A medicine woman instructed me, “I’m going to make taa’niil, blue cornmeal mush. Get me some wheat.”
I didn’t ask questions about the wheat because I assumed this was common knowledge. This was probably common knowledge 20 years ago, but not today.
Embarrassed to go back to the medicine woman, I asked around until I got to George from Valley Trading Post in Waterflow, NM. George knew exactly what the medicine woman wanted.
He shared, “What you need are dineesa, wheat kernels that were sprouted, dried and ground. In this stage, the wheat is more nutritious and tasty. The roots have a higher alcohol and starch content and the young sprouts contain sugar. It’s a natural sweetener. It’s also basically a homemade yeast.”
George continued, “Don’t confuse ground sprouted wheat with wheat germ. Wheat germ is the wheat kernel without its husk. When you grind wheat germ, you get the grain used to make cream of wheat.”
Here’s George’s recipe for making your own dineesa:
Put the wheat kernels ¼” thick in a roasting pan and soak in it water. Cover the wheat with paper towels. Spray the towels with water.
On the 2nd day, spray the towels again.
On the 3rd day, turn the kernels upside down so they will start to dry. Keep separating them so they won’t mold or turn sour.
On day 4th the germinated wheat should be dry. It may take a day or two longer if this is done wintertime. Now the wheat is ready to grind.
Sprout whatever amount of wheat you need. If you start with 5 pounds of wheat, it will grind to 5 lbs.
George shared that people used to sprout the wheat in a flour sack that was buried for 3-4 days. They would then rinse the sprouts and dry them off.
The medicine woman said she used to sprout her soaked wheat seeds overnight in a gunny sack placed under the stove.
Why not grow your own wheat this year? You can plant from mid-April into May?? It would be a wonderful learning experience for the whole family.
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