It's almost like going to the Amazon jungle and bringing back a new plant species. We've never had this kind of wheat before. ARS provides the wheat and quality testing, while company researchers look for ways to use the wheat. Japanese udon noodles already use wheat with a related mutation, called partially waxy. At the ARS Wheat Quality Laboratory at Fargo, North Dakota, researchers evaluate up to 2,000 hard red spring wheat breeding lines for milling and baking quality and up to 1,000 durum wheat breeding lines for milling and pasta quality.
Durum wheat is used primarily for pasta and noodles.
Hard red spring wheat is noted for its high gluten content, which accounts for good loaf volume. About half of the hard red spring wheat grown in the United States is exported. Much of the rest is blended with winter wheat flour to improve the quality of white pan bread. The flour is also used in non-pan breads such as bagels, pizza crust, and hard rolls. Durum wheat breeding lines used to make pasta are also rated for firmness and weight of cooked spaghetti.