Ripening fields of grain are a common site in the Galilee in the spring - a reminder of the agricultural origins of the quintessential spring holiday - Passover.  In the Old Testament, explicit instructions are given regarding when the celebration of the Israelites' exodus from Egypt should take place - that is, in the month of "Aviv" (in Hebrew, the letters B and V are often interchanged).

"You shall observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; for seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month Abib, for in it you came out of Egypt."  Exodus 23:15

"Aviv", which in modern Hebrew means "Spring", in the biblical context actually refers to a stage of ripeness in grain crops - when the stalks are stiff but the heads of the grain are still green.   

We recall that one of the 10 plagues was hail - and that this cataclysmic precipitation was described as destroying the barley crop.  The barley, we are reminded in the text, was in the "Aviv" state - such that the impact of the hailstones was enough to shatter the stems and ruin the crop.

"Now the flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud."  Exodus 9:31

The Hebrew text for the above literally says "...for the barley was in Aviv ...."

The wheat, however, which is a later-maturing crop, was saved because the stems were still pliable. 

"But the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for they ripen late."  Exodus 9:32

For this reason, in ancient times, great attention was paid to the progress of the barley crop, in order for the celebration of Passover to coincide with the proscribed milestone in the agricultural cycle.

I recently received a question from a reader of my blog which was particularly timely. He referred to a passage from the Book of Matthew that goes something like:

At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. Matthew 12:1

The questioner wanted to know if I could tell him what kind of grain this could have been and during which months this might have occurred. After spending so much time investigating the history of grains and particularly wheat here in the Galilee, I was so pleased to be able to give him a coherent answer.

We are now approaching Passover and Easter - a time when the grain fields are still ripening, and when this particular state of ripening of barley and wheat, during the time of Matthew, determined when Passover would be celebrated. Wheat is usually harvested around the beginning of June - historically corresponding with the holiday of Shavuoth - Feast of the Pentacost. But sometime in April, when the heads of the wheat are still green  and haven't turned golden and dry yet, the wheat kernels become plump and soft, full of protein and sugar, and this is the only time that they can be eaten raw. After that, when the kernels are fully ripe and dry, they must be cooked - roasted, ground, boiled, whatever, to be comestible.

And about which grain it was, my guess would be wheat, since barley in antiquity was considered less palatable than wheat, and bread made from it was considered inferior eating.

So, in answer to my reader's questions, we are rapidly approaching the time for collecting green wheat. Which, by the way, is still done today by a few local Arab farmers here in the Galilee. They pick the green wheat, then roast it and it becomes a local delicacy called farike. So when you read about parched corn in the Bible, this is what is actually being referred to - because corn is a New World product that wasn't known in this region during antiquity.

For visitors to Nazareth and the surrounding Galilee, I will be conducting tours focusing on wheat and cooking in the Galilee.  For more information, contact www.galileecuisine.co.il - info@galileecuisine.co.il.