Ancient oats

Oats (Avena spp.) were one of the first cereals cultivated by man. They were first grown as weeds in barley and wheat fields in Mesopotamia in about 10,500 BC, though in cloudier, wetter and cooler Europe, oats were selected for cultivation over wheat and barley by about the 7000 BC.

The ancient Greeks are believed to be the first people to have made a recognizable porridge from oats.

Oats were also weeds in ancient fields of wheat and barley in the Near East and certain of them came to be cultivated, though at what date remains uncertain. The Roman historian, Pliny, complained that oats were a highly aggressive weed in cereal crops planted in moist environments though Pliny noted that oats were good for forage production.

In China oats were cultivated already in Han times. Some says that the early oats of China were Avena nuda, presumably introduced from an east European center of domestication.
Ancient oats

History of Rye

Rye is the fifth cereal in importance in the world and in the United States. It is exceeded in the world by corn, wheat, oats and rice.

The origin of rye domestication is unknown but it was being cultivated at several locations in the general area of Turkey, north-western Iran and Armenia by 6000 BC. Rye arrived in Europe as cultivated crops by 4000 BC.

Unlike other grain, this nutritious food has always been a second class cultivar, somewhat considered a food of the poor. It first appeared as a significant food crop in northern Europe. From there, cultivation of the grain spread southward throughout the continent and, after about the 16th century, across the southern part of Russia into Siberia.

Al living standards in the times of the ancient Greeks and Romans and some other European cultures rose, the consumption of rye diminished, though people living in Germany, Scandinavia and eastern European nations still appreciate rye’s taste and nutrition.

During the Middle Ages, the poorer people of England ate bread made from rye, or from a mixture of rye and wheat, known as maslin.

It was unknown in the western hemisphere until it was brought to North America and to western South America by European settlers in the 16th and 17th centuries, and thence to the rest of South America, Australia, and South Africa.

Today, the majority of the world’s rye comes from the Russian Federation, Poland, China, Canada, and Denmark grow rye commercially as well.
History of Rye