Sleet Wheat Grain

Sleet Wheat Grain is the seed and harvestable product of Sleet Wheat. It is used primarily as an ingredient in late-game cooking, and each grain can also be planted to grow a new Sleet Wheat plant. Because the plant is a cold-weather crop, the grain is usually handled as part of a refrigerated food chain rather than a normal surface farm.

Sleet Wheat produces 18 Sleet Wheat Grains per harvest, and a wild plant takes 72 cycles to mature while a domesticated plant takes 18 cycles. It can be planted in a Planter Box, Farm Tile, or Hydroponic Farm, and domestic growth consumes 5 kg/cycle Dirt and 20 kg/cycle Water. The plant grows only within -55 °C to 5 °C, at an air pressure of 150 g to 10 kg, and in Oxygen, Polluted Oxygen, or Carbon Dioxide. Since the grain spoils in Oxygen or Polluted Oxygen, wild wheat is often best harvested and stored in Carbon Dioxide if it is not being processed immediately.

Sleet Wheat Grain should be planted only in a sub-zero environment and supplied with nearly freezing irrigation water, because the plant requires an internal temperature of 5 °C or less to grow. This makes the crop much easier to manage in insulated areas or naturally frozen biomes than in warm living spaces. A Sleet Wheat plant also provides 15 decor in a 2-tile radius, which is a modest benefit if it is being grown indoors.

The grain is a key ingredient in several advanced foods. It is used to make Frost Bun at the Electric Grill, Soufflé Pancakes at the Electric Grill, Pepper Bread at the Gas Range, Berry Sludge at the Microbe Musher, and other recipes such as Grubfruit Preserve Pie and certain Deep Fryer foods. Because each harvest yields 18 grains, Sleet Wheat is often measured by how many calories a single plant can support through its processed foods. Frost Bun is the simplest use, while Berry Sludge is especially valued for long expeditions because it does not spoil.

A few practical points make the crop easier to use:

• Early in the game, it is often better to save wild Sleet Wheat instead of trying to farm it immediately.
• Planter Boxes or Farm Tiles are safer than Hydroponic Farms when irrigation water may freeze in pipes.
• Warm irrigation water requires strong cooling around the farm to keep the crop within temperature range.
• The grain can also be used by Pacu family critters, which produce Polluted Dirt after eating it.
• A Plant Pulverizer can convert Sleet Wheat Grains and Water into Brackene.

Because it is both a crop seed and a food ingredient, Sleet Wheat Grain sits at the center of many cold-biome food systems in Oxygen Not Included.