Ancient Grains

[Mountain Cat]

Today's wheat, at least in the US, is a lot different than older wheat grains. Fortunately, we now see farro, spelt emmer and kamut wheat grains making a comeback. I'm currently making a recipe that asks me to use farro. It is a whole grain (at least in this format), and I'm currently soaking it prior to cooking it.

Do any of you use wheat-related grains such as this in your cooking? The first time I ran into farro was at a restaurant, when it came with the main dish. It had a solid texture, some would say "nutty". I absolutely loved it, even more than the main it came with!
I'd like to see/learn what you do!

Apparently, these grains have been minimally changed over the centuries. Some gluten-sensitive people (though not true celiacs) can eat these grains with little or no difficulty.

(Since the dish I am making with farro is actually being made for the Cookery Book thread... I'm hopeful it will be posted soon...)

 

[Mountain Cat]

Oops, this thread needs to be moved to rice, pulses, grains … Can't figure out how to do that myself. Thanks.

 

[MypinchofItaly]

I’ve written an article about farro that I’ll post later. In Italy, Farro - Spelta, it has been the first wheat grain to be cultivated and ate, the ancient Romans did this and it was especially used to feed soldiers. Then Farro was almost disappeared because of wheat - frumento, easier to manage.
There are lots of cultivars especially in Central Italy, Tuscany, Umbria and Lazio.
You are right, it has a nutty taste and I love it too.
I’ll come back to this thread later, is very interesting!

 

[Morning Glory]

I thought it might be useful to add a definition of 'Ancient Grain'. Here is Wiki:

Ancient grains are a grouping of grains and pseudocereals that are considered to have been minimally changed by selective breeding over recent millennia, as opposed to more widespread cereals such as corn, rice and modern varieties of wheat, which are the product of thousands of years of selective breeding. Ancient grains are often marketed as being more nutritious than modern grains, though their health benefits have been disputed by some nutritionists.

Ancient grains include varieties of wheat: spelt, Khorasan wheat (Kamut), freekeh, bulgur, farro, einkorn, and emmer; the grains millet, barley, teff, oats, and sorghum; and the pseudocereals quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat, and chia. Modern wheat is a hybrid descendant of three wheat species considered to be ancient grains: spelt, einkorn, and emmer.

 

[Morning Glory]

Of those listed above, the ones I've not cooked with are:

einkorn
emmer
teff
sorghum
amarinth

This thread makes me want to experiment more with these grains.

 

[Mountain Cat]

I have teff here, I need to cook with that, too.

Years ago I grew amaranth, but at that time I simply thought it an ornamental grass. I know better, now. I hope to grow it next summer.

 

[Wandering Bob]

Farro, spelt, épeautre ..

I've been using petit épeautre in my breadmaking for a year or two. I'd always thought that this was 'light spelt'.

However, last night I was given some farine d'épeautre (not petit) which I was curious about.

So .. I've researched it and ..

petit épeautre is Triticum monococcum .. or einkorn (I had no idea)

épeautre (also known as grand épeautre) - is Triticum Spelta .. or spelt.

This is of no interest to anyone I'm sure … but I'm a much wiser breadmaker now.