Triticale

A high-yielding man-made cereal — the hybrid of wheat (Triticum spp.) and rye (Secale spp.) — combining rye’s hardiness with wheat’s elastic baking quality. Triticale, the first successful cereal hybrid, appears in multigrain breads, adding hearty flavour and better nutrition (notably lysine) than wheat alone. Agronomically it tolerates poor soils, cold, and drought better than wheat, suiting marginal land. Its weaker gluten limits loaf volume when used pure, so blending with wheat flour is common. Triticale also serves as animal feed and — increasingly — as a grain for craft brewing and distilling.