The low-carb craze is fading and suddenly it's safe to eat grains again.
But not just any grain. Today the emphasis is on whole grains. The U.S. Department of Agriculture's new food guidelines recommend that consumers eat at least three servings of whole grains a day, and food makers have rushed to fill the bill.
General Mills reformulated its cereals so that now even Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs are made with whole grains. King Arthur Flour has just introduced a new line of baking mixes made from whole grains, and even Wonder Bread has turned to a whole-grain albino wheat that will still give the bread that spongy texture kids love.
But the whole-grain options go beyond traditional wheat, rye, oats and barley.
Small specialty-grain producers are seeing new business sprout as consumers discover ancient grains that had been nearly lost to modern farming practices. At Bob's Red Mill in Milwaukie, Ore., sales have been increasing by 20 percent a year as consumers turn to organic whole grains, said Dennis Gilliam, executive vice president of sales and marketing.
The company started 27 years ago and sold mainly to health-food stores. Today business has expanded with a retail store and Web site that offer specialty whole grains, including amaranth, sorghum, flaxseed, quinoa, teff, millet, Kamut, spelt and buckwheat.
And at Sunnyland Mills, a Fresno, Calif., company that makes bulgur and grano wheat products, sales are up 75 percent over a year ago.
"Now people are waking up that these are whole grains, they are good for you and they taste pretty good," said Mike Orlando, a Sunnyland owner.
Ironically, it might have been low-carb diets that galvanized the grain producers to boost their marketing efforts. "The industry hadn't been doing much," said Judi Adams, president of the Grain Foods Foundation, a group of milling companies and food retailers that banded together to promote the benefits of grain products.
And the Oldways Preservation Trust, dismayed by the public's turn against grains a few years ago, founded the Whole Grains Council to get the word out about whole grain's health benefits.
But while the marketing efforts are fairly new, the companies that make and sell specialty-grain products have been in business for years, supplying health-food stores and consumers with wheat allergies who sought alternatives to traditional grain foods.
