This wonderful book was nominated for a James Beard Award! The honor is well-deserved, as Roxana Jullapat provides background and recipes for the “mother grains” buckwheat, barley, corn, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, and wheat in this is beautiful and informative book.

Why these particular grains? Jullapat answered that question in her interview on KCRW radio:

“First, they are all what we call ancient grains. We know this because we can trace them genetically and trace how old they actually are. But we also know that they have played a vital role in domestic agriculture. They’re of tremendous historical importance for their contributions as economical, cultural, and even political catalysts in different regions of the country, and also through different time periods in the country.”

Jullapat makes the wide world of baking with these ancient grains accessible and exciting, with recipes that vary from homey waffles, pancakes and muffins, to classic brioche pecan sticky buns, to an exotic barley pumpkin bread with candied kumquats.

Or you can explore the world of mother grains via one recipe: Jullapat’s chocolate chip cookies adapted to incorporate seven of the different grains.