Sunwheat

One of the cornerstones of human food is a very simple crop: wheat. With many different types of wheat in the world, there are several subtly different grains to work with for cooking. One which has proven the most popular is called 'sunwheat', having been cultivated many eras ago by a follower of a deity with the sun as their chosen sigil. Who this deity currently is matters little with regards to the plant itself, even as many later religions would take credit for the work themselves.

Appearance

This particular wheat plant has grains of a bright golden-yellow color, and leaves which vary from a coppery-green to a deep bronze depending on the point in its life cycle. It usually grows between three to four feet tall, with the edible grain extracted from a head at the end of its stalk. The roots travel down quite far, allowing it to be quite hardy to weather changes. After processing, the grain loses most of this striking color, but it still retains an appearance distinct from other wheat.

Uses

Sunwheat is normally harvested for the grain, but other parts of the plant are also used. Chaff removed from the grain is used to feed livestock or is ploughed back into the fields. The stalk is also able to be reduced to straw, and is a staple in cheap bedding as well as packing material. The grain itself is ground into flour and thus becomes a staple for human cooking across Erisdaire, especially in becoming bread. Sunwheat, as a variant of wheat, has been chosen as the basis of many types of bread used as religious offerings. Most common is a type of unleavened bread which is shaped to resemble a golden disk not unlike a sun.