If you’ve spent much time on our site, you’ve probably noticed something that doesn’t quite add up. We’re called Grand Teton Ancient Grains. And yet on our shop you’ll see that, right alongside the einkorn, emmer and many other ancient grains, are a few wheats that aren’t ancient at all.
People ask about it. Fair enough. I’d ask too.
The short answer is that our customers asked us for them. But the more interesting question is why they asked us. These wheats aren’t hard to find. You can pick them up almost anywhere. Nobody needed a small ancient grains farm in Idaho to make them available.
What they wanted was to get them from a source they already trusted.
And for customers looking to get free shipping when they fill up the box, having these options offers one more way to do so. Here’s how that works →
Because they know that we have a high standard for anything we sell. No chemicals, ever. Fertile soil built over years rather than being depleted of nutrients and biology destroyed. Every batch tested. Cleaned in our ownfamily owned and operated facility. Shipped as whole berries in paper bags so you decide when it gets milled.
That’s the standard our customers came here for, and they wanted it applied to the everyday wheat in their pantry too. So we did.
What “Modern Wheat Varieties” Actually Means
First, it’s helpful to understand what an ancient grain is. An ancient grain is one that’s gone largely untouched by modern plant breeding. Einkorn is the clearest example. It still carries just 14 chromosomes, the same as it did ten thousand years ago. Modern bread wheat, on the other hand, has 42. That simpler structure is a big part of why so many people find einkorn easier to digest. Einkorn also keeps a flavor and nutrient profile that modern yield breeding did not select for.
Modern wheat varieties are a different story. They’ve been selected and bred over the last century, especially the last several decades, for specific practical qualities: gluten strength for a loaf that holds its shape, tenderness for a pastry that shouldn’t, plus yield and easier harvest. There are thousands of these varieties. Most of what fills a grocery store shelf is one of them.
They’re good at what they do. They just don’t carry the same unhybridized lineage as the grains we built this farm around.
We offer three of them, because those are what our customers ask for over and over: hard white spring wheat, hard red spring wheat, and organic soft white wheat, now in the shop.
Why These Bags Are Different
This is the part that actually matters, and it’s worth being specific about it. Soft white wheat berries are not hard to find. Neither is hard white or hard red. What’s hard to find is grain where somebody can tell you exactly how it was grown, what it was and wasn’t exposed to, and who cleaned it.
No chemicals. Ever.
No herbicides, no pesticides, no synthetic fertilizers, no glyphosate: not at planting, not through the season, not at harvest. That holds for everything we sell, ancient or modern. It’s certified, and it isn’t negotiable.
We don’t just hope it’s clean. We test it.
Every batch harvest goes through independent third-party labs to check for glyphosate residue, heavy metals, and other contaminants. We test the fields and we test the grain. That standard doesn’t change based on whether the wheat is ancient or modern.
Grown in certified USDA Organic soil.
Everything we sell is certified USDA Organic. No synthetic fertilizers, no herbicides, no pesticides, no glyphosate. That is the floor, and it does not change because a wheat is modern.
When we grow the crop on our farm, we go further than the certificate. Cover crops go in right behind the combine so the ground does not sit bare through an Idaho winter. Minimal tillage. Diverse rotations. Companion planting with clover, peas, or radish, so the legumes pull nitrogen from the air instead buying fertility in a bag. We feed that soil with compost tea, fish, and molasses brewed together into a biological tea.
We do not have enough acres to grow every grain we sell. Some lots of these modern grains come from trusted organic farmer friends nearby. Those bags are still certified 100% Organic. They are not always grown in our regenerative system (but we helping them incorporate these practices over time based on our learning).
Read more about how we farm regeneratively →
See what we’re learning from companion crops →
We clean it ourselves, and that’s rarer than it sounds.
Here’s something most people never think about. If you farm the way we do, with peas and clover and radish mixed right in with the grain, and you haul that load to a commercial elevator, they may reject it outright. It’s too mixed. It doesn’t fit the system.
My brother Jaxon has his master’s in mechanical engineering, and when he came on full time he built us a grain cleaning and milling facility designed to handle exactly that. It’s the reason we can farm the way we believe in. Every bag that leaves here was cleaned by us, in our own facility.
Whole berries, so you control the freshness.
These ship as whole berries rather than pre-milled flour. Flour starts losing volatile oils and nutrients the moment the kernel is broken open, and store-bought flour has often sat for months. Whole berries keep beautifully for years. Mill what you need, when you need it.
They ship in simple paper bags rather than plastic, the same as everything else we send out.
The Three Modern Wheats We Carry
Modern wheat is an umbrella term that covers large numbers of wheat varieties. Each has unique traits and is used differently. We carefully selected three varieties of modern wheat to offer for our customers to help meet their specific needs.
Organic Soft White Wheat berries, now in the shop
Soft white wheat is grown for tenderness, not for high-rising bread. The kernels are plump and light-colored, with a thinner bran and a softer endosperm than hard wheat. Freshly milled, the flour feels fine and powdery in your hand.
In the oven, that softness shows up as a short, tender crumb: flaky pie crust, soft cookies, moist muffins, and biscuits that break apart rather than chew like a loaf.
Leave the chewy sourdough and pizza dough to our hard white and hard red. Soft white is the one you reach for when the bake should flake, melt, or stay light.
Shop Organic Soft White Wheat →
Organic Hard White Spring Wheat
Hard white is the variety behind many of the world’s most popular bread flours. Strong gluten, excellent dough performance, and a lighter-colored, milder loaf than a red wheat gives you — which makes it a gentle bridge for families who aren’t sold on whole grain yet.
Good for sandwich loaves, dinner rolls, and pizza dough. The berries also sprout well and cook whole into grain salads and soups.
Shop Organic Hard White Wheat →
Organic Hard Red Spring Wheat
Hard red typically brings the most protein and the boldest flavor of the three. It’s the classic choice for a hearty, deeply flavored loaf, and it shines in sourdough where you want real structure. The bran carries more tannins, which gives a darker crumb and a stronger character than white wheat.
Shop Organic Hard Red Spring Wheat →
Which One Do You Need?
| Soft White | Hard White Spring | Hard Red Spring | |
| Best for | Pie crust, cookies, muffins, biscuits | Sandwich bread, rolls, pizza dough | Hearty loaves, sourdough, rustic bread |
| Gluten strength | Low — built for tenderness | Strong | Strongest, highest proteinTypically strongest, and usually the highest protein |
| Flavor | Mild, delicate, slightly sweet | Mild, clean | Bold, robust, wheaty |
| Reach for it when | The bake should flake, melt, or stay light | The loaf has to hold a sandwich together | You want structure and big flavor |
Most kitchens end up with more than one. An ancient grain for the baking where flavor and digestibility matter most, a hard wheat for the loaf that has to hold together, and soft white for everything that should come out tender.
What Doesn’t Change
I’ll be straight with you. These three are not ancient grains, and they don’t carry the genetic simplicity that makes einkorn what it is. If you came to ancient grains specifically because modern wheat doesn’t sit well with you, these may not be the answer, and I’d rather say so than sell you a bag.
But a grain’s age was never the whole story. How it was grown, what it was exposed to, what kind of soil it came out of, and how carefully it was handled before it reached your kitchen — those matter enormously. And on every one of those points, nothing changes from one grain to the next here.
That’s the standard. It applies to all of it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is soft white wheat used for?
Tender bakes. Pie crust, cookies, muffins, biscuits, scones, pancakes, and quick breads. Its low gluten strength is a feature, not a limitation — it’s what keeps those bakes short and delicate instead of chewy.
What’s the difference between soft white wheat and hard white wheat?
Protein and gluten strength. Hard white has the structure to hold a risen loaf. Soft white has a softer endosperm and thinner bran, so it mills into a fine, powdery flour that bakes tender. Same color family, opposite jobs.
Can I make pastry flour at home from soft white wheat berries?
Yes, and it’s the main reason to buy the berries. Mill them fine and you have fresh whole grain pastry flour — something that’s genuinely hard to buy fresh, since pastry flour sits on shelves like any other.Yes, and it’s the main reason to buy the berries. Mill them fine and you have fresh whole grain pastry flour, something that’s genuinely hard to buy fresh, since pastry flour sits on shelves like any other.
What’s the difference between hard white and hard red wheat?
Mostly flavor and color. Red wheat carries more tannins in the bran, giving a darker loaf and a bolder taste, with the highest protein of the three. White wheat is milder and lighter. If your family is new to whole grain baking, white is the easier transition.Mostly flavor and color. Red wheat carries more tannins in the bran, giving a darker loaf and a bolder taste, typically with the highest protein of the three. White wheat is milder and lighter. If your family is new to whole grain baking, white is the easier transition.
Are these organic and glyphosate free?
Yes. Certified 100% USDA Organic and Non-GMO, grown with no chemicals at any stage, and tested through independent labs to confirm no glyphosate residue.
If you’re an ancient grains company, why sell modern wheat?
Because our customers asked, and because the alternative was watching them buy conventional wheat from a source none of us could vouch for. Our mission has always been about how food is grown and handled, not only about which varieties we’re willing to plant.
Is modern wheat harder to digest than ancient grain?
Some people find it so, some don’t. Einkorn’s simpler gluten structure is easier on many people who struggle with modern wheat, though this varies person to person and none of it applies to celiac disease — all of these are wheat and all contain gluten. More on that here →
Do these store as well as your ancient grains?
Yes. If you buy in our paper bags, the shelf life is 2 years. Much longer if you buy our pail for long term storage. Whole berries stored cool, dry, and sealed keep for years. That’s the advantage of buying whole grain rather than flour. Shop long-term storage →
Do I need a grain mill?
For flour, yes — these ship as whole berries. But you can also cook the hard wheats whole into grain salads, pilafs, and soups, no mill required. Shop grain mills →
The Bottom Line
We didn’t add these to chase a market. We added them because people we’ve been feeding for years asked us to, and because we’d rather be the ones answering for how that grain was grown.
.Ancient grains are still the heart of what we do, and that won’t change. Whether a seed is ten thousand years old or fifty, how it was grown, what it was exposed to, and who cleaned it still matter. The grain we grow goes into the same soil and is tended the same way. All of it is cleaned in the same building. That is the part we can actually promise you.
Shop Organic Soft White Wheat →
Shop Organic Hard White Wheat →
Shop Organic Hard Red Spring Wheat →
Thanks for caring where your food comes from. From our family to yours.
— Jade Koyle
Co-Founder, Grand Teton Ancient Grains
AncientGrains.com
