“Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming in all the land of Egypt; and after them seven years of famine will come, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will ravage the land. “So the abundance will be unknown in the land because of that subsequent famine; for it will be very severe. “Now as for the repeating of the dream to Pharaoh twice, it means that the matter is determined by God, and God will quickly bring it about. “Now let Pharaoh look for a man discerning and wise, and set him over the land of Egypt. “Let Pharaoh take action to appoint overseers in charge of the land, and let him exact a fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt in the seven years of abundance. “Then let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming, and store up the grain for food in the cities under Pharaoh’s authority, and let them guard it. “Let the food become as a reserve for the land for the seven years of famine which will occur in the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish during the famine.” Now the proposal seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants. Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit?” So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are. “You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than you.”
(Genesis 41:29-40)
Talk about shelf life. Joseph saved an entire nation by storing whole grains over 7 years to distribute to the people over the following 7 years.
Whole grains such as wheat, oats, rice, quinoa, flax seed, chia seed, buckwheat, teff, amaranth, millet, etc. have an amazing outer coating that preserves the vital nutrition stored inside the seed. Once these seeds are cracked open, or ground into flour these nutrients start to oxidize and break down. Fresh ground whole wheat should ideally be used right away for baking. If not, it should be refrigerated or frozen to help preserve the nutrients now exposed to the air.
‘Give us this day our daily bread. (Matthew 6:11)
Eating baked goods made with “enriched” white flour may not cause serious and long term illness. But, we are robbing ourselves of the miraculous healing and health that is stored (by God) in the whole grain, in the whole seed. Does enriched flour make baking delicious cakes and cookies and donuts easy? Of course. Is that a reason to embrace it? Of course NOT. It is certainly a temptation. I make everything possible from freshly ground wheat or Kamut. It is certainly more challenging to get the baking right. Yet, the health benefits are out of this world and my bread is super delicious. Does it have a long shelf life? NO! Definitely NO. You really want to eat it all within two days. It will dry out or start to mold if it lasts much longer than that. “Give us this day our DAILY bread.” This is what we ask God to provide when we pray the Lord’s prayer