Perennial, a San Francisco restaurant opening this summer, has plans to incorporate new sustainability practices like aquaponics, carbon farming, energy efficiency, and perennial agriculture into their culinary framework. Once the team gets their hands on a shipment of the Kernza grain, they plan to work with Chad Robertson from Tartine Bakery to test it for their bread program.

Minneapolis-based Birchwood cafe already has Kernza pancakes on their menu.

Zachary Golper, baker and owner of the bakery Bien Cuit in Brooklyn, made test batches of bread with 40 pounds of whole grain Kernza flour. While the protein content is higher–20g as opposed to 16g–its ratio of gliadin and gluten is very far off from wheat, making it difficult to apply standard recipes. Before jumping in all the way, the Land Institute recommended Golper add in some traditional wheat flour to make it bake properly.

Golper first made a plain hockey puck out of 100 percent Kernza. Then he let it ferment for over 24 hours in a warm environment, where it became extremely bitter. So Golper tried a basic method for low acidity, and started to get interesting results. “I could taste the grain in a way that I’m not sure anyone has. It speaks of an old grass flavor. But I found that there was this thing–sort of a metallic taste–I couldn’t eliminate.”

What Golper may taste is the subsoil in which the grain was grown. While wheat roots go down one meter, Kernza roots go down at least three meters. This means the grain may carry some flavor from the magnesium and calcium it has contact with deep in the earth. The baker was excited at his discovery. If it’s true, Kernza would be one of a number of grains with a form of terroir.

Beyond bread, Kernza is also appearing in whiskey. Ventura Spirits, a California-based spirit company known for using unique ingredients has picked up the grain for it’s dual value: taste and environmental impact. Henry Tarmy, one of the partners at Ventura Spirits, says the grain has a surprising bouquet–floral, light, and almost fruity–even straight off the still. “We started experimenting with it because it’s exciting to be part of a work in progress and in some small way we can help usher in commercial viability. But then we found out, well shit, this stuff is really delicious,” Tarmy says.

Working out the Kinks

Beyond getting the grain into peoples hands for feedback, there are other areas that are out of DeHaan’s realm of expertise, namely management questions, like how best to farm the land with a perennial grass. This track is being worked on by scientists at the USDA, Cornell, and Ohio State. Intermediate wheatgrass is DeHaan’s baby, but its rapid development is due to the popularity of the topic and the wide spectrum of universities, institutions, and other people getting involved.

DeHann and his team are still working on breeding Kernza for increased seed size, yield, and what’s called a “non-shattering hull.” Because it’s a wild grass, the seeds are naturally small, which means more bran and fiber, but lower yield overall. Shattering refers to the dropping of the seed to the ground as it matures; all wild plants do this. Domesticated grain crops, on the other hand, hang onto their seeds so they can be harvested.

While some modern wheat varieties have been bred to resist disease–like leaf and stem rot, DeHaan explains that over evolutionary time, the perennials have learned to live with disease and pests. Although some of his plants are susceptible to bacteria leaf streak, DeHaan says, Kernza “is phenomenally clean.”

While the breeder uses DNA sequencing to help get to the varieties and traits that matter, his team is not taking genes from other organisms.

All of the Land Institute’s major crops have benefited from a pretty long period of public research support, through public universities, state funding, and the USDA. “In fact, our major grain crops still have substantial public investment in genetic research, disease resistance, and even breeding programs for some,” DeHaan points out.

DeHaan has been working with Kernza for the past 13 years, and he has some plots he planted in 2003, his first year breeding the grain. When he started, he thought it might take 50 to 100 years to get a perennial grain into the food system. Ever the methodical scientist, he wrote in an email: “There are so many factors that can drive this.”

Now, he says, “I see the problem as less formidable than I previously did.” To bring “a species from wild with no commercial value to the early stages of commercialization,” he says it might be more like 20 to 25 years.

Photos from top: Technician Marty Christians bags Kernza breeding plants in the greenhouse to prevent random fertilization, courtesy of the The Land Institute. “4 Season Roots” image by Lee R. DeHaan, via Wikimedia Commons.