Unhulled Grains

[PoorMusician]

So the guy I buy my beef from also sells the grains they grow. The prices are great, so I keep thinking I'm going to jump in, but I want to make sure I understand what I'm getting.

 

Here's what he's got:

Unhulled Barley

Unhulled Buckwheat

Soft Red wheat
Rye Cereal

I am not familiar with grains in their grown state at all. I've read you can't use unhulled barley or buckwheat for anything except sprouting. So three questions,
1. why can't I hull them?

2. Can I sprout the unhulled stuff and then grind it for flour?

3. Can I store the unhulled stuff and then sprout what I need each week?

 

This is a new adventure for me!

[CrabGrassAcres]

You 'can' hull them, but it is a lot of tedious work without the right equipment.

If you sprout them and then can wash the hulls off you can then dry and grind or wet grind, but again, removing the hulls will be tedious.

You can store all of those, but frankly, unless the grains are hulled it is really better to buy them at a higher price and get them hulled except perhaps the wheat which is reasonably easy to hull. Still a lot more work than I want to do. Usually wheat is combined and that removes the hulls.

[PoorMusician]

Oh! forgot to mention, I have access to a grain mill. Would that work for husking?

[Mt_Rider]

Nope. At a commercial level, they send the grain around in huge centrifuges. I've searched for years to find a do-it-at-home method for separating hulls from field oats. There is one method I haven't tried but....with the experience of a gazillion attempts, I'm not that hopeful that it would be doable.

 

The best method I've found for oat hulls? Pinch each grain hull off with a fingernail. That's to tell you HOW creative I've been. If anyone wants to prove me wrong -- I'm all eager to hear it tho!!!!

 

I haven't seen the husks on wheat or rye. I have no idea there. Will the wheat come out of the harvesting equipment already de-husked? You'd have to go see or ask. Someone else here might know that.

 

 

Buckwheat is particularly bad since the tannins (sp) in the black covering are quite bitter. They use tannins in the process of tanning leather. Mmmmmm....tasty. The little grains are a three-dimensional triangle shape. And it's more like a skin than a hull.

 

Barley is just an extra INDIGESTABLE husk over the edible kernel. That means you will cause yourself reallllly bad digestive distress if you eat more than a mouthful of this. We're talkin' WAY beyond fiber here! Mebbe those tough pre-tech civilizations could digest it - I dunno.

 

Barley husk is similar to oat...mebbe a little looser husk. The barley that you sit down to devour in your soup is actually called 'pearled barley' aka: polished to get the hull off. ....... Hmmm....anyone have a rock tumbler? You'd have to wash off the grit medium tho.

 

Are you beginning to see the problem? There are strains of "naked" ...or "hulless" oats. Not sure with the other grains tho.

 

Hey, if farmer will sell you corn - that's a good one!!! Well, you DO have to have a strong grinder to handle corn [there is a reason it doesn't need a hull]....or you might have to run it thru to crack it first and then try for cornmeal.

 

MtRider --- grain farmer's DD

Edited February 11, 2013 by Mt_Rider

[PoorMusician]

I can't eat corn. He does have it at a good price, but for me that would be similar to eating those barley husks!

From what I've been reading, Barley has 2 different levels of "husking". There's the outer, indigestible husk. When you remove that you're left with whole grain barley. After another husking you get pearl barley.

I found a guy who was rubbing unhulled rye against a metal mesh (with some force) and then using a fan to separate grain from chaff. But I have no clue if that would work with barley.

Darn! I really thought I had a deal. I guess I'll keep asking around.

[Darlene]

You could always try growing hulless barley. It doesn't have the hull on at all.