This wheatberry currant salad is a chewy, cinnamony sweet grain salad filled with tart currants and tossed with an orange honey dressing.
I’ve learned a few things from joining a CSA this year.
So far:
Organic, non-pesticide ridden fruit is about 3 times smaller than the stuff you buy in stores. It’s also about 3 times more tasty.
Sheep make a hell of a lot of noise.
Apparently, I eat about 4 times the amount a family of 4 does if 4 leaves of kale are considered a “bunch”.
People that work at CSAs/farms are exactly what you picture in your head. Flannel shirts, no makeup, quirky and extremely nice.
Currants actually exist in a form other than “dried”.
Who knew?
Ok, I guess I knew but honestly, I’ve never in my life actually seen them in a grocery store. Guess they’d rather stock the shelves with steroid pumped strawberries instead.
These blueberry lookalikes came last week for the first time and I was at an absolute loss at what to do with them. At first, I thought they were too tart to eat raw but the thought of turning them into a sweetened jam or sauce seemed like too boring and predictable of a route.
So I kept eating them one by one, hovering over the sink until I decided on a classic fruit + grain salad. To offset the tartness of the raw fruit, I’d sweeten and spice up the grain.
What resulted was a partially acceptable breakfast salad, a quirky dinner side salad or an excellent snack over plain yogurt. Take your pick.
Chewy, tart, sweet and minty.
It’s an eclectic little salad which seems totally appropriate considering it’s quirky, flannel loving origin.
For more chewy grain salads like this try these recipes
Bulgur salad — the sweet and tangy orange Dijon dressing makes this side dish or salad hard to put down.
Strawberry tabbouleh — another salad that uses bulgur wheat as the grain offering a sweet twist to a traditionally savory recipe.
Wheat berry salad — if you love wheat berries, this salad is the recipe that started this blog and still one of my favorites to make for a summer cookout.
Wheatberry Currant Salad
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup cooked wheatberries
- 1 cup fresh currants
- 4 leaves of mint, thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- juice of 1/2 an orange
- 1 tablespoon honey
Instructions
- Combine wheatberries, currants, pecans, mint and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
- In a separate small bowl, whisk together the orange juice and honey.
- Pour the dressing over the the wheatberry mixture and toss to combine.
- Serve room temperature or chilled.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Gina Matsoukas is an AP syndicated writer. She is the founder, photographer and recipe developer of Running to the Kitchen — a food website focused on providing healthy, wholesome recipes using fresh and seasonal ingredients. Her work has been featured in numerous media outlets both digital and print, including MSN, Huffington post, Buzzfeed, Women’s Health and Food Network.
I love CSA’s! I haven’t seen currants at the grocery fresh before either, but they’re fantastic in this salad :)
I love all the unique ingredients you’ve been using lately!! This seems like a hearty, wholesome salad!
I love seeing you and Brandy talk about your csa all of the time. I’ll have to see if I have that option around here anywhere.
Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever had a non-dried currant. Pairing this with greek yogurt sounds delicious! I never would have thought to pair the two. Beautiful pics as well, Gina. Happy 4th!
Had no idea that’s what currants looked like – I love wheatberries though, so I’m sure this is amazing! Beautiful photos as always! :)
I’ve been looking for a CSA to join! Not too many in my area.
Gina, you are seriously wow-ing me every morning with these stunning posts!! In love! And I’ve never seen currants un-dried either, but now I’ll be keeping a keen eye out!
I’ve never seem for sale either but I’m so in love with what you did with them!
I’ve never actually seen them in the store now that you mention it either. I’ve never really even thought about it’s un-dried (or pre-dried) form before.
Regardless, this looks awesome. You really can’t go wrong with wheatberries and fruit :)
I love the CSA, I get my box tomorrow!! The only thing I don’t like are my carrots are always kind of soggy feeling! Your Wheatberry Current Salad looks delish and I never seen an actual current, same as you I always seen them dry!