Fall Wheat Berry and Fruit Salad

There is something about knowing that I am suppose to keep my grain servings to 1 cup a day that has had me thinking about nothing but carby goodness. Since wheat berries are the healthiest carb I can think of I decided to start a batch of wheat berries having no idea how I was going to use them. Then I remembered the apple and celery salad I made this weekend and wanted to make something similar, yet different. This salad turned into something that was healthy that I also really enjoyed. Here is what I made.

Fall Wheat Berry and Fruit Salad
Makes 7 – 1 cup servings

Ingredients:

1 cup hard winter wheat berries
4 cups water
1 pinch sea salt (approximately 1/8 teaspoon)
1 cinnamon stick
4 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons apple cider
3 apple, diced (amounts to approximately 3 cups)
1 cup celery, finely minced
¼ cup currants
½ tablespoons celery seeds
salt and pepper, to taste
chopped walnuts for garnish, optional

Directions:

Combine the wheat berries, water, salt and cinnamon stick in a heavy pot (I used an enameled 2 quart Le Creuset) and bring the water to a boil. When the water is boiling reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for an hour before you taste them for texture. The berries will take between one and two hours to achieve a nice chewy texture. I prefer mine chewier so I cook them about an hour and a half. I have friends that cook them as long as two hours. I encourage you to taste them after an hour. You may need to add more water at the one-hour mark. I try to make certain the wheat berries are covered by at least one inch of water while they are cooking. If you want the wheat berries finished faster you can use a pressure cooker. Those instructions are given here.

When the wheat berries are the texture you desire drain them thoroughly in a wire sieve. Place the wheat berries a large mixing bowl and add the apple cider vinegar and the apple cider. The warm wheat berries will absorb the dressing better than cool or cold wheat berries.

Once the wheat berries have cooled add the apples, raisin, currants, and celery seed and toss to combine. Taste the salad for seasoning and add salt and pepper as desired. As the salad sits in the refrigerator the flavors will begin to blend. It was definitely better after 3 hours under refrigeration.

When you are ready to serve, walnuts can be added if you wish.

Nutritional Information (without optional walnuts):

Amount Per Serving
Calories - 151.14
Calories From Fat (5%) - 7.1

Total Fat - 0.86g
Saturated Fat - 0.13g
Cholesterol - 0mg
Sodium - 61.79mg
Potassium - 271.28mg
Total Carbohydrates - 34g
Fiber - 6.51g
Sugar - 10.07g
Protein - 4.87g

Comments:

This salad is more savory than sweet, but definitely has background sweetness from the apples, currants and apple cider. Celery is the predominant flavor in the dish. This salad would also be good with a mayonnaise based dressing if you like your grain salads creamy.

Each serving of this salad contains a little less than a ½ cup of cooked wheat berries (specifically 3/7th of a cup for those following eat to live) and has approximately 19.5 mcg of selenium.

Unrelated note:

I am off now to start work on dinner. My recipe for dinner we be posted either tonight or tomorrow morning.