For centuries, it wasn’t a big deal that some of the rye would occasionally be black at harvest time. That’s just how rye sometimes was. Among the grains clustered at the top of each stalk, the black ones would be extra long, sometimes three times as long as the regular grain. Maybe some people tried to pick them out before grinding the rye into flour; others, especially in times of famine, would eat them anyway. One German word for the black grains was Hungerkorn.
