Purple Wheat (Triticum sp.) Seeds

Summary

Wheat (Triticum sp.) is a nutritionally important cereal grain worldwide and is second only to maize in terms of production and utilization. It has wide application in the bakery and pastry industries, as well as in pasta preparation. While the white and red genotypes are the most common, other colored genotypes such as the purple, blue and black types are used and studied to a much lesser extent. Purple wheat seeds are a good source of anthocyanins which are natural plant pigments with potent antioxidant capacity. Their unique color and potential to contribute health benefits to consumers is attracting the attention of researchers and food product developers. This chapter looks at the botanical description and historical cultivation of purple wheat, as well as their constituent phenolic compounds and antioxidant properties. It presents valuable information on methods of analyses of phenolic compounds and how they are affected by heat processing applications.