Parched Grain is grain that has been cooked by dry roasting. It is an ancient foodstuff and is thought to be one of the earliest ways in which the hunter gatherers in the Fertile Crescent

Fertile Crescent

The Fertile Crescent, nicknamed "The Cradle of Civilization" for the fact the first civilizations started there, is a crescent-shaped region containing the comparatively moist and fertile land of otherwise arid and semi-arid Western Asia. The term was first used by University of Chicago...

 ate grains. Historically, it was a common food in the Middle East

Middle East

The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...

, as attested by the following quotes:

• "On the day after the Passover
  Passover
  Passover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
  
  , on that very day, they ate some of the produce of the land, unleavened cakes, and parched grain."
• "Now Boaz
  Boaz
  Boaz is a major figure in The Book of Ruth in the Bible. The term is found 24 times in the Scriptures, being two in Greek ....
  
   said to her at mealtime, 'Come here, and eat of the bread, and dip your piece of bread in the vinegar
  Vinegar
  Vinegar is a liquid substance consisting mainly of acetic acid and water, the acetic acid being produced through the fermentation of ethanol by acetic acid bacteria. Commercial vinegar is produced either by fast or slow fermentation processes. Slow methods generally are used with traditional...
  
  .'" So she sat beside the reaper
  Reaper
  A reaper is a person or machine that reaps crops at harvest, when they are ripe.-Hand reaping:Hand reaping is done by various means, including plucking the ears of grains directly by hand, cutting the grain stalks with a sickle, cutting them with a scythe, or with a later type of scythe called a...
  
  s, and he passed parched grain to her; and she ate and was satisfied, and kept some back."

The grain

GRAIN

GRAIN is a small international non-profit organisation that works to support small farmers and social movements in their struggles for community-controlled and biodiversity-based food systems. Our support takes the form of independent research and analysis, networking at local, regional and...

 has the same length of the normal grain, although somewhat thinner and darker with a green shade. It is served as a casserole

Casserole

A casserole, from the French for "saucepan", is a large, deep dish used both in the oven and as a serving vessel. The word casserole is also used for the food cooked and served in such a vessel, with the cookware itself called a casserole dish or casserole pan...

 hot dish, cooked with morsels of meat

Meat

Meat is animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat and other tissues, but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs and offal...

 or poultry

Poultry

Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of producing eggs, meat, and/or feathers. These most typically are members of the superorder Galloanserae , especially the order Galliformes and the family Anatidae , commonly known as "waterfowl"...

.