Grind your own flour Ingredients Discuss Grind your own flour in the Brick Oven Cooking forums; How long can you keep grains frozen before they cannot be used? Anyone have a referfence on this one>...

[Xabia Jim]

How long can you keep grains frozen before they cannot be used?

Anyone have a referfence on this one>

[texassourdough]

Hi Jim!

The key issue with freezing is the moisture level and drying. IF sealed well grain should be able to be kept frozen for years. I have some that has been frozen at least two years and is fine - no off flavors, etc.

Grains can also be refrigerated. To do so it is probably good to follow the flour recommendations and freeze it for a week or two to kill bugs and bug eggs, then move it to the refrigerator. This MAY work better for you depending on your refrigerator and the quality of your sealing as the drying force at higher temps is not usually as troublesome.

In any event, freezing for up to a year is not a big deal so long as it is reasonably sealed - and that will get you from one growing season to the next!

Good luck!
Jay

[Wiley]

Jim, Here's a link to Montana Wheat. They say that one can store the berries (in a sealed plastic bucket with an oxygen absorber, in a temperature stable environment) for six to eight years!
The link: Wheat Montana ~ Frequently Asked Questions

Once the berries are gound into flour they are apparently good for about a year (that's what I have determined after looking at the "date of expiration" on the fifty pound bags of flour I have purchased at Costco).

Refrigeration is great for keeping some things but actually isn't necessary for alot of products commonly stored that way. And for some products it actually reduces shelf life. A good example is eggs, if not refrigerated (as in never have been placed under refrigeration) they can be stored for well over a month without problem (I've kept them for three months with little problem, they got "watery" but didn't go bad). However, store them in a frig for even a few hours and their shelf life drops dramatically.

Wiley

[Xabia Jim]

Thanks Wiley and Jay

....and they still don't refrigerate eggs in Spain...you buy them off the shelf

I understand that once you do refrigerate them, you must continue to do so.