For a Change, Try a Rye Twist on Good-for-You Grains

Some friends recently got back from a trip to New York and, after having the obligatory conversation (“What did you do? Where did you eat?”), we started talking about rye bread.

You’re probably thinking, “Get a life.” But if you spend enough time at any crowded New York deli, for example, you would think that rye bread was the most popular bread in the United States.

In fact, it is actually a challenge to persuade most people that wheat and oats are not the only grains worth including in a healthy diet, even though rye is more nutritious. An even bigger challenge is to convince them that eating grains in breads and cereals is not the only way to incorporate them into the diet.

If you were to see a field of rye, you might mistake it for wheat--except that the grain itself is more bluish gray in color.

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Legend has it that rye was first grown in Asia and spread to the West as a kind of unwelcome weed that took over fields of wheat and barley. Once people found that it was edible, rye was cultivated on its own. Because rye needs wet and cold weather, nobody should be surprised to find that it is most abundant in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and Russia. It was brought to the United States by British and Dutch immigrants who planted it in New England, also a notoriously cold and wet place.

Another interesting historical note is that the rye grain is highly susceptible to a particularly toxic fungus called ergot. In humans, ergot poisoning causes convulsions, mental derangement, chills, fever and even gangrene. Some people believe that it was one of the precipitating factors in the riots that led to the French Revolution. But don’t worry: Ergot-infected grains are easy to spot and remove before processing, so any commercial products made with rye are safe to eat.

Unfortunately, most of the annual rye crop ends up as either animal feed or alcoholic beverages, in spite of the fact that whole rye is higher in protein, iron and B vitamins than whole wheat. Three-and-a-half ounces of uncooked rye (two-thirds of a cup) has 335 calories, 15 grams of protein, 70 grams of carbohydrate, 3 grams of fat (less than 1 gram saturated), no cholesterol and only 6 milligrams of sodium. It is also high in dietary fiber, and supplies a third of the recommended daily allowance for folacin, 35% for magnesium (43% in women), 47% for phosphorus and about a third of the daily zinc needed.

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Several forms of rye are generally available.

* Whole rye berries. Also called whole kernels or groats, they work well as a main-dish casserole or a side dish, and like many grains, they can be added to soups. Before cooking, they should be soaked in cold water overnight to shorten the cooking time.

To preserve the nutrients, use the soaking liquid for cooking as well. If you like, you can soak the rye berries in stock or even fruit juice. To end up with 1 1/2 cups of cooked rye berries, simmer a half cup of pre-soaked berries in 1 1/2 cups of liquid for about two hours. Bake or simmer the pre-soaked rye berries in broth to which you have added chopped nuts and raisins for a great side dish.

You can also mix the berries with chopped vegetables or fruits, season with your favorite herbs, and make a delicious stuffing for poultry.

* Cracked rye. More convenient than the whole berries for cooking (it takes much less time), cracked rye can be added to soups, or cooked and eaten as a hot cereal or a pilaf dish. Cracked rye is also very good cooked in fruit juice with a variety of dried fruits. For variety, try browning it in a skillet before you simmer it in whatever broth you choose.

* Whole rye flakes. These look like rolled oats and can be used in much the same way, as a breakfast cereal or in breads, muffins and other baked goods. They take less time to cook than rye berries or cracked rye.

To make 1 1/2 cups of cooked rye flakes, add a half cup of uncooked flakes to 1 1/2 cups of liquid and cook for 65 minutes. Flakes can be used to extend ground meats and will also work as a thickener for soups and stews. If they are toasted, they can be used in granola.

Here’s a recipe from “The Wellness Lowfat Cookbook” (Rebus, 1993) for rye-cheese crackers. Although most cheese-filled crackers are high in fat, these are not. Yet they are very flavorful.

Rye-Cheese Crackers

1 cup unbleached, all-purpose

flour (approximately)

1/2 cup light rye flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon unsalted butter

or margarine, well-chilled

1 1/2 teaspoons caraway seeds

2 tablespoons grated Parmesan

cheese (for more flavor, use

grated Asiago cheese)

1/2 cup cold water

In a medium-sized bowl, stir together 1 cup of the all-purpose flour, the rye flour and salt. Cut the butter into pieces, then work it into the dry ingredients with your fingers until it resembles coarse cornmeal. Add the caraway seeds and cold water, and stir until the dough begins to gather into a mass, then form it into a ball. Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

Lightly flour a work surface and a rolling pin. Cut the dough in half and roll out half to a 1/16-inch-thick rectangle. Using 2-inch cookie cutters (or whatever you have handy), cut out as many crackers as possible, cutting them as close together as you can. Do not reroll the excess dough--it will be too tough when baked. Transfer the crackers to a cookie sheet and repeat with the remaining dough.

Sprinkle the crackers with Parmesan and bake 12 minutes or until crisp and lightly browned. Transfer to racks to cool and store in an air-tight container up to one week. Makes about 30 crackers, each with 29 calories, .6 grams of fat, 7 milligrams of calcium and 11 milligrams of potassium.

Not a nutritional powerhouse, but a tasty low-fat snack.

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Dr. Sheldon Margen is a professor of public health at UC Berkeley; Dale A. Ogar is managing editor of the UC Berkeley Wellness Letter. They are the authors of several books, including “The Wellness Encyclopedia of Food and Nutrition.” Their column runs every Monday. Send questions to Dale Ogar, School of Public Health, UC Berkeley, CA 94720-7360, or daogar@uclink4.berkeley.edu.