Bread and Wheat

Kathy Wilson talking about the consumer science department at the University of Idaho, tells us that there is actually a fair amount of research that goes into the tasting of bread. I guess that isn't surprising given how much wheat Idaho produces along with the diversity of varieties. And with different varieties come different flavors. "Hard red wheat gives the dark color and there is also kind of a bitterness to it. Some people really like that flavor and others don't. That has to do with taste buds. We have taste buds that pick up salt, sweet, sour and bitterness. There are genetic differences in people about which of those flavors they are most sensitive to. If you have been raised with hard to read wheat, you may say oh, I like that flavor. Other people don't like it at all. Some people like sourdough and if you've never had sourdough bread, you can taste that bread and go yuck, what's that flavor. Hard white wheat is like in color, generally kids prefer that, it will give a little lighter texture so it's not as heavy and dense. It doesn't have that bitterness that some people don't like. So the idea is, if we had products that were made with hard white wheat, and Idaho grows more hard white than anywhere else in the United States, if we have more products made with hard white wheat, we will get more children and adults eating whole wheat which is nutritionally better for them than the processed white breads."