x24,Top3,TopLeft,x25,x12
are you an eco-friendly eater?
a discovery company

Green Glossary: Grainy Season

Mickey Z.

By Mickey Z.
Astoria, NY, USA | Sun Dec 14, 2008 01:00 AM ET

grain photo


Robert George Young/Getty Images

Across the globe, grains constitute about 50% of the world's daily caloric intake. However, in food court crazed America—where the large majority of grains grown on US soil are fed to doomed livestock—your garden variety human typically falls well short of the recommended six to eleven servings of amazing grains each day. To help remedy this situation, it helps to recognize that grains come in many varieties but can be broken down into several basic categories, as follows: Barley, buckwheat, millet, oats, quinoa (pronounced keen-wah), rye, triticale, and wheat. Of course, as you read this, roughly half of the world's population is being fed thanks to a single amazing grain: rice. In other words, it's always grainy season for those seeking a healthy, earth-friendly, plant-based diet.

FYI: Amaranth—praised as a "supergrain" by the Aztecs—is not really a grain at all. It's related to a common weed called pigweed and is in the same family as the infamous tumbleweeds of the American Southwest. But that sure doesn't mean you shouldn't be simmering it like rice, popping it like popcorn, or sprouting it to be eaten as a live food.

Related Posts:
To Get Over the No-Wheat Hump, Locavores Turn to Local Grains
Brown Rice is Green

 
  • email
  • digg
  • share
  • print
helpful article? vote for it
{ }
close window

CLOSE X

 

comments on this article

view all post a comment

 
 

from our partners

 
 
Emeril Kelly and Supper Club Recipes by Category
 
 
facebook twitter rss
 
Reel Impact
 
100 Mile Challenge
 
organic-az
 
Less is More Thanksgiving
 

tv schedule

view all

On Now

On Tonight

 

today on planet green

view all

Votes

recent
discussed

Emeril Green Episode: Liquid Gold
POSTED  14 HOURS AGO.  COMMENTS

{ }

Fee Fie Foe Unplug, Are You as Green as an Englishman?
POSTED  14 HOURS AGO.  COMMENTS

{ }

Big River Man Racks Up Awards On and Off Screen
POSTED  14 HOURS AGO.  COMMENTS

{ }

Planet 100 - Copenhagen, Polar Bear Robots and Gore's Plan B
POSTED  15 HOURS AGO.  COMMENTS

{ }

Emeril's Olive Oil Poached Tuna
POSTED  17 HOURS AGO.  COMMENTS

{ }

Renovation Nation FAQ
POSTED  7 May 2009. 18 COMMENTS.

{170}

Ask Steve Thomas Anything (About Your Home)
POSTED  9 Feb 2009. 21 COMMENTS.

{390}

Emeril Green FAQ
POSTED  17 Dec 2008. 19 COMMENTS.

{311}

How to Go Green: Weddings
POSTED  9 May 2009. 9 COMMENTS.

{477}

Be Like Bono With Playback Recycled Concert Wear
POSTED  4 Nov 2009. 2 COMMENTS.

{20}

 
 
TLC Cooking
 

Ads by Google