Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Rinsing/soaking whole grains/seeds?


jedovaty

Recommended Posts

Hi:

Do you all rinse/wash whole grains/seeds before cooking/baking with them?  If so.. what if you want to grind them into flour?  Goes for anything, oats, buckwheat, wheat, etc.  Mine all appear to be rather clean and well sorted, but.. just making sure.

Thanks!

Edited by Smithy
Capitalisation (log)
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, jedovaty said:

Hi:

Do you all rinse/wash whole grains/seeds before cooking/baking with them?  If so.. what if you want to grind them into flour?  Goes for anything, oats, buckwheat, wheat, etc.  Mine all appear to be rather clean and well sorted, but.. just making sure.

Thanks!

 

I wash rice but I don't wash oats or farro.

 

  • Like 1

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

Link to comment
Share on other sites

19 minutes ago, jedovaty said:

 

Do you all rinse/wash whole grains/seeds before cooking/baking with them? 

It kind of depends. If I'm using the grains as an add-in in a loaf of bread or something, I'll usually soak them so they won't be hard and chalky when I bite into them. With seeds, it's more or less a by-feel thing. If they're pleasant to eat as-is, I"ll likely leave them whole. Otherwise I might pulse them in my rotary-blade spice grinder just to bust 'em up a little.

Unless you're buying some kind of grain that often contains pebbles and/or other debris, what you're rinsing off is basically just flour that has been "milled" through friction. If you're making flour anyway, there's no point in trying to remove it.

  • Like 1

“Who loves a garden, loves a greenhouse too.” - William Cowper, The Task, Book Three

 

"Not knowing the scope of your own ignorance is part of the human condition...The first rule of the Dunning-Kruger club is you don’t know you’re a member of the Dunning-Kruger club.” - psychologist David Dunning

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Got it, thank you all.

This whole idea came up because I've been rinsing buckwheat and oats before cooking it, but, I was not when making flour from them or the wheat berries I have.  If I roll the oats, and should I rinse them before or after rolling, etc (rhetorical question).  I've found the occasional stone or twig in the packages. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

31 minutes ago, jedovaty said:

Got it, thank you all.

This whole idea came up because I've been rinsing buckwheat and oats before cooking it, but, I was not when making flour from them or the wheat berries I have.  If I roll the oats, and should I rinse them before or after rolling, etc (rhetorical question).  I've found the occasional stone or twig in the packages. 

 

What brand of oats?  I use Bob's Red Mill.  I haven't seen any foreign matter.

 

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

What brand of oats?  I use Bob's Red Mill.  I haven't seen any foreign matter.

Not commercial brands, rather direct from farms here in California.  So far only with wheat.  The farms from WA seem to produce a much cleaner package than CA.  I only recently purchased oats and buckwheat in bulk (unrelated to covid, been planning to do it since February).  Back when I roasted coffee, on very rare occasion I'd find a twig or stone or slate in the greens, too.  Somehow always spotted before going into the grinder, thank goodness!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 hours ago, jedovaty said:

Not commercial brands, rather direct from farms here in California.  So far only with wheat.  The farms from WA seem to produce a much cleaner package than CA.  I only recently purchased oats and buckwheat in bulk (unrelated to covid, been planning to do it since February).  Back when I roasted coffee, on very rare occasion I'd find a twig or stone or slate in the greens, too.  Somehow always spotted before going into the grinder, thank goodness!

 

Direct from farms maybe you should wash the grains.  I have only used commercial products.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...