Grain of the Week - 22 - Spelt Grain

When I first looked at the Spelt grain it looked very much like it's more popular cousin the wheat grain. In fact spelt grain is related to the wheat grain alright and it is also sometimes classified as a parent of wheat but more nutritious.

Spelt is an ancient grain grown as long back as the Biblical times in Mesopotamia and it migrated to the US only in the 1900s and while it was very popular and many acres were under cultivation but by the 1970s the grain was completely gone from the US. Wheat with its ability to be hybridized, modified and easier to process became popular and replaced spelt.

While Spelt with more fiber makes it possible to digest the gluten much easier. Whereas modern wheat which has been bred mainly to aid in the process of making bread contains more gluten and no husk. The husk falls off when the wheat is fully grown making processing easier. But this also makes it susceptible to pests. The spelt preserves its husk and thus more resistant to pests and hence devoid of pesticides and their like. Keeping the husk intack preserves much of the nutrition which has been stripped out of a regular wheat grain. Source: Read for more detailed information.

Spelt flour in increasingly becoming available all over the US. Seems like it can replace wheat flour in most baked goods. Free of GMO, hybridization and commercialization than its popular cousin - wheat spelt grain is pure and closest to an ancient grain as you can get.

Where Bought: MOM's Organic Market

Anybody have any interesting recipes to make with spelt?

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