How to Kill Bugs in Your Wheat
Hi Friend,
We’ve been seeing this question floating around on social media lately and have had a few people ask us, so I thought it would be the easiest to answer it here. It’s kind of an awkward question that you really don’t want to talk about… it’s about bugs. Here it is:
Your wheat should look like this. 99.9% of hulls and chaff, and never any bugs. Unfortunately, sometimes bugs happen.
“How can I kill bugs or eggs in my wheat berries?”
Yep, I told you it was awkward. But seriously, there is nothing worse than bugs growing in your wheat.
So the answer to the question is:
To kill any bugs or eggs in your wheat berries, place the wheat berries in an airtight, waterproof container in the freezer for 3 days. The cold temperature will kill any bugs or eggs, but it won’t hurt the quality of the wheat berries. If you have noticeable bugs (I hope it didn’t get that far!), you can then sift out the dead bugs.
If you try to sift out the bugs prior to freezing, it can be difficult. The little buggers will wrap themselves around the wheat berry and hang on for dear life (gross, I know, but I know from experience).
That leads us to the next logical question:
“Should I freeze my wheat berries every time I get a new shipment?”
Our answer is:
If you are buying from a new source or suspect that your wheat may have bugs, I recommend putting your wheat in the freezer for 3 days, just to be safe. If you have been buying from the same source and trust the quality of their wheat, then feel free to use it right away.
That being said, wheat producers take precautions to make sure that bugs do not end up in the wheat. At Farm Fresh Wheat our on-farm storage is carefully selected to keep bugs out, we periodically check the wheat in storage for bugs, and we even freeze wheat berries for three days prior to cleaning (just to be safe).
I hope this helps! If you have more questions about milling or wheat berries, you can follow us on Facebook or Instagram.
Best,
The Sieverkropp’s