What was behind the health conscious kick off adding wheat germ to everything in the 1970s and 1980s? Definitely always in cereal but also added to mixed veggies, pasta sauce, I even think my parents put it into frozen daiquiris or whatever they’d mix up in the blender on a hot summer’s day.
I assume it adds a little fiber to the diet in a time where people didn’t get a lot of fiber in their diets. Anything else or just a health gimmick in the increasingly more health conscious era?
Wheat germ is where the oil is located, and thus contains fat-soluble vitamins and antioxidants. The germ and the bran are stripped from the endosperm, which is the big, fluffy, simple carbohydrate that goes to make white flour and white bread.
White bread was considered to be the food of the aristocracy.
After the germ is stripped away, the vitamins are extracted and packaged as vitamin pills on store shelves.
At various times in my life, I have tried to make wheat germ part of my daily diet. Each time I have tried, I rediscover I just don’t LIKE the damned stuff!
~VOW
Yeah, the adding-wheat-germ fad faded with the realization that it’s nutritionally and environmentally better just to leave grains whole in the first place.
Of course, that’s not such a sweet deal for the manufacturers who can first charge white-bread consumers for processing out the germ/bran from wheat flour and then, as VOW notes, sell the extracted material back to consumers as health supplements.
I remember wheat germ being touted as healthier granola and we tried it out … we passed … but I still think they sell postum
People became aware that wheat wasn’t naturally white and had this other healthy stuff that was being discarded. Same thing with rice, brown rice suddenly became popular. Eating unprocessed wheat and rice is good for you, it’s concept now engrained in our culture,
So to speak
We always sprinkled some delicious nutty wheat germ on cereal or oatmeal, and used it in breading chicken. I loved it then and now. I kept a jar in my freezer so it didn’t turn rancid.
Not necessarily good for you, but better than overly processed for sure.
I think the “was adding” in the title misses something. That was just when wheat germ took off as an additive. It’s still being used in a lot of places. Mrs. FtG uses it in some items she bakes.
Wheat germ has gone through phases. I first remember it from health food people pushing it when I was a little kid in the 50s. Specifcally, I remembered this cartoonish “health” guy called Gypsy Boots. He was big into “nature.”
It’s funny, I haven’t thought of wheat germ in literally decades, but I do remember eating it constantly at elementary school in the 80s by rolling a banana in it. I loved it. I wonder if I still would?
I tried Postum once. Once.
Why was everyone adding wheat germ? Because the food sadomasochists hadn’t discovered the evils wonders of kale yet.
I agree with Jim Gaffigan - kale tastes like bug spray.
I don’t know the answer, but when I saw the OP’s title I figured it had something to do with all of the Kung fu fighting.
Why not reclaim the part of the wheat that contains the most nutrition? I like the taste of wheat germ just fine. Always did back in the 70’s, too. I don’t buy it anymore because I mostly sprinkled it on cereal, and I haven’t eaten cold cereal in many years. I think I tossed the last jar from the fridge 4 years ago (it goes rancid fairly quickly and this was way past its prime). If I could think of a use for it, I’d happily get it again. I remember adding it to PB&J’s. I could see sprinkling it on buttered popcorn or as a part of a casserole/hot dish topping.
Oh, it was good on vanilla ice cream, too. A tiny bit of honey or maple syrup, maybe. a good sprinkle of wheat germ. One of our favorite desserts.
My husband’s grandmother did this when he was a child. He has no interest in continuing that tradition.
I go through phases, where I’ll add wheat germ to cereal/yogurt/cake, and then give it up for a while.
As kids, my sister and I were very pleased to add wheat germ to various items. Some mentioned here–Cheerios, ice cream, banana.
Because the other option was adding bran flakes. There’s nothing that can turn a bowl of Cheerios into a glop of inedible sludge than bran flakes.
Wheat germ was manna from heaven given the alternative.
As a kid in the 70s and 80s I remember making some no-cook peanut butter cookie balls. The last step was rolling them in wheat germ. I remember liking wheat germ well enough, but when it’s wrapped around a peanut butter and sugar mixture, it’s going to be pretty palatable.
In my adult years I’ve always wondered where wheat germ went, because as mentioned, it was a thing in the 70s and 80s. I never wondered enough to investigate, but it’s good to know it was pretty much replaced with whole wheat.