Wednesday, April 13, 2011
Wheat Hearts
Anyone out there remember eating Wheat Hearts? I have a lot of memories eating Wheat Hearts. When we visited Grandma and Grandpa Russell we were sure to see grandma cooking up a pan of Wheat Hearts on the stove - using the metal spooon worn down on one side from years and years of use. The steaming hot cereal would sit on the table waiting for us to partake. The carton of Half-and-Half was sitting on the table waiting to be poured onto the hot breakfast cereal. A little sugar (or a lot) added to the bowl and it became a delicious meal. So many memories of that cereal. After we got married we got our own Wheat Hearts and had them on occasion. It was so much a part of our life that even when we moved to Arizona and couldn't find the cereal on the store shelves that we would buy some on our trips to Utah and bring it back with us. It became very disconcerting when we could no longer find Wheat Hearts in Utah either. Eventually we found that the product had been discontinued. What a loss. Lately, we have been working on getting a true years storage of food. The plan we are following is that we plan on a breakfast and a lunch or dinner each day. You pick specific meals. We have been working on breakfasts. Doug eats Cream of Wheat every morning and has decided that he could eat that all year. I eat oatmeal so I decided to store some of that in addition to eating Cream of Wheat. Well, I don't know if you notice but Cream of Wheat or Malt-o-Meal is pretty expensive. Somewhere near $4 a box. That adds up when you are buying enough for 2 people for a full year. But I started getting it one box at a time. I got smart pretty soon and decided to look on the intenet to see if we could buy the product by bulk somewhere. Sure enough I found several possibilities. During that search I found a family type business in Indiana that runs a flour mill and produces quite a few products. They have been doing this business for many many generations. Anyway I read a review where someone said that this particular breakfast cereal that they produce called Hearts of Wheat tastes exactly like the original Wheat Hearts and was very delicious. So when I looked into it - they did have a 50# bag and the price was really cheap! The shipping wasn't. But I kept looking back on and off and discovered that the shipping price had been slightly reduced. So I ordered it. We got it later and it sat in the den until we purchased some #10 cans to store it in. The bag filled 12 cans with a quart jar left over. We cooked a batch of the Hearts of Wheat the next day and - voila - it looks and tastes just like I remember the Wheat Hearts did years ago! So I was smiling all day - we completed our years storage for breakfast AND enjoyed remembering and reliving all those childhood memories as well. 
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3 comments:
OH MY GOODNESS! I too loved Wheat Hearts and while living in Provo and Salt Lake would enjoy having it once or twice a week. When we moved here, Mom would bring us some on occasion. We have even tried grinding our own wheat to the 'cereal' texture, but never really enjoying it as much. I'm excited you found it, but not too sure I want a 50# bag of it!
That is so funny, the half worn spoon....who would remember that!!
I should have kept one of those. They had at least three of them.
We used to have just cracked wheat for breakfast. If we didn't eat it all mother would fix like a hambergur patty out of it and fry it for our lunch. Never wasted one thing!!!!We pretty much liked it. It is so funny to hear Ken talk about the cracked wheat patties!!!
I only vaguely remember Wheat Hearts. My mother used them in a recipe that was passed down through her mother and grandmother. After they stopped making it, I found that Cream of Wheat was similar enough and I continued the recipe. She says it's not authentic. Was there really a difference? I don't know, but it tastes the same to me.
The recipe is this. It's no secret. Basically you prepare Cream of Wheat per the directions. They say milk or water. I use three parts milk to one part water, or 2:1 if you want to save milk, that's okay too. I put a box of single-serve raisins in and 1 tsp. of margarine (per two servings) and as the cereal is forming, a squirt of pancake syrup (maple) and a couple tablespoons of brown sugar. When it's all done, I mix in milk and top with a little white sugar.
Of course with all those additions I guess the differences between the two are less obvious.
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