Four grains

Wheat

The breakfast sandwich, pasta dish or coffee bun. Wheat is found in many of the food products that we Swedes eat almost every day. Wheat is the cereal we grow the most in the world, including in Sweden. 

The wheat grains are ground down into flour that is used as an ingredient for delicious pastries, crispy buns and homemade pancakes, among other things. In wheat flour, there is gluten, a protein, which when the dough is kneaded, forms long threads that create a network and make the dough stick together and give the bread volume.

Brief history

Wheat began to be cultivated about 12,000 years ago in the Middle East in the area known as the Fertile Crescent, which is largely located in what is now Iraq. It is also the most changeable type of grain.

The first types of wheat to be cultivated were einkorn wheat and emmer wheat, which arose from a spontaneous cross between monochrome wheat and a wild grass. The einkorn wheat is still grown in its area of origin in present-day southeastern Turkey.

From the beginning, not much wheat was grown in the Nordic countries as it required a special type of soil and plant nutrients. The first written sources on the extent of grain cultivation in our country date from the 1500s, when the wheat harvest accounted for less than one percent of the total grain harvest.

Did you know?

For a long time, wheat and wheat flour were associated with luxury and were largely reserved only for the rich and wealthy. The whiter and the less fiber the bread had, the finer it was considered to be.

Health benefits

In addition to making great breads and pastries, wheat flour also has several health benefits, especially whole wheat. By eating whole grains, we get nutrients and nutrients from all parts of the grain kernel. 

Studies show that whole grain products, combined with an otherwise healthy lifestyle, can reduce the risk of heart disease. Whole grain is also included in the Swedish Keyhole label, which sets requirements for a certain whole grain content in food products.

What does the Keyhole mean?

In order to label a food with the Keyhole, it must meet certain criteria. The criteria are about salt, sugar, dietary fibre, whole grains and types of fat. Since different food groups contain different types of nutrition and in different amounts, the requirements differ for each food group – cereals are compared to cereals and sausages to sausages.

Source: Finnish Food Authority

Whole wheat

A common misconception is that the wheat kernel must be included in whole form in order to be classified as a whole grain. That is not true! In order for a product to be called whole grain, both the shell, germ and flour body must be included. Whether it is crushed, ground or whole does not matter. This means that we can get whole grains in many different forms such as flour, pasta, bread and grains. 

Did you know?

Lantmännen was the first to develop and produce wholegrain pasta on the Swedish market. 

Spring and winter wheat

As the name suggests, spring wheat is sown in the spring. The wheat variety has a higher protein content and is therefore a little more expensive. The winter wheat is sown in the autumn and lies germinating throughout the winter. This variety of wheat contains a slightly lower protein content.
 
Winter wheat is the most common variety in Sweden with an average harvest of almost 3 million tonnes per year. This represents about 41 percent of the total grain harvest in Sweden (calculated on the average for winter wheat and the total harvest over the last five years in Sweden). Spring wheat, on the other hand, only accounts for 7 percent. 

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