Spelt, a close relative of wheat, is slowly but surely conquering the shelves of supermarkets, because it is extremely healthy and versatile. People who are allergic to wheat often find an alternative in spelt. Spelt tastes slightly nutty, is unproblematic in baking and is full of vitamins and minerals. It replaces coffee and its husks are used to make pillows that massage the neck and shoulders while you sleep. What else is in the ancient grain, you can learn here.
Ingredients of spelt
Spelt, according to St. Hildegard of Bingen (1098 – 1179), is the “best grain”, it “makes its eater right flesh and right blood, joyful mind and joyful human thinking”. What the abbess, healer and naturalist knew long ago has been scientifically proven today: Spelt has more minerals and vitamins to offer than the best wheat. Its high content of silicic acid has a positive effect on thinking ability and concentration as well as the health of skin and hair. Spelt provides about:
- 62 percent carbohydrates
- 2.7 percent fat
- 8.8 percent dietary fiber and
- 12 percent valuable protein, which contains all the essential amino acids in trace amounts
Use of spelt
Spelt is related to common wheat and originated from the ancient wheat species einkorn and emmer. Since the grain is ancient variety, it is considered a primordial grain or ancient cereal. Nowadays, spelt is once again enjoying great popularity. As an alternative to wheat flour, spelt flour is used, for example, in the form of bread and rolls, but also in pizza dough, pasta or cookies. Spelt flour is available in many supermarkets as well as in health food stores, so that everyone can realize their own recipes for spelt noodles, spelt cookies or wholemeal spelt bread at home. Because of its high content of so-called gluten, spelt has excellent baking properties. However, spelt is unsuitable for people with celiac disease. The grain is also used in the form of spelt beer. 10 healthy types of bread
Green spelt against famine
A special form of spelt is the green spelt. This is the semi-ripe harvested and then dried grain of spelt. Documentarily, Grünkern was first mentioned in 1660 in a cellar invoice of the Amorbach monastery. Wet summers with rain and hail pushing the grain to the ground have always existed. So the farmers made a virtue out of necessity: they cut off the still unripe spelt ears and dried (kiln-dried) them over the fire. The still unripe grains were not ground, however, but cooked. Tasty and nutritious dishes were created and helped to prevent famine. Nowadays, the harvest time, the day of the so-called dough ripeness, is precisely timed. The green spelt is then kilned, which causes it to lose its germination capacity, but makes it grindable. Green spelt is becoming increasingly popular because it tastes good and is popular not only among vegetarians as a green spelt roast. And it is also healthy, because its high content of potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and iron are important building blocks for a balanced diet.
Muckefuck as a coffee substitute
In addition to Hildegard von Bingen, the Reverend Sebastian Kneipp was also enthusiastic about this grain. He used roasted spelt as a coffee substitute because of its valuable properties – the “Muckefuck”, as his spelt coffee was later popularly called, had been created.
Spelt pillow against pain
Finally, the husk separated from the grain is also not a waste product: as a pillow filling, it has been considered a means of pain relief and relaxation since Hildegard von Bingen’s time. Such spelt pillows are valued both as heat pillows and as adaptable pillows, for example, for rheumatism and tension.
Spelt: undemanding Swabian grain
Unlike the related wheat, spelt is more undemanding, steadier and weather-hardened, but it needs good arable soil. It is hardly susceptible to pests, winter cannot harm it, but artificial fertilizers do not drive it to peak performance and breeding successes are not to be had with it. Well over 3,000 years ago, spelt arrived in Spain and Central Europe from Asia. In the Middle Ages, spelt was cultivated in large parts of Switzerland, Tyrol, Baden-Württemberg and Central Franconia. In the process, the German cultivation areas earned it the nickname Schwabenkorn.It was not until the 20th century, when farmers continued to increase their crop yields using artificial fertilizers, that spelt cultivation was cut back in favor of wheat, since its crop yields are significantly lower than wheat and removing the husk, which is firmly attached to the grain, is time-consuming and expensive.
