Canned wheat

Canned wheat is cooked wheat berries and one of the fundamental ingredients of the Neapolitan pastiera, typical of the Easter period and now widespread throughout Italy, but it can also be used for other recipes such as cakes and tarts.

It is wheat treated to become soft and clear thanks to cooking: this procedure takes place both for home-cooked wheat and for wheat sold in cans in supermarkets. The ingredients of canned cooked wheat are simply wheat, water and salt, although it is possible to obtain it easily by preparing it at home. Just leave 150 grams of raw wheat grains to soak in water for three days, changing the water twice a day. After having drained them, they can be cooked in a saucepan with 1.25 l of fresh water, first bringing it to a boil and then lowering the flame and letting the beans cook for an hour and a half, without mixing them, until they become soft.

At that point it will be possible to transfer them to a glass jar and keep them in the refrigerator for up to a week. As for the canned cooked wheat purchased, however, once opened, it is good to keep it in a glass jar in the refrigerator and consume it within three days.

Nutritional values ​​of cooked wheat

Canned wheat contains about 68 kcal per 100 grams. Due to its nature it is not suitable for consumption by celiacs, but it is possible to replace it with gluten-free cereals such as rice or buckwheat.