Whole Grains

Barley is a mild-flavored kernel-shaped grain known for its success at adding thickness to stews and soups. Barley is also a great addition to casseroles with carrots, root veggies, and onions.

Pearled barley and hulled barley are the two most popular types. Pearled barley is milled barley. So it takes only 40 minutes to cook. Hulled barley--barley with its outer layer removed--is more nutritious than pearled but takes a full 90 minutes to cook.

If you want a grain that's a snap to prepare, bulgur wheat is your best bet. Bulgur wheat cooks by rehydration. Simply pour twice the amount of boiling water or broth over dry bulgur and let it stand for 45 minutes.

Bulgur wheat's greatest claim to fame is tabbouleh salad, a Middle Eastern wheat and vegetable salad that has become wildly popular in the U.S.

Bulgur wheat is also a terrific substitute for ground beef. When cooked in vegetarian chili, for example, its texture becomes very similar to ground beef--but offers more fiber and far less fat.

Okay, we admit it: couscous is not actually a grain. It is a tiny pasta made from fine semolina wheat. It behaves like a very light grain, however. Like bulgur, couscous is a breeze to prepare. It rehydrates like bulgur (two cups of water or broth to 1 cup of couscous), except that couscous will absorb the liquid much quicker than bulgur. Couscous will be ready in a quick 5 minutes! Couscous makes a fluffy bed for chicken or fish kebabs.

Quinoa (keen-wa) is not a new grain. It's been growing in South American fields for centuries (the Incans loved quinoa so much they called it "the mother grain").

Commonly used in salads, soups, pilafs, and side dishes, quinoa has a wonderful nutty taste and aroma. Like couscous, it's a quick-cooking grain--done in 15 minutes in a saucepan filled with 2 cups water to 1 cup quinoa.

Wild rice is not really rice at all: it is the seed of a grass grown in Minnesota and Canada.

Wild rice has an assertive flavor that's delicious in soups and great paired with split peas or combined with other grains. It is one of the longer-cooking grains, using three to four times the amount of water or broth versus grain. The rice must simmer for a full 45 minutes to 1 hour before serving. The results are worth it!

Wild rice is harvested by hand, however, so it can be expensive.

More nutritious than white rice, brown rice is one of the more familiar whole grains. Brown rice cooks in double the amount of water or broth and it needs to simmer for a full 45 minutes. Cook up a batch and store it in a container in the refrigerator for days when you don't have time to let it cook slowly.