Rye rye harvesting was a manual task performed with scythes or sickles. The cut rye was often shocked for drying or storage, and the threshing was done by manually beating the seed heads against a floor or other object. Like wheat, barley, and their hybrids and derivatives, rye contains gluten, which makes it an unsuitable grain for consumption by people with gluten-related disorders, such as celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity, and wheat allergy, among others. Nevertheless, some wheat allergy patients can tolerate rye or barley. Ergotism is an illness that can result from eating rye and other grains infected by ergot
Wheat gluten (food) observed a week of vegetarianism each year. "Miàn jīn" is often deep fried before being cooked in Chinese cuisine, which confers a crispy rind that enhances the texture of the gluten. There are three primary Chinese forms of wheat gluten. Oil-fried gluten (, "yóu miàn jīn") is raw gluten that has been torn into small bits, then deep-fried into small puffy balls of around 3–5 cm in diameter and sold as "imitation abalone". They are golden brown in color, and braised or boiled in a savory soup or stew before eating. They are frequently paired with "xiang gu" (black mushrooms).