Versatile at two distinct levels. As sprouts, the grains swell and put out a small white radicle: mild, slightly sweet and nutty flavour, texture both chewy and crunchy — to fold into homemade bread (the Essene technique, sprouted-grain bread baked at low temperature), as a garnish on salads, in raw granolas, or simply by the spoonful in a smoothie.

As microgreens, this is wheatgrass — those long bright-green shoots 8-12 cm tall that are harvested and run through a juicer to make the famous wheatgrass juice, popularized in the 1960s by Ann Wigmore and a classic of health juice bars ever since.

Intensely green flavour, herbaceous, nearly bittersweet, rich in chlorophyll. Cut when the first leaf (the primary) is well developed but before the second leaf appears — that's when nutrient concentration is at its peak.

• Soaking: 8-12 hours in warm water before sowing.
• Germination time: 2-3 days.
• Sprout harvest: 3-5 days after soaking begins.
• Wheatgrass (microgreen) harvest: 8-12 days after sowing.
• Yield: about 1 cup of grain produces a 20 × 20 cm tray of wheatgrass.
• Best uses: sprouts in bread and salads, wheatgrass in the juicer.