html

www.wolframalpha.com  for the nutritional charts

http://www.mostproject.org/PDF/2.pdf   US Aid, “Manual for Wheat Flour Fortification with Iron”

http://www.webmd.com/diet/phytonutrients-faq

http://www.lesliebeck.com/ingredient_index.php?featured_food=120  Leslie Beck, RD; “Wheat berries – March 2010’s Featured Food”

http://www.sph.emory.edu/wheatflour/KEYDOCS/MI_Fort_handbook.pdf  Wesley and Ranum, eds. “The Fortification Handbook” (2004).

http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/5000/5554.html  Vitamin E: Ohio State University Extension Fact Sheet

http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/vitamine/  Office of Dietary Supplements, National Institutes of Health. Dietary Supplement Fact Sheet: Vitamin E

Proviso:

Nothing in this blog constitutes medical advice.  You should consult your own physician before making any dietary changes.  Statements in this blog may or may not be congruent with current USDA or FDA guidance. 

6 Comments

Becky

posted on Saturday, June 14, 2014 10:07:40 PM America/Denver

Very interesting. Thank you for sharing this!

Marci

posted on Monday, October 6, 2014 9:49:08 AM America/Denver

I loved this Chaya!! You are singing my song. 🙂

Sharon

posted on Wednesday, October 8, 2014 1:11:34 AM America/Denver

Thank you, thank you, thank you. The best article so far that I’ve read that explains this whole-wheat (berry) flour concept vs the supermarket white flour. Thank you.

Megan Stevens

posted on Monday, October 13, 2014 10:09:19 PM America/Denver

Hi Chaya, thank you so much for a wonderfully researched and insightful article!!! Two small things, you have “viola” up by/underneath the women sifting flour which is meant to be “voila.” I have done this myself and am always glad someone lets me know; so I hope you will not mind. Secondly, I think it would be helpful if you mention sourdough or sprouting, since the nutrients are much more accessible and historically-based as far as procedures and nutrition when the grain is predigested. Thanks, kindly, Megan 🙂

 

Thank you for catching that! I’ll change it right away; I want to get attribution correctly. You would enjoy this blog about Phytic Acid, in which I talk about there very thing! It would have made a good addition to this blog, agreed. It’s hard to fit so much science into a readable blog! Glad you liked the article.

JessMN

posted on Wednesday, October 15, 2014 7:11:47 PM America/Denver

While I agree with most of what you have posted, I have to wonder if you have even read “Wheat Belly”? A huge amount of the problem with wheat – whole grain as well as supermarket white flour – is the fact that what we eat today is genetically modified to be nothing like what our ancestors ate (14 chromosomes in Einkorn vs 42 chromosomes in modern dwarf wheat) “The Bible says, “Give us this day our daily bread”. Eating bread is nearly a religious commandment. But the Einkorn, heirloom, Biblical wheat of our ancestors is something modern humans never eat. Instead, we eat dwarf wheat, the product of genetic manipulation and hybridization that created short, stubby, hardy, high yielding wheat plants with much higher amounts of starch and gluten and many more chromosomes coding for all sorts of new odd proteins.” (Credit: Dr Mark Hyman) Just some food for thought.JessMN, Thank you for the comment (I love it when people write thoughtful comments). I had set out to read Wheat Belly, but I never actually got to it. Good intentions aside, I did watch an hour-something long lecture by the author on the topic via Youtube almost two years ago. I found what he said interesting, but as someone who has come to faith through via the lonely journey of skeptism, I think that both my scientific thinking and my faith are better in practice and both are more epistemologically sound.

Why do I even mention that? Because the author seems to have an axe to grind with faith and the Bible/Christianity in particular–which is altogether fine by me. My problem is that if I was anti-vegetarianism, I would not go take a shot at Seventh Day Adventists straw-man to gain traction on my argument. If following the evidence where ever it leads gets him to be upset with the nativity scene, then I think that my bias detector is correct when I see that as irrelevant to the topic at hand.

Back to wheat, yes, if he is correct, we eat a lesser form of wheat. By way of comparison, Chaya and I used to own a Boxer named Dallas. She was a GREAT dog, very affectionate, loyal, athletic and quite the clown. She was a Boxer; she was not a wolf. All dogs descended from wolves, she was a wolf-minus if you will, but we got all of the canine we needed in that lovable package. The point is to show a diminished modern product does not mean that what we have is somehow needs to be discarded because it is not pure. Sure, I would love to eat 42 chromosome wheat, and hopefully the author can bring the strain back to vogue and we can compare the data. But for now, the wheat we eat is very good, high in protein in Vitamin E.

To be clear, when I say “wheat” (as in what we eat at our house), we start out with a wheat berry/kernel and then grind that into flour. That wheat is superior to the bagels stacked as cover art of dead white flour that had to be enriched by law to avoid vitamin deficiencies like beriberi and rickets. In that the author and I are in agreement, that is not wheat, that is wheat starch-minus.

Thanks for the comment!

Wilson

Darryl C.

posted on Thursday, October 16, 2014 4:39:50 PM America/Denver

Thank you for UR article… I buy ‘Wheat Berries” Non-GMO, grind them when I want to make my flour. AND then make whatever bread version I want>>> Store bought, I try not to read their ingredient lists CUZ I can’t pronounce 90% of their ingredients! So I don’t buy it!!

Absorb This . . . Phytic Acid

Phytic Acid

Phytic Acid

Absorb This . . . Phytic Acid

 

Inositol Hexaphosphate—a little goes a long way

 

 

You may have heard the term “Phytic acid” before if you have read any food blogs out there at all, or if you have asked someone why they go to the trouble of sprouting their grains before preparing them.   Let’s explain what it is and its role in the grain first.

 Have you heard the new food science that all the experts are just so sure of?  We often demonize the next new term out there.  Cholesterol = bad!  Fats and Oils = bad!  Salt=bad!  Bad, bad, bad!  Grrrrrr!  And then we will pin wings onto other terms:  Omega 3 fatty acids are overdose-worthy!  Protein isgluttony-approved!

 It is just not that simple.  You have to learn about your family medical history and your own personal health first before you can know what you should eat or avoid eating.  This data set will look different for every individual person.  When foods are on the “bad list” we do not see the demand go down for that certain texture or taste, so we start seeing substitutes.  Saturated fat went out of vogue and (for awhile) transfats were in.  Sugar is worse than bad, how about aspartame instead—anyone? 

 Phytic acid is properly known as “inositol hexaphosphate” and “IP6” in the science world.  Foods with Phytic acid generally owe their existence to it.  The bad reputation it receives is largely because Phytic acid is the chemical within those foods that preserves that seed/nut until the time in which that seed or nut is brought back from its dormancy through the germination process.  

 

Inositol Hexaphosphate

Phytic acid grains (i.e. wheat, rice, barley, etc.) store their phosphorous (up to 50-80%) for future use within this chemical compound in the plant to slow the plant’s metabolism.  Furthermore, Phytic acid is an antioxidant naturally occurring in the plant, and it can make up 1-5% of the grain, seed, nut, and even the pollen. 

As you know, an antioxidant helps prevent cancers because they combat the damaging effect of oxidation within tissue.  Foods high in Phytic acid, such as beans, may trend towards the same effect.  There are numerous studies occurring at any given moment as to how Phytic acid might prevent (or even help cure) different forms of cancer; in fact, they have linked it definitively to preventing colon cancer.  Since colon cancer runs in my family the consumption of Phytic acid (for me) is a positive thing—within reasonable limits. 

We would not have the shelf life that we enjoy with such foods as beans, wheat, rice, etc. if it were not for the Phytic acid in food.   However, after it has done its job and the food is on the table, what other effect does it have on you?  And why the anti-phytic acid press if it is an antioxidant?  

As it turns out, we will still get all the Phytic acid even with preparing our grains/seeds/legumes in a way that minimizes Phytic acid.  A 2004 study (Onomi, Katayama) concluded that dietary intake of Phytic acid at a level of 0.035 percent may protect against a fatty liver, and that the anti-nutrient effect of Phytic acid on mineral absorption will only occur at 10 fold higher levels. The researchers even speculated that Phytic acid may be considered more like a vitamin than an anti-nutrient.   We easily reach that level of acid if we are eating whole grains, beans and nuts.  So we should not seek to eliminate it entirely, nor should we seek out Phytic acid as a supplement.

In that same study, mice overdosed on Phytic acid had severely reduced growth.  The acid attaches itself to minerals (namely iron) but it within itself is not absorbable. The entire complex passes through; this means that you will not get the full nutrition out of the food product.  The very fact that it suppresses iron is how it preserves the seed for future growth.  If you have a high grain diet, take note this is why grain based baby food is fortified with iron. 

 

In a conversation with Dr. Amanda Rose, I learned that you can soak your grains (or better yet sprout them first) to release the Phytates (or “Phytase”) which pull the Phytic acid from the food.  Dr. Amanda Rose covers this science in more detail along with cooking tips through her website. 

You need some Phytic acid in food, but you can easily get too much of a good thing.  Consider soaking your grains and seeds to keep your diet in balance.   Rinsing off rice and sprouting grains have been done for millenia now–nothing new there.  But we do want to make sure that we are keeping a proper balanced diet.   Phytic acid, a little goes a long way.  

Chaya

 

Photo Credits:

Phytic acid checmical diagram is from the National Center for Biotechnology Information

http://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/summary/summary.cgi?sid=841469&loc=es_rss

 

 

Works Cited:

Onomi S, Okazaki Y and Katayama T. Effect of dietary level of phytic acid on hepatic and serum lipid status in rats fed a high-sucrose diet.. Biosci Biotechnol Biochem. 2004 Jun;68(6):1379-81

 

 

Proviso:

Nothing in this blog constitutes medical advice.  You should consult your own physician before making any dietary changes.  Statements in this blog may or may not be congruent with USDA or FDA guidance.