How to Throw a Wheat Tasting Party

Introduction

Me: Are you a foodie?

You:  Yes, I love good food.  Who doesn’t?

Me: Are you looking for a theme for your next get together?

You:  Themes are fun, keep talking.

Me: Have you considered a wheat tasting?

You:  Oh, you mean like a beer tasting?

Me:  No, I’m not talking about beer or whiskey, though I can understand the confusion. No, what I’m talking about here is delicious, healthy, wholesome whole wheat.

You:  What do you mean by a wheat tasting?  Whole wheat is whole wheat, what is there to taste?

Me:  Oh no my friend, there is so much more to whole wheat than you may realize.  It’s like saying citrus is citrus and ignoring the range of citrus from limes, lemons, to oranges and all the varieties within each fruit family.

You:  OK, that kind of makes sense.  But I don’t know much about whole wheat and why would I bother learning?

Me:  Well, what if I told you that freshly milled whole wheat makes the best pie crusts, the best crackers and amazing breads.

You:  Hmm, OK, so how do I do this?

Me:  It’s pretty simple:

1. At a minimum, you’ll want to start with a least two flours.
2. You’ll want to bake some crackers.
3. To crank it up a notch, you can put together a little handout providing a little history of the grain.
4. For the final flourish, you can provide a score card for each guest to note their flavor impressions.

That’s it!

You:  Sounds interesting but isn’t artisan flour really expensive?

Me:  There are a range of prices and I’ve got some tips to help you find high quality flours and/or wheat berries at very reasonable prices.

You: OK, I’m game.  Can you step me through this process a little more specifically since I haven’t done this before?

Me:  Of course, it’s my pleasure. 

1. Start with Quality Whole Wheat Flour

For your first wheat tasting, you will want a minimum of one artisanal whole wheat flour and one store bought all purpose flour to better understand the depth of flavor whole wheat flour has thanks to the wheat bran and germ that it contains. 

This is in contrast to store bought all purpose flour which doesn’t have any wheat bran or germ in it.

If you just want to try out just one whole wheat flour, then I would suggest golden colored durum wheat or Kamut for it’s mild buttery flavor that is generally appreciated by all.

For comparison purposes, you can use any store bought all purpose flour of your choice.

If you want to try three different whole wheat flours, then I would suggest adding in a hard red wheat and a white wheat as well.

Alternatively, if you are interested in ancient wheats, you could try out einkorn, emmer and spelt.

I would set a limit at 5 different flour varieties at most so as to not overwhelm your guests.

This post on sources of wheat berries explains in detail how you are best off finding a wheat provider closest to where you live to minimize total cost with shipping. 

The free PDF download in the post includes online vendors of wheat berries and most of those vendors also sell whole wheat flour which they typically mill fresh, on demand.

If you have high speed blender or a grain mill (as discussed in this post), then you can mill your own flour from the wheat berries and keep some of the wheat berries to demonstrate the range in wheat appearance as well as flavor to your guests.

Many wheat vendors will offer sampler bundles which makes your choice easier.

2. Bake Some Crackers

A simple whole wheat cracker recipe can be found here.

You will want to have at least 20 crackers per person total – for the tasting and afterwards for using with dips.

The cracker recipe is flexible enough to work with both whole wheat and all purpose flour.

You will want to stick to the basic recipe which is low in salt and without oil so that the full flavor of the wheat comes through.

For the wheat tasting part, it is best to use plain or unflavored sparkling water – again so that nothing comes in the way of the wheat taste.

There are a few ways you can make the crackers available:

1. You can place the crackers in separate numbered containers on a table for each participant to come and serve themselves.
2. You can pass one numbered cracker container around at a time.
3. You can set each cracker type, clearly numbered, on a napkin at each guest’s position at the dining table.

I would actually recommend a minimum of a couple of crackers of the same kind, to allow for easier resampling.

The option you pick depends on how formal you want your event to be, how many people are attending and how much space you have.

After the tasting session is done, some wonderful dips you might want to have available to finish off the crackers are: guacamole, hummus, eggplant puree, etc. 

If you add in a salad – you have all the elements of light lunch or dinner.

3. Provide a Handout with Each Grain’s Profile

To crank it up a notch, you can put together a handout providing the name of the grain, where it was grown and its history. 

Every wheat variety has a history. 

In particular, the heirloom and ancient grains being grown by small farmers across the United States have been picked for their flavor and nutritional profile.

When purchasing from a whole grain vendor, they will typically provide you with the history of the specific wheat variety on their website.

For instance, you can create a profile for Sonora wheat using the historical description from the Barton Spring Mills website that states:

I would suggest having your guests first taste the cracker before sharing its history and then moving on to the next cracker.

This allows them to not prejudge and have a more authentic experience.

4. Provide a Score Card

To feel like a true taster, taking notes is key.

There are two ways to do this.

Some people prefer a blank sheet of paper and they write their impressions by comparing and contrasting two types of crackers at a time.  

Others prefer to have some flavor adjectives to prompt them – in this case a guided score card is helpful.

Note that flavor comes from a combination of taste and smell.

Therefore, your score card could look something like this:

Sign Up to Download FREE Wheat Tasting Printables

Sign up below to receive free PDF printables with a blank grain profile sheet and a sample blank score card to get you started.

Conclusion

There you have it: some simple guidelines to throw a wheat tasting party.

This is a fun activity for both children and adults as very few people are aware of the depth of flavor and versatility of whole wheat.

Tasting is the best way for others to appreciate how special whole wheat is and I have had success doing this with individuals of all ages.

I would love to hear back from you if you have tried this out.

Wishing you a grainlicious experience!

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