A GRAIN, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people." So wrote the legendarily snobbish Samuel Johnson in his Dictionary of 1755. He was referring to the humble oat, now widely regarded as desirable in diets both human and equine. But if the oat has gone up in the world, one of its wholegrain cousins is still served more often in the nosebag than on the plate.
We're talking about spelt. And why? Because spelt has recently become a trendy, must-have purchase among those who frequent specialist healthfood stores. Spelt, the mysterious, exotic and tremendously nutritious relative of common wheat, is being talked up as a superfood.
This may suggest spelt is about to take the world by storm. Or it might merely underline the fact that the wider public either haven't heard of spelt, or else consider it to be some kind of quirky, new-fangled fad among people who just want to be different by not eating good old-fashioned proper wheat like everyone else. Either way, spelt remains niche.
In fact spelt is largely confined to the farmyards of Europe, where it gets troughed in huge quantities. This might be because pigs adore its chompy, oat-like texture. Or perhaps it's because chickens can't get enough of the nutty, maltish flavour. More likely it's because farmers know spelt is reasonably priced, high in fibre and contains more protein, B-vitamins and amino acids than other cereals. All very valid reasons why spelt deserves a place in our muesli bowls.
Social acceptability is not the only area where spelt's credentials are flaky. People can't even agree on what to call it. Some prefer to say "German wheat". This might suggest that spelt is a German word. In fact, its origin seems to be the Latin "spelta". As for Germans, they call it "dinkel", as do the Swedes. To the Italians, spelt is "farro". And to the French, it is "engrain", which apparently means "wheat of the Gauls". Experts would point out that engrain and spelt are actually different grains, collectively referred to as "covered wheats", although in common parlance confusion often reigns.
German wheat? Wheat of the Gauls? There must be a reason for all of this. These two are, in fact, clues to the provenance of spelt, or - to give it its full Sunday name - triticum aestivum spelta. Like the Gauls, spelt has a long history, a history with some Teutonic roots.
St Hildegard von Bingen, the Delia Smith of 12th-century Germany, described spelt as follows: "It is the best of grains. It is rich and nourishing and milder than other grain. It produces a strong body and healthy blood to those who eat it and it makes the spirit of man light and cheerful. If someone is ill, boil some spelt, mix it with egg, and this will heal him like a fine ointment."
The seeds of spelt's origin lie deeper than that, however. In fact, people seem to have been eating the grains of this hardy plant since before we invented the wheel. It is thought that spelt grew in prehistoric Iran as early as around 8000 years ago. It is also believed, although this is a matter of debate, that spelt originated independently in southern Europe, albeit later than in Iran. Either way, by the bronze age, which ended in Europe around 2500 years ago, spelt was being grown far and wide.
All of this raises a question. If spelt was so popular, what happened? Why is our bread generally made these days from wheat, not spelt? The answer reveals that spelt's hardy, robust character, which allows it to grow in poor soil and during harsh winters, went from being a blessing to a curse.
Unlike common wheat, spelt grains have a tough outer husk. This makes threshing - harvesting the grains by separating them from the plant - difficult. When the threshing machine, which was invented by Scotsman Andrew Meikle, arrived in the fields in the 1800s, it spelled - or, perhaps in this case, spelt - disaster. The machine was unable to cope with the toughness of spelt, so farmers stopped growing it. At a stroke, the dominance of wheat, which threshes freely, was secured.
But spelt never died out completely, and contin-ued to be grown in pockets around the continent. Today it is making a comeback, and not just in the farmyard. Spelt in various guises, from pasta to muesli flakes, can be bought in such shops as Real Foods in Edinburgh and Grassroots in Glasgow, in larger supermarkets and from online suppliers.
Spelt is the kind of food we should all be eating. Although it is not suitable for a gluten-free diet, there is evidence that some people who have difficulty eating wheat find spelt easier to digest. There is further evidence to suggest that, like other wholegrains, spelt could even help save your life.
A report on obesity was published last month by the US Department of Agriculture's Economic Research Service in the United States, where spelt was once grown for human consumption in huge quantities before declining dramatically. Since 1970, the report revealed, the obesity rate in the US has more than doubled.
While a lot of this is down to the familiar villains of saturated fat and refined sugar, another culprit is the fact that people, particularly youngsters, eat too much refined, processed grain in their bread and pasta and not enough wholegrains. The picture in Scotland, where £6 million has just been set aside by Holyrood to tackle childhood obesity, is alarmingly similar.
Bring on the spelt.
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