October 06, 2007
hot cereal season - some steamy information offered below about the private lives of grains!
This is a slightly more titillating post than my normal - as I tell you (via Wikipedia, of course) about how a certain grain came to be!
KS and I have a new love for our weekend breakfast meal - this fantastic five grain cereal featuring oatmeal, barley, rye, flax seeds and triticale.
According to Wikipedia (which we know cannot sometimes be trusted, but what the heck, this sounds fun enough), triticale is a man-made hybrid grain that offers excellent nutritious qualities and...
The word 'triticale' is a fusion of the latin words triticum (or wheat) and secale (rye). When crossing wheat and rye, wheat is used as the female parent and rye as the male parent (pollen donor). The resulting hybrid is sterile and thus has to be treated with the alkaloid chemical colchicine to make it fertile and thus able to reproduce itself.
I've written up about it over at Accidental Hedonist as part of my guest-blogging series. Check it out if you like oatmeal, hot cereal, or have been looking for a healthier breakfast - this stuff is fantastic!
Comments
I loooove hot cereal! I can't wait until it gets cold so that I can curl up on my couch with a big bowl of it, along with a cup of coffee. And I love learning about the science and history of food. I'm nerdy like that :).
I should add that somehow I only recently came across your blog and think it's great! I recently started a blog of my own and am going to add you to my blogroll :). I realize I'm probably too new for you to add me, but that's okay! Hopefully I'll catch up soon :).
My goodness -- cereal porn! Can't get much sassier than that! Thanks for the info -- I don't think I've ever tasted triticale but will look for it in the market.