Heirloom Wheat?

[Phillip]

Does anyone now were to get heirloom wheat?

[Denninmi]

Bountiful Gardens in Willets, CA has a couple of varieties, but only in very small packages. Here's a link:

http://www.bountifulgardens.org/prod...t_on=&sort_by=

[Phillip]

I'm looking for more or less named varieties, not unnamed say "hard red winter wheat" or "hard red spring wheat"...

[randycarter]

Denninmi gave you a great source. Wheat is kinda classified as being an ancient or a modern cultivar as opposed to be heirloom or not.

[Phillip]

Does "ancient" wheat make good bread etc?

[randycarter]

Phillip, quite frankly I don't know. What I do know is that the ancient wheats are hard to thresh and do not have the yield of modern wheat.

[johnsonjrbm]

Peters Seed and Research carries a variety of named grains, including some perennials:

http://www.psrseed.com/index.html

Their website only lists what is currently available, so it's worthwhile to contact them or check the site periodically to see what's in stock.

[Timbawulf]

As a grower of wheatgrass everyone prefers Kamut because its juice is sweeter, more nutritious, and gives a bigger energy kick. I have found it very easy to grow to maturity and reproduce, but don't know whether it would be considered an heirloom. On www.amazon.com you can get Kamut: An Ancient Food for a Healthy Future by Betty Kamen that compares its nutritional profile to hybridized wheat. Unlike hybrids, Kamut doesn't have gluten so is safe for those who are gluten intolerant (often confused with wheat allergy). The book says that a few dozen Kamut wheatberries were rediscovered in one of the great pyramids of Egypt in the 1930's. Kamut wheatberries are three times bigger than hybrid wheat. The drawback to larger wheatberries is you get more breakage [in shipping] and a slightly lower germination rate. It takes more maintenance when growing it as wheatgrass because there is more spoilage and mold from the ungerminated, broken wheatberries. Kamut is the trademarked name for Triticum turgidum spp turanicum. More can be found at www.kamut.com.

[GreenZone]

Native Seeds/Search used to carry several old Southwestern wheats.


www.nativeseeds.org

[bluesolaise]

If you're a member of Seed Savers Exchange then you could request some from members listing named wheat varieties in the Yearbook. I haven't received the 2008 edition yet, but the 2007 edition includes about 70 named varieties, including some spelt and triticale.