Rye is a nutritious grain with a high mineral and fibre content. It is mainly used to make bread and as a base for sourdough, gives baked goods an aromatic flavour and plays a particularly important role in gingerbread during the Christmas season.

What is rye?

Rye wheat is a separate type of grain that belongs to the sweet grass family. It plays a relatively minor role in global grain cultivation and in Austrian agriculture, although it is a valuable source of food and fodder. While there were still around 200,000 hectares of rye fields in Austria in the 1960s, for example, today the area under cultivation is only around 33,000 hectares, mostly found in Lower Austria. One reason for this decline is that there is a greater variety of breads nowadays.

It is believed that rye came to Central Europe as a weed in wheat from what is now Iraq and Iran. The grain can be recognised by its stalks, which can grow up to two metres high, and its fine, long ears.

Rye vs. wheat 

Rye is naturally higher in minerals and fibre than other types of grain. This makes rye flour more nutritious than wheat flour.

Rye:

• Minerals: a very high content of potassium, magnesium, iron, zinc and folic acid
• Fibre content: the highest fibre content in comparison to other types of grain

Wheat:

• Minerals: iron, zinc, magnesium
• Fibre content: lower in comparison to other types of grain.

Compared to these refined flours, whole grain rye flour contains even more valuable vitamins, minerals and trace elements.

In the kitchen

In human nutrition, rye is used primarily for making bread and as a base for sourdough. Rye is better digestible in the form of sourdough because of the non-fermentable fibre and prebiotics that feed the good bacteria in the intestine.

Rye gives baked goods a darker tint, a compact texture and a strong, aromatic taste. It is a typical bread grain, but can also be used in the production of a variety of bread rolls.

One famous rye product is pumpernickel – a dark, firm bread that can be kept for months. Rye flour can also be used in savoury cakes or to make quiche pastry, for example, and rye flakes are often found in healthy breakfast cereals, muesli or porridge.

Rye at Christmastime

Because of its baking characteristics, rye is generally not suitable for the production of fine flour dishes, cakes or pastries. During the Christmas season, however, it can be found in ever-popular gingerbread. The main ingredient, rye, is combined with honey, egg, sugar and gingerbread spices to produce the unmistakably aromatic dough that is greatly appreciated by many a cookie lover. Put together in the shape of a gingerbread house, it also always puts a smile on children’s faces.