The Whole Grain Connection  August 2020 The Heroes of Milling and Baking The true heroes in milling and baking together with their customers are those who have opened their eyes to the reality that it was a big mistake to remove the bran and germ from wheat flour, to polish rice to glistening whiteness and to degerm corn. All of these processes certainly produced alluring grain products with long shelf life, but by now we have seen that we need that bran and germ to complete our diets and optimize our health.   Now more than ever, the refined grain producers and their customers can look to the new Dietary Guidelines and the dire effects of the covid-19 virus and simply say “we’ve understood, and we need to change our ways”. This is no time for a blame game. Instead it is a time for heroic action, in the form of a tremendous joint effort to produce pleasing, healthful whole grain foods enough for everyone, together with consumer encouragement. Just imagine the savings in quality of life, productivity and health care costs!! Scientific Report of the 2020 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee. First Print: July 2020. This is a large document that can be downloaded from the link above. See page 134 in total document or pages 41-42, in Part D. Chapter 1 for information on the recommended amounts of whole grains in the diet and also the revelation that only 2 per cent of the population are able to achieve the recommended amount of whole grains in their diet (with the current supply). WGC California Whole Grain logo WGC Whole Grain logo Whole Grain Connection Newsletter sign-up The 14-Day Whole Grain Challenge Whole Wheat Flour & Bread Nutritional Values To Whom It May Concern Bread Nutrition Facts Calculator
Welcome to the Whole Grain Connection. We are a non-profit organization based in California, aiming to enhance the desirability and availability of whole grain breads and other whole grain products from organically and sustainably grown grains and thereby connecting farmers and bakers.   We hope you will visit our website often for our latest website publications and activities.    Contact information: Attn: Monica Spiller Whole Grain Connection 500 West Middlefield Road #2 Mountain View California 94043   e-mail: barmbaker@aol.com   Telephone: 650 938 2865   www.wholegrainconnection.org	What is whole grain? Whole grain wheat is the same as wheat seed. If it is a genuine unbroken wheat seed you can soak it and sprout it. The end of the seed that produces the sprout is the germ. The thin, colored seed skin is the bran, which is tasty, edible and a necessary part of food; it is fiber and it carries other foods all the way through the digestive system without being itself digested. The middle endosperm of the wheat seed or grain is filled with starch and protein which is the store of food for the new wheat sprout. The growing plant can only use this food store if the vitamins, minerals and other plant nutrients are provided by the bran and germ. Similarly, people can only use the starch and protein from wheat properly if they also eat the germ and bran at the same time, since these supply the needed nutrient helpers for proper digestion and use for growth and energy. Whole grain Sonora wheat photo Logo Whole Grain Connection has been marketing organic whole grain products for farmers, using a "tm" designation for our "certification mark". We have added a "Grown & made in California" logo to this certification mark. Products are now being sold with this new mark, which you'll recognize by the California poppy art and the font. The beautiful California poppy artwork is by Margo Bors, an artist from San Francisco. We can approve products for the use of this logo and prepare label designs for other farmers selling their organic whole grains. Please contact us for further information. Phytic acid Phytic acid is an important factor in whole grain foods, because it binds with nutritionally valuable minerals in the grain, and reduces their usefulness. Fortunately the enzyme phytase is also present in wheat and this will break down the phytic acid quite rapidly if the conditions are optimized. Phytic acid and whole wheat flour - a discussion Spelt and Emmer We have continued to work with landrace spelt and emmer varieties suited to the Coastal and Sierra Foothill regions of California.  Letter to spelt and emmer growers May 2013 From our archives We've been in the news.  Mountain View Voice. January 27, 2012 San Francisco Chronicle. January 3, 2012
	For the Farmers: Knowledge of the fungal diseases that attack grains leads to good organic prevention practices. Click on the link below to read about Preventing Fungal Disease on Wheat, written by Monica Spiller in 2009. This was an exercise in understanding the problems from the viewpoint of the organic farmer. As with all our work at the Whole Grain Connection, this is an ongoing project, always waiting to be updated or corrected. The information was gleaned from many on-line sources and in particular from Integrated Pest Management for Small Grains, Publication 3333 of the University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Preventing Fungal Disease on Wheat