Although now widely recognized as an American staple, Secale cereale was not always on this side of the Atlantic. The first rye was cultivated and domesticated in mainland Europe, primarily Turkey, and was reviled by Pliny the Elder, who wrote it “is a very poor food and only serves to avert starvation.” We wish he could be alive today to eat those words.

Jesuit monks who moved away from Rome brought rye with them, and they selected their grain for possessing extraordinary vigor in a harsh environment. As a result, when Europeans began arriving in North America in the 16th and 17th centuries, bread grains that survived in colder environments were highly favored across New England.

 

Original image source: Prof. Dr. Otto Wilhelm Thomé, Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz, 1885, Germany