Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Storing Grains

After the last post on grains, I received some great questions about how I store my grains and flours. Since I buy large amounts of wheat and a few other grains, there's no way that I would be able to refrigerate them. At least not without a walk in cooler. What I do is buy big Cambro buckets at the restaurant supply store (they're open to the public), which will usually hold 25 pounds. They are super handy, and the same buckets/storage containers that restaurants use. I started using them back when we opened our first bakery. They work really well, and are airtight with snug lids. They stack too! I also add a couple of bay leaves to each bucket, to keep bugs at bay.

Of course large glass jars are fantastic too. Depending on the size of the jar/crock, you can often fit a 5 pound bag of grains or flour in them. This is my fave for smaller amounts of grain and flour, and what I keep out on my counter. Large canning jars work well too (like the pic above).

I should add that I do refrigerate brown rice, because this does have the tendency to go rancid pretty quickly. But other than rice, the rest is stored safely in buckets. That reminds me, a cold garage this time of year is a great place to store your grains (which are sealed in buckets or jars, of course). Oh, and in the heat of the summer, I make sure to move the grains to a cool spot inside the house (pantry or closet), because the garage can become very hot that time of year.

5 comments:

Adriana said...

Thanks for the helpful information Julie!

K said...

Canning jars are great for those of us who store much less. :D They have a great seal.


I found some really big ones at a dollar store once. What a find! :)

BitterSweet said...

Great tips!

Like nuts, I store whole grains in the freezer so that they won't spoil.

Emmie said...

Won't flours and grains take flavour from the bay leaves?

Thankfully we have very few bugs in Sweden. I did get some flour beetles not long ago and had to throw everything out. I think they came with some polenta. Now I store all of my things in airtight jars or double ziploc bags and I hope that helps.

Lily Girl said...

I love those buckets, that is what I store my large quantities of grains and legumes in as well. I also mix in a bit of food-grade diatomaceous earth with my stored grains and legumes as a natural, safe pest control and desiccant.