Fall
2015
Grains
West
46
Opportunities identified in premiumAsian foodmarkets
BY ALLISON FINNAMORE • PHOTOS BY CANADIAN INTERNATIONAL GRAINS INSTITUTE
Feature
HERE’S PLENTY OF EXCITEMENT ABOUT A NEW
winter wheat variety unique to Western Canada.
W530 was developed by Robert Graf, research
scientist, winter wheat breeding, with Agriculture and Agri-
Food Canada, who is based at the Lethbridge Research
Centre. It’s the first Hard White Winter Wheat for Western
Canada, and Graf said the excitement builds choice in the
potential end uses for W530.
“The thinking about this line, based on its end-use quality
profile, is that it will fit well into the Asian steamed-bun and
noodle markets,” Graf said. The pristine white flour produced
by the new variety makes it a natural fit for the highly valuable
Asian steamed-bread market.
Recognizable for its smooth, bright-white surface and
symmetrical shape, steamed bread is a leavened wheat-flour
product resulting from steaming fermented wheat-flour dough.
Lisa Nemeth, director of international markets at the Canadian
International Grains Institute (Cigi), shares Graf’s excitement
about the new variety and its prospects. At its processing
facilities in Winnipeg, Cigi evaluated W530 for milling
properties; flour quality; and performance in steamed-bread,
noodle and pan-bread applications.
“Flour from Canadian Western Red Winter Wheat is already
very white, and this variety is similar,” Nemeth said. “With a
white bran, the flour would be even brighter at a higher flour
extraction. The bright-white colour, protein content and quality
of this wheat make it excellent for Asian steamed bread. That’s
where the value is in this wheat.”
The impetus for moving the variety into the commercialization
process was a group of growers examining what they could do
to grow more profitable varieties, Graf explained. The breeding
program for Hard White Winter Wheat began in the late 1990s
in an attempt to produce a higher-value winter wheat.
“At the time, my thinking was that there were some markets
that preferred white wheat,” Graf recalled, noting the bright
flour colour Nemeth mentioned. Graf started research on
T
Winter Wheat Variety
Breeds Industry Excitement
