Whole Grain Wheat Berry Salad

When you have cooked grains in your refrigerator, you have “fast food” at your fingertips!

This is a savory grain salad, but you can also use the same cooked grains — whether wheat berries, rye berries, einkorn berries, or oat groats — to make an "instant" breakfast bowl (just add yogurt, milk, fruit, and/or nuts), grain salad, or main dish with vegetables, meats, or whatever leftovers are in your fridge!

Ingredients

• 2 cups cooked wheat berries* (any you have on hand will work, but we recommend Turkey Red, Frederick White, or Soft Red wheat berries)

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 1/2 cup pesto, homemade or from a jar

• Radish or other crunchy vegetable, thinly sliced (that’s a Watermelon Radish in the photo), either raw or lightly pickled

• Sour cream, a dollop in each bowl if desired

Instructions

1. In a saucepan, add whole berries and enough water to bring the level two inches above the berries.

2. Add salt and bring to a boil; simmer approximately one hour, until berries are tender but still have a little chewiness.

3. Drain and rinse.

4. In a bowl, combine cooked wheat berries with remaining ingredients. Serve.

*How to Cook Wheat Berries

If you’ve cooked brown rice, you know how to cook wheat berries!

The basic water to wheat berry ratio is 3:1 — 3 cups water for each cup of berries.

Using that ratio, put the berries and water in a pan, and bring it to a gentle simmer. Salt and butter or olive oil are optional, but we recommend using them as your berries will be nicely pre-seasoned that way, no matter what you use them for.

Soft wheats, including our Frederick White and our Soft Red, will cook more quickly than hard wheats such as Glenn, Warthog, Turkey Red, and Red Fife — so start testing them after about 30 minutes of simmering. Your soft wheat will probably be done (a nice chewy texture), but hard wheat may need anywhere from 10 to 30 more minutes.