Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58 Page 59 Page 60 Page 61 Page 62 Page 63 Page 64 Page 65 Page 66 Page 67 Page 68 Page 69 Page 70 Page 71 Page 72 Page 73 Page 74 Page 75 Page 7614 / SEEDWORLD.COM SEPTEMBER 2016 YOU’VE FOLLOWED PRECISELY the listed ingredients and the directions written generations ago in loopy cursive letters on a now-fragile, stained and yellowed slip of paper. You’ve closed your eyes and thought back to those hot afternoons in grandma’s kitchen as she cut butter into dough, fighting to recall some step you missed, something she did that you’ve left out. Try as you might, time and again, your biscuits just aren’t the same. There’s something off in the flavor. They’re good, but they’re not what you remember. You’re not crazy, and you’re not missing some gene that turned your ancestors before you into amazing cooks. It turns out that no matter how hard you try, you were destined to fail because the ingredients that you painstakingly mix, knead and toil over aren’t the same as the ones grandma used so many decades before. The Green Revolution, a period from the 1930s to the 1960s in which scientific achievements significantly improved crop yields, saved countless lives. But it came with a trade-off. When new varieties of high-yielding wheat, for example, were introduced to the open market, grow- ers eagerly adopted them, leaving behind varieties that had been mainstays in their fields for years. Purple Straw wheat, named for the color of its stem and husk, was one of the varieties that went by the wayside in the 1970s. Known for being low-gluten, high-protein and with a flavor that includes floral overtones, its flour was a staple in southern kitchens, used widely in biscuits and cakes, as well as whiskeys. Its distinct flavor, and the memories associated with it, were all but lost as the supply of seed was down to a batch held by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and rumors of an Amish farmer or two who included it in their fields. But thanks to the work of the Carolina Gold Rice Foundation and Brian Ward, a plant breeder at Clemson University, it might be worth trying that biscuit recipe again soon. From a quarter of a pound of Purple Straw seed planted last year, Ward expects to have lots of the seed in a couple years, ready to enter the market again for the first time in around 40 years. Saving Grain The effort to obtain that scant amount of grain began From a handful of seeds, a classic American wheat is making a comeback. Back from the Brink BRIAN WALLHEIMER is a writer based in Illinois. He has bach- elor’s and master’s degrees in journalism and has worked as a reporter in Illinois, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Indiana. He was most recently digital editor of the Rockford Register Star. He has also worked as a research news writer for the College of Agriculture at Purdue University. Purple Straw wheat is shown being grown on a farm in Salisbury, North Carolina, in 1939. PHOTO COURTESY NCSU LIBRARIES DIGITAL COLLECTIONS