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) and chewiness of the final product. Very little is required, generally about 1 Tablespoon (15ml) per 2-3 cups (480-620 ml) of flour. The powdered form of wheat gluten (vital wheat gluten), is made by hydrating hard wheat flour to activate the gluten and then processing the hydrated mass to remove the starch, leaving only the gluten. The gluten is then dried and ground back into a powder. Seitan may be made from vital wheat gluten or from hard wheat flour (a.k.a. high-protein flour, high-gluten flour, or gluten flour). When seitan is made from vital wheat gluten, the powder is simply