Specialty Grains 

Specialty Grains 

By Cindy Hazen 
Contributing Editor

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans, published jointlyby the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department ofAgriculture every five years, made a striking recommendation in 2005 when, forthe first time, they made a distinction between whole and refined grains. Of thethree to 10 recommended daily servings of grains, it is encouraged now that halfcome from whole grains.

Depending on calorie needs, it is suggested that all Americans over the ageof 2 years should eat at least three 1-oz.-equivalent servings of grains eachday. Someone with a 2,400-calorie diet should consume eight 1-oz. equivalentservings.

When it comes to grains, most consumers rely on wheat. According to Beth Arndt, manager of R&D, ConAgra Foods, Inc., Omaha, NE,75% of the grains we eat now are wheat based. Considering that roughlytwo-thirds of those are refined, were falling short of our nutritionalpotential.

Most grains, including barley, millet, oat, rice, rye and wheat, are thesingle-seeded fruits of the grass family. However, some grains, such as amaranth, buckwheat and flax, are fruits orseeds from non-grass plants.

Grains have a bran layer composed of the seed coat and the aleurone layer,which is rich in fiber, minerals, oil, phytonutrients, protein and vitamins. Thebran layer encircles the endosperm, the heart of the grain, a portion abundantin protein and carbohydrate. The tiny germ, found at the base of the grain, is anutritional powerhouse of B vitamins, vitamin E, minerals and phytonutrients.

In refining grains, processors strip the bran and germ away, leaving only theendosperm. Dave Green, director of quality control and laboratory services, ADM,Decatur, IL, suggests that grains have been refined because of taste. Ithink, historically, as soon as the millers in the Middle Ages started to find away to sift out some of the bran when they had stone mills, that flour becamethe preferable item, he says. Besides having a milder taste, flour withdecreased bran is more shelf-stable because the oils that are susceptible tooxidation are removed. Refined flour also makes for better bread because of its enhanced ability toyeast-rise and produce gluten.

Yet, bread made from refined flour is nutritionally short-changed, since itis missing the vitamins, oil, minerals and phytonutrients that were resident inthe bran and germ. How can the food industry increase consumption of whole-grainnutrients when the American palate has shown a preference for refined goods?There are two ways to meet this challenge: increase consumption of whole grainwheat products and look at alternative grains.

A better wheat flour 

If consumers prefer refined white wheat flour,the product-development challenge is to provide the nutritional benefits ofwhole grain while retaining the flavor and textural attributes of refined flour.Whole-grain white-wheat flour provides a solution. Glen Weaver, director oftechnical services, ConAgra Foods, Omaha, NE, says its Ultragrain product is theresult of the development of both the process and the raw material. He saysdeveloping such a product requires review of the process and the raw material. The initial variety of wheat was selected on functional performance,flavor characteristics and color, he says. We looked at over 100varieties. We started years ago, because when youre dealing with genetics, itsa long time process.

Review of the processing phase involved examining the textural impact. Commonly,whole-wheat products were ground from fine to coarse granulations, Weavercontinues. Frankly, they werent fine enough for about 60% to 70% of the populationwho currently dont consume whole grains, because they didnt meet theirtexture expectations or their expectations for flavor and color.

ADM offers a similar product called Kansas Diamond. Green agrees grain selection for this type of product is important.The difference between whole-grain white wheat flour and a regular wholeflour is that regular whole-wheat flours have always been made out of red wheat,says Green. This is made out of white wheat. The other difference, of course,is that its a very fine granulation. The ADM product has 12.5% protein.Whole-grain white wheat flour has several different applications, Green says:Its currently being used in breads. We think it has more of an application for some of the flat products, pizzasand tortillas in particular. Thats where the color difference and theappearance show up a little better. Its darker than a white flour: It is ashade of tan in between white flour and whole-wheat flour. He notes that thetaste differs from that of a red whole wheat flour: Its not as wheaty. Some people want to call it sweeter, but its a less-bitter tastethan a traditional whole-wheat flour.

Green advises that the absorption on these products is higher than regularwhole wheat. He suggests using 3% to 5% more water. With a whole grain, whenits used at 100%, it does require gluten supplementation, he says. Ithink that the fiber is so fine that its inhibiting the formation of gluten.Most people are using it as a percentage rather than as a 100% whole grain.

Any whole-wheat-type product has some formulation and processing aspects tokeep in mind, says Harold Ward, manager of technical services, ConAgra Foods:First and foremost is the increase in absorption characteristics and the needfor water. Wholegrain flours tend to take up a lot more water than standardwhite flour. Possibly, things to strengthen your dough systemwhether oxidation systems,dough strengtheners or even vital wheat glutenare certainly ingredients youcan use in any type of whole-wheat system. Processing parameters also needadjustments. He notes that products using whole-grain flours have reduced mixrequirements compared to systems utilizing white flour.

ConAgras offering in the category is available in a hard winter wheat with13.5% protein, and a soft white wheat with 10.0% protein. Ward says thehard-white version has been used in everything from pan bread to hearth-typeproducts, pizza, pastas and bagels. The soft-wheat version works well in pie crust, donuts, cookies and crackers.

Weaver stresses that the product can be used in a lot of different ways. You can use this as a primary or supporting ingredient, he says. Itcan be used in relatively low levels of inclusion or high levels of inclusion,or it can be utilized with other particulated material. A good example wouldbe an oatmeal cookie where whole-grain rolled oats would be added to the wholewhite-wheat flour.

The technology behind the whole white-wheat flours need not be limited towheat. There have been inquires about what we can do with other grains,says Weaver. Barley and some other grains could easily be included inmultigrain products and could add flavor or nutritional differences.

Oats and barley grow 

One reason to eat a variety of grains is theypossess different nutritional attributes. According to Arndt, grains are known for certain nutritional parameters.Wheat is known to be very high in insoluble fiber and is really the kingwhen it comes to digestive health. (Whole-grain wheat flour has 10.8% insoluble fiber.) Oats and barley are bothknown for their beta-glucan.

This has led to oats and barley sharing a common health claim. On Dec. 23, 2005, the FDA announced that, as with foods containing oats, the labelfor foods containing at least 0.75 grams per serving of soluble fiber frombarley can carry a heart-health benefit when consumed as part of a diet low insaturated fat and cholesterol.

Most barley has 10% to 12% fiber and beta-glucan levels between 4% to 6%. Barleycomes in a number of formats, Bill Bonner, director of R&D and technicalservices, ConAgra Foods, explains. Pearled barley is the white, rounded productremaining after processors remove the outer layer. Its often used in soup anddry-mix products. Barley flour is probably used mostly in baby foodapplications, says Bonner. Barley flour can also be used in extrudedready-to-eat cereals and snacks. Barley flakes are often seen in multigrain formats with oat and wheatcombinations. Most multigrain hot cereals have all three products: oats,barley and wheat.

ConAgra mills a traditional barley, but also has a unique barley productderived from selective plant breeding. The Sustagrain barley is a conventionally developed, identity-preservedproduct, says Bonner. It has 30% total dietary fiber and 15% soluble fiber. That isbasically three times the concentration of those two available fiber components.Weve selected the plant breeding.

Special types of barley have been around for a millennium, according toChristine Fastnaught, Ph.D., research consultant, National Barley Foods Council,Fargo, ND. Many of them go back to barley varieties that were grown in Tibet,she says. There are companies that have been working with the breedingeffort, and were seeing production of those varieties. A number of companiescan see the utility of having a barley that has the higher fiber that they canthen blend with other ingredients such as corn, rice and wheat. They would stillbe able to get a claim, even though theres not 100% barley in the product. Itwould be more difficult to use with a regular barley that we just use formalting or for feed. Obtaining fiber levels sufficient to meet a health claimis more difficult when using regular barley.

Using a hull-less variety preserves the whole-grain character. We dontneed to pearl it, and therefore it remains whole grain in all of the processforms, says Arndt. She says that is an important advantage compared to a hulledvariety.

ConAgras specialty barley has a unique carbohydrate composition. Notonly is the fiber very high, but it has 30% or less starch, says Arndt. Thatsabout half the starch content compared to other common cereal grains. Theprotein content is at least 18%, and its a high-lysine protein, so it hasmore protein value compared to other common cereal grains. Because of thecarbohydrate composition, it really has some special nutritionalcharacteristics. It can easily be used in foods to manage blood sugar. Becauseof its high fiber content, it works well for gastrointestinal or digestivehealth. With the high soluble-fiber content, it is excellent for heart health.Only 5 grams of this barley is needed per servingas well as meeting theother health claim parametersto achieve the 0.75 grams of soluble fiber forthe new heart health claim, she notes.

A multigrain cereal made with a two-thirds blend of oats and one-third blendof ConAgras high-fiber barley would double the beta glucan and dietary fiber,according to Bonner. As a hot cereal it is available in flaked form, he says. It can be blended with other flakes in hot cereals and bakingapplications for visual appearance similar to rolled oats in an oatmeal cookie.The only place its going to be used at 100% is probably in some kind of ahot-cereal application. However, in baked goods, in extruded or expandedproducts, its probably going to be used somewhere between the 15% to 40%level. The lower level of carbohydrate lowers some of the food functionality inbaked applications, and expansion and extrusion for cereals and snacks. Anybread or expanded cereal product would be fairly dense, and the texture wouldnot be acceptable. In pasta applications, this barley has been used in the20% to 30% range.

Weve used it in cookies, crackers and tortillas at inclusion levels of20% to 30%, continues Arndt. You can use a high amount of Sustagrain inpilafs and soups. Vegetarian burgers are another application that this grainhas worked well in.

Potential uses are wide-ranging because Sustagrain is available in a varietyof forms: whole, flakes, steel-cut and flour. Bonner sees unique applicationsusing a very fine granulation. Smoothie-type beverages are a potential application. It can also be usedin puddings, he says. It probably has as much value in the nutraceutical profileproducts as it does in regular food products. We see a lot of interest in those areas, both from a fine flour for thebeverage as well as in bar applications, usually in the form of flakes for thebars.

Tortillas with 100% barley would have a darker color. However, the solublefiber present in barley enhances tortilla pliability. Fastnaught recommends a50% blend. I would recommend the same for snack products, she says. Snack products can be difficult to formulate to produce a health claim,because their fat and sodium levels are often too high. In the future, we maysee ways to develop snack products that you can use a claim, she continues.

Barley mixes extremely well with corn, say 50:50, to make a Cheetos-typeproduct. I think this is an area we really want to push. An easy way to increase fiber in the diet is to add barley to pilafs and riceblends, Fastnaught says. In Asia, they mix barley with rice and have blendsin the grocery store. If youre using pearled barley, the cooking time isgoing to be similar to rice. A typical pearled barley is going to have about 10%fiber, whereas the rice is going to have less than 1% fiber. Pearled barleycooks in 50 to 60 minutes. Wild rice cooks in the same amount of time. Brown rice cooks in 45 minutes.

Compared to oats and other grains, barley is unique in that the fiber is notjust found outside the grain. The fiber is located throughout the grain inthe endosperm, where the starch and the protein tend to primarily be located,says Fastnaught. That means that we can produce product that you mightcall refined, and they have a very good level of fiber. Unlike grains likewheat or corn where processers take off the outer layer, refined barley willcontain a lot of nutritional benefit, she says. Barleys soluble fiber canalso mimic oils effects in baked goods, allowing a reduction in fat content.We were making muffins where, if we decreased the oil, we actually got a muchbetter muffin than if we just used the standard recipe, she says. In a muffin, Id go as high as a 50% reduction.

Bonner predicts that consumer awareness of barley will increase because ofthe FDA ruling. Consumers will be exposed to a lot of information over the nextsix months. Barley is probably the lowest consumed product out there, hesays. Its concentrated in soups and in baby foods. It doesnt have a lotof current applications, but I think youll see a lot of it as we go intowhole grains. Its going to be a very unique whole grain thats going to goforward.

Oat consumption has risen significantly in the last three to four years aftertailing off for a couple of years, according to Weaver. The biggest expandeduse of oats over the last few years is in cereal bars. Its a very healthyproduct. Its very apparent in the product and most people have built their cerealbars around visual identification of oat cereal pieces. You want to connote thehealthiness of the whole grain in these kinds of products, and oats certainly dothat.

Most oats are consumed as flakes. Oats are available as whole grain, but most of the whole-grain oats wouldbe rolled into flakes, says Bonner. How the oat is processed is simply amatter of the original piece size. A whole oat piece makes an old-fashionedflake, he continues. You will cut the whole oat piece into two to threepieces to make the other two products, and then its just a matter of howthick you flake them. The thinnest pieces cook fastest.

A small volume of oats is available as steel cut. This is referred to asScottish-type oatmeal. Preparation as a hot cereal takes 20 minutes to an hour.Most oats are sold as old-fashioned oats (5 minute cook), quick oats (1 minutecook) or instant oats (cooked by the addition of hot water). Oat flour isavailable to manufacturers. Products like Cheerios are high-oat-flour-containing products.

Oats have a stronger flavor than barley, Bonner notes. Theyre somewhattoasted in the process, when we deactivate the enzymes in oats. Oats have 7% oilthroughout the entire oat berry, whereas in wheat it is concentrated just in thegerm area. We deactivate the enzymes so it doesnt act on the oil in oatproducts. You get some of a toasted note when we deactivate the enzymes.

The protein level of oats is typically around 14%. Oats contain 10% fiber. Atotal of 4% of the fiber is soluble; 6% is insoluble.

Giving rye a try 

In the upper European countries, grain consumptionis roughly 80% rye based and 20% wheat based. Rye is much less understood, muchless utilized, in the United States.

Rye does have a stronger flavor than wheat, says Ward. Often in theUnited States, the flavor that consumers associate with rye is not actually rye,she cautions. Its caraway. Most of the rye breads are made with quite abit of caraway in them.

Besides bread, some multigrain cereals contain rye. Processors provide avariety of particle sizes of rye, from a refined to a medium-dark rye, topumpernickel, or coarser-type flakes. Pumpernickel is the coarser flour. Pumpernickel would be a really dark flour, explains Ward. It has moreof the bran layer. Rye is available from a couple of different kinds of flours,from the white rye to the dark rye flour.

The protein in rye is typically 15% to 16%. Rye has 16% fiber. Compared towheat, its going to be higher in soluble fibers, Weaver says. Whole-grainwheat flour has 1.4% soluble fiber. Whole-grain rye flour has 4.1% soluble fiber. When formulating breads withrye or barley, wheat flour should be added to the product to provide gluten. Oats, barley and other grains that youmay put in there do not have the gluten-forming capabilities and are going tomake up a smaller proportion, advises Ward. There are some folks makingbreads out of 100% rye, but what you tend to get is a very dense, heavy product.

For the most part, breads in the United States are maybe 15% to 30% ryeflour, and the remainder of the flour is made up of wheat flour. Its not tosay that you cant make bread-type products with 100% of some of these grains,but what you are going to get is not what were used to getting, and youregoing to have a very dense, heavy product.

Just because they require added gluten for baking doesnt mean some grainsdont contain small amounts of gluten-forming proteins. We have to pointout that people who are avoiding gluten in the diet should avoid wheat, barley, rye and oatsall of those. Even in rye there are somegluten-forming proteins, just at a very low level, cautions Arndt.

Ancient grains rediscovered 

Amaranth and quinoa fall into thecategory called ancient grains, according to Rick Hanson, vice presidentsales and operations, Hesco, Inc., Watertown, SD. Amaranth was prized by theAztecs, while quinoa was a favorite of the Incan culture. As small seeds, theyare similar in appearance. When you put amaranth and quinoa together, unlessyoure a really good grain guy, its hard to tell the difference, because itsa very small kernel, says Hanson. Flavor will set them apart, since amaranth is often described ashaving a peppery taste.

Diane Walters, vice president marketing, Nu-World Amaranth, Inc., Naperville,IL, says amaranth has a unique whole-grain flavor with a slightly toasty,slightly nutty flavor note. Amaranth and quinoa are largely imported.

Perhaps the two grains were so valued by ancient cultures because of theirsuperior nutritional profiles. Amaranth is a powerhouse of a food, says Walters. Whole-grain amaranth offers higher amounts of dietary fiber,iron and calcium than most other grains. It contains higher amounts of adistinctive array of additional vitamins and minerals, including niacin,magnesium and zinc.

According to the USDA Nutrient Database, 100 grams of quinoa contain 60 mgcalcium, 9.25 mg iron and 410 mg phosphorous. Dave Schnorr, president, QuinoaCorporation, Gardena, CA, says its a complete protein. It contains all ofthe essential amino acids. Quinoa contains 16.2% protein, more protein thanany other grain.

Amaranthcontains 14% protein. The protein of both grains are high in lysine, methionineand cysteine, making them more complete than most grains. Amaranth contains 15% fiber, of which 3% is soluble. Quinoa has 6% fiber.Using amaranth as a 25% replacement in an all-wheat formulation can giveyou over a 6% increase in fiber and an 87% increase in calcium, according toWalters. Amaranth is outstanding from a functional-food standpoint. It worksextremely well in almost any industrial application, from baby food and yogurtsto cereals, snacks and baked goods.

Quinoa can be used in cereal or side dishes, says Hanson. Flakes areavailable for use in cereals. The grains can be cooked in 10 to 12 minutes for aside dish. The light grains, similar in appearance to sesame seeds, make aperfect salad topper. They also can be added to soups.

Schnorr advises using quinoa in place of rice. It can be used just likerice in any recipe you would use rice. It cooks in half the time of regular rice (12 to 15 minutes). Its a littlebit smaller than rice. Some people combine the two.

Both quinoa and amaranth are ideal grains for those who must maintain agluten-free lifestyle. Most gluten-free products are corn-, rice-, potato- orsoy-based, says Walters. Amaranth offers a higher degree of nutrition and varietycompared to corn and rice and also holds its own compared to soy and potato. Increating gluten-free products, it combines well with rice flour, corn flour,sorghum and a variety of other gluten-free sources. Advantage can also be takenof amaranths superior nutritional profile to boost specific nutritionalaspects of a product, such as the iron content of a snack product or flatbread. Those with celiac disease also have difficulty getting enough fiber, iron andcalcium in their diets. Amaranth provides all three in abundance.

Amaranth flour, toasted amaranth-bran flour and puffed amaranth are goodingredients for flat breads, in quick breads, cookies, cakes, granolas, granolabars, snacks or in other applications. Both flours can be successfully used at a 5% to 30% replacement in chemicallyleavened or yeast-raised breads. Walters says, If you are making a bread thatcontains gluten, as is found in wheat, for instance, the yeast or baking powderfunctions as a leavening agent. If you are making a gluten-free bread, however,xanthan gum or some type of starch must be added to have successful rising.Puffed amaranth can also be added to any bread product as a topping or to add apleasant soft crunch within the product.

Grain futures 

Arndt sees that we have a long way to go to meet therecommended three servings a day of whole grain. Seventy-five percent of the grains we eat right now are wheat based, sotheres a lot of room for growth for the other grains. As a supplier of wholegrains, were getting questions about inclusion levels. What inclusion levelshould we go for and what kind of claims can we make? How much fiber does it deliver? What weve seen change over the last couple of yearsis really the big emphasis on the nutritional aspect.

There is emphasis on the number of grams of fiber per serving and the varioussources of fiber, according to Weaver. I think the one thing thats comingto light is that these natural fiber sources such as wheat, oats and barleycertainly bring more to the party with other nutrients besides strictly fiber. Ithink youll probably start seeing a migration away from some of the processedfibers to more natural sources of fibers because there is nutritional value inthere. When we look at the antioxidant value in whole grains, they are a lothigher than a lot of products that are commonly associated as very high inantioxidant levels, such as blueberries. Whole grains are pretty much comparableto blueberries. On a dry-weight basis, some varieties of brown sorghum, for example, havebeen measured at from 2,000 to over 3,000 ORAC units per gram, in testing doneby Lloyd W. Rooney, professor, Cereal Quality Labortory, Department of Soil andCrop Sciences, Texas A&M University, College Station.

In general, optimum nutrition comes from antioxidants derived from varioussources: vegetables, fruits and grains. Combining grains can help achieve an improved balance of fiber, antioxidantsand other phytonutrients.

Weaver believes most of the marketing will be around very simple multigrainmessages, rather than touting specific grains such as rye, barley or oats. Marketerswill want to keep the message very believable and very simple, he says.

Indeed, the multigrain concept may be the best way to reach Americanconsumers who are less willing to experiment with exotic grains.

Cindy Hazen, a 20-year veteran of the food industry, is a freelance writerbased in Memphis, TN. She can be reached at [email protected]. 

Fine Grain Ideas

Dont stop at wheat, rye, barley, oats, amaranth or quinoa. Theres awhole field of different grains to exploresome heirloom, some of more recentvintagewhen developing new whole-grain products. These can yield a new twiston the familiar or hearken back to the traditional dishes of their roots.(Information is courtesy of Oldways Preservation Trust and the Whole GrainsCouncil; more details can be found on their website, www.wholegrainscouncil.org.) 

Buckwheat (Fagopyrumesculentum) Buckwheat goesbeyond pancake mixes: Japans soba noodles, Brittanys cràpes and Russiaskasha are made with buckwheat. Botanically, buckwheat is a cousin of rhubarb,not a grain, but its nutrients, nutty flavor and appearance have led to itsadoption into the family of grains.

Bulgur (Triticum spp.)Bulgur is most often made from durum wheat, but almost any wheat can be used.Because bulgur has been precooked and dried, it needs to be boiled for onlyabout 10 minutes, making bulgur a nutritious food for quick side dishes, pilafsor salads. Bulgurs best-known use is in tabbouleh.

Corn (Zeamays mays) Though sometimesdismissed as a nutrient-poor starch, corn is lately being viewed as a healthyfood. Treating corn with alkali creates masa harina and hominy and liberates theniacin. Eating corn with beans creates a complementary mix of amino acids thatraises the protein value.

Emmer, Farro (Triticumturgidum ssp. dicoccum)Emmer, an ancient strain of wheat, has been replaced by higher-yielding strains,except in Ethiopia, where it still constitutes about 7% of the wheat grown. InItaly, it is known as farro or grano farro. Semolina flour from emmer is stillused for special soups and other dishes in Tuscany and Umbria, and farro isthought by some to make the best pasta.

Grano (Triticumturgidum ssp. durum)When durum wheat kernels are lightly polished, they become grano, a side-dishfull of nutty flavor and al dente texture. Minimal processing means that some ofthe outer casing is removed to cut cooking time to about 30 minutes. In Italy,grano predates pasta, but is still enjoyed in traditional dishes.

Kamut® grain (Triticumturgidum ssp. turanicum)Kamut grain is another heirloom grain. Years of selecting, testing andpropagating brought Kamut, an ancient Egyptian word for wheat, to prominence.Today, millions of pounds of this rich, buttery-tasting wheat are grown onorganic farms and made into whole-grain products.

Millet (Panicummiliaceum) Millet is theleading staple grain in India, and is commonly eaten in China, South America,Russia and the Himalayas. Millet has a mild flavor and is often mixed with othergrains or toasted before cooking to bring out the full extent of its delicateflavor. Its tiny grain can be white, gray, yellow or red.

Rice (Oryzasativa) White rice is refined, with the germ and bran removed. Whole-grain rice is usually brown, but can also be black, purple, red or avariety of hues. Converted rice is parboiled before refining, which drives someof the B vitamins into the endosperm so that they are not lost when the bran isremoved, making converted rice healthier than regular white rice. Brown rice is lower in fiber than most other whole grains.

Sorghum,Milo (Sorghum spp.) Worldwide, about 50% ofsorghum goes to human consumption, but most of the U.S. crop is fed to animalsor finds industrial use. Sorghum,also called milo, can be eaten like popcorn,cooked into porridge, ground into flour for baked goods or brewed intobeer.

Spelt (Triticumaestivum spelta) Spelt is avariety of wheat formerly widely cultivated. It can replace common wheat in mostrecipes. It is higher in protein than common wheat. Anecdotal reports say somepeople sensitive to wheat can tolerate spelt, but no reliable medical studieshave addressed that issue.

Teff (Eragrostistef) Teff is the principalsource of nutrition for approximately two-thirds of Ethiopians, who make it intospongy injera flatbread. The grains are 1/150 the size of wheat kernels. Todayit gets attention for its sweet, molasses-like flavor and versatility; it can becooked as porridge, added to baked goods, or made into teff polenta. Teffgrows in three colors: red, brown and white.

Triticale (x Triticosecalerimpaui) Triticale, a hybrid ofdurum wheat and rye, has been grown commercially for thirty-five years. About80% of the worlds crop is grown in Europe. It grows easily without commercialfertilizers and pesticides, making it ideal for organic farming. Bioavailability of triticale protein is slightly higher than soybeans andmuch higher than wheat.

Wild rice (Zizania spp.) Wild rice is nottechnically rice at all, but the seed of an aquatic grass. The strong flavor andhigh price of wild rice mean that it is most often consumed in a blend withother rices or other grains. Wild rice has twice the protein and fiber of brownrice, but less iron and calcium.

Lynn A. Kuntz