In Wine Country, One Radical Farmer Is Growing an Unexpected Heirloom Crop: Wheat
8th February 2022
Here, in a 50-acre plot near the Barlow shopping complex, Nguyen grows rare varieties of heirloom wheat like Sonora, the first wheat variety cultivated in North America and the base for Mexico’s original wheat tortillas. Hulking seven feet above the ground are tall stalks of Wit Wolkoring, a Sonora descendant that’s particularly drought-resistant.
These are cultivars that “you won’t find in a seed catalog,” Nguyen said. Each of the dozen-odd grains that Nguyen has grown confer different advantages — the Chiddam Blanc de Mars is perfect for baguettes, the Sonora can be cooked like rice — but what they all share is an adaptation to California’s North Coast. These are hardy, survivor grains, selected to withstand an increasingly hostile climate.
So when Global Warming finally arrives, we’ll have Gourmet Wheat to fall back on. (Well, rich people will–you? Not so much….)