Editing Winter wheat (section)

{{Short description|Strain of wheat grown over the winter, rather than the summer}}
{{For|the musical recording by John K. Samson|Winter Wheat (album)}}
[[Image:WheatFlower1.jpg|thumb|An ear of winter wheat.]]
[[File:Young green wheat in Eden Township.jpg|thumb|right|Winter wheat with autumn colors in the eastern United States]]

'''Winter wheat''' (usually ''[[Common wheat|Triticum aestivum]]'') are strains of [[wheat]] that are planted in the [[autumn]] to germinate and develop into young plants that remain in the vegetative phase during the winter and resume growth in early spring. Classification into [[spring wheat]]  versus winter wheat is common and traditionally refers to the season during which the crop is grown. For winter wheat, the physiological stage of heading (when the ear first emerges) is delayed until the plant experiences [[vernalization]], a period of 30 to 60 days of cold winter temperatures ({{convert|0|to|5|C|F|disp=semicolon}}).<ref>B. C. Curtis, S. Rajaram, H. Gómez Macpherson (eds.). 2002. ''Bread Wheat: Improvement and Production''. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.</ref>

Winter wheat is usually planted from September to November (in the [[Northern Hemisphere]]) and harvested in the summer or early autumn of the next year. In the Southern Hemisphere a winter-wheat crop fully 'completes' in a year's time before harvest. Winter wheat usually yields more than spring wheat.

So-called "facultative" wheat varieties need shorter periods of [[vernalization]] time (15–30 days) and temperatures of {{convert|3|to|15|C|F}}. In many areas facultative varieties can be grown either as winter or as a spring, depending on time of sowing.

In countries that experience mild winters, such as in South Asia (India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh), North Africa, the Middle East and the lower latitudes (e.g. [[Sonora]] in Mexico), spring wheat (not requiring a period of [[vernalization]]) is also sown in the autumn (November–December) and harvested in late spring (April–May) the next year. This spring wheat planted in the autumn and grown over the winter is sometimes also incorrectly called "winter wheat", and is also known as a [[Rabi crop]].

Hard winter wheats have a higher [[gluten]] protein content than other wheats. They are used to make flour for [[yeast]] [[bread]]s, or are blended with soft spring wheats to make the all-purpose [[flour]] used in a wide variety of baked products. Pure soft wheat is used for specialty or cake flour. [[Durum]], the hardest wheat, is primarily used for making [[pasta]]. Almost all durum wheat grown in North America is spring-planted.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Oulton |first1=Randall |title=Durum Wheat |url=http://www.cooksinfo.com/durum-wheat |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230928061742/https://www.cooksinfo.com/durum-wheat |archive-date=2023-09-28 |website=CooksInfo.com}}</ref>

Winter wheat is grown throughout [[Europe]] and [[North America]], and in [[Siberia]].