Raise your hand if you know what ancient grains are.

Well, we have been talking about it for a while, all of a sudden they came to the fore due to the incredible interest that gluten-free diets arouse on the one hand, and all diets that declare war on wheat and its derivatives on the other.

The reason would be that many people confuse wheat with all refined products, which obviously are low in nutrients such as fiber, vitamins and minerals . It’s a bit like I swapped eggs for mayonnaise, complete with exaggerations from authors who carry on the idea of ​​the wheat-free diet, now one of all overweight people, who are asked to leave pasta alone. , even wholemeal, to stuff yourself with millet like a canary.

Having said that, I am not against the “recovery” of ancient grains , until the industry takes care of them: then they will also become puffed, glazed, sweetened and mixed with raisins and cocoa pralines, as I have already seen with amaranth.
At that point, what will the experts come up with, what other food to demonize, when the problem is at the head, that is what we buy? However. Let’s move on to ancient grains .

Why are they back in vogue I told you. Why eat them?
Well, first let’s see what ancient grains are. Ancient grains are all those grains that have not undergone standardized cultivation by man.  Only some of them, such as einkorn spelled, are actually among the first cereals processed by man. Einkorn spelled is also more digestible. The grains are small, gluten is lower and due to its chemical structure, it is more digestible, so much so that einkorn spelled can be used in the diets of people sensitive to gluten (but not celiac), but it is scarcely used in bread making because it does not make . On the other hand, it is excellent in soups.

Note that not all ancient grains have less gluten . Russiello or Senatore Cappelli are no better than traditional wheat and are also relatively recent.
However, the stone grinding of the flours allows a better fragmentation of the protein component.

They are not just a fashion, therefore, although the false myths are not lacking, for example they may have less gluten, but it absolutely does not mean that celiacs can eat them.

Ancient grains have always existed and Italy, for example, is not rich in them, but overflowing.
In Sicily, for example, we find the Maiorca wheat, a soft wheat with a reduced gluten content (but with a high gluten index ) that can be used for sweets, pies, cakes.

If we exported products derived from various ancient grains instead of the usual white pasta, we would probably relaunch part of the Italian production, perhaps cleaner than that which has so far existed in much of the West, and locally .
In fact, this type of grains are not mixed with other imported grains.
For example, the ancient grains of Cilento, or the Apulian grains that allow a wonder like the Altamura bread, now a bread that is disappearing .

There are different types of ancient grains: einkorn and dicocco spelled, Senatore Cappelli wheat, Graziella Ra wheat, Verna wheat, Arcangelo durum wheat, Tumminia wheat, Maiorca, Perciasacchi. But also buckwheat, brown millet and teff, quinoa and so on. The latter four do not contain gluten and fall into the category of false cereals.

In the organic shops you will already find products from local companies that offer baked goods and pasta made with ancient grains, but also several Italian villages still produce typical products with these grains.
If we buy flours from ancient grains, it is always better to use mother yeast or sour dough for bread products.  Why eat them? And why would they make a difference in a diet?

Ancient grains are less contaminated whole grains , from controlled supply chains, processed with stone grinding, not treated with the herbicides typical of industrial grains, which have undergone fewer crossings over time.
This allows for greater digestibility, and they are much more nutritious.

Stupid to spend money on protein pasta made by adding fiber in the lab when you can eat whole or semi-whole bread and pasta that provide you with a high content of fiber, vitamins and also a good protein profile , as well as a low glycemic index.
It would be enough to look around, here, with us, to find out how many local wholemeal products we can use for a more varied and healthy diet.