Seeds of change: ancient grains for today's table.(Wellness: supplements and functional foods)

To prove that there is really nothing new under the sun, consider the case of the current darlings of the grain world: the wheats called farro, spelt and Kamut[R]. Consumers may delight in the grains' many gastronomic possibilities, but few people realize that these ancient wheat varieties are as old as, well, King Tut's tomb. Maybe even older.

Take the tale of Kamut, for example. Sometime after World War II, an American airman claimed to have picked up a handful of grains from a stone box in a tomb near Dashur, Egypt. He gave 36 kernels of this mysterious ancient grain to his friend Earl Deadman, who in turn sent them along to his father, a farmer in Montana.

Farmer Deadman planted the grains, harvested a small wheat crop and showed it off at a local county fair--where everyone applauded the Egyptian grain, then popularly dubbed "King Tut's Wheat." But the grain later named Kamut might well have then slipped into obscurity had it not been for the efforts of a second Montana wheat farmer, T. Mack Quinn, who bought the one remaining jar of this ancient wheat several decades later.

With his son, Quinn researched and propagated this type of wheat, discovering that it may not have come from an Egyptian tomb--so much for the colorful story--but it really did originate in the Fertile Crescent, which runs from the Tigris-Euphrates valley of present-day Iraq, Iran and Jordan into Egypt. The enterprising Quinns trademarked the name Kamut, an Egyptian word for wheat. Today, Kamut Brand Wheat in the form of flour can be found in cereals, breads, cookies, waffle and pancake mixes and pasta, while the whole grain makes a tasty pilaf and can stand alone in other savory and sweet dishes.

Venerable Varieties

What about the Italian wheat, farro (Triticum dicoccum), and its cousin, the European wheat, spelt (Triticum speltum)? Although not the grains of pharaohs, both have equally distinguished and ancient pedigrees. An early variety of wheat, spelt was cultivated by European farmers as far back as 5,000 BC. Farro, the popular Italian relative, reputedly was the chief sustenance of the Roman legions and, according to at least one source, may be all original strain of every subsequent wheat variety ever grown.

Because they are difficult to grow, farro and spelt fell into disfavor as farmers turned to raising the more profitable and high-yielding commercial wheat variety (Triticum aestivum). Farro and spelt may have remained in obscurity if not for the demands of the health-food market. For one thing, both are considered higher in B complex vitamins, and many wheat-sensitive people can add these protein-rich grains to their diets, particularly spelt, which is easy to digest. And spelt flour can be substituted for regular all-purpose Flour when making bread, cereal, cookies, pancakes and pasta.