View source for Spelt

:'' '''Spelt''' (in [[British English]]) is also the simple past tense and past participle of the verb [[spelling|to spell]].''
{{wiktionary}}
{{Taxobox
| color = lightgreen
| name = Spelt
| image = Spelt.jpg
| image_width = 250px
| regnum = [[Plantae]]
| divisio = [[Flowering plant|Magnoliophyta]]
| classis = [[Liliopsida]]
| ordo = [[Poales]]
| familia = [[Poaceae]]
| genus = ''[[Triticum]]''
| species = '''''T. spelta'''''
| binomial = ''Triticum spelta''
| binomial_authority = [[Carolus Linnaeus|L.]]
}}

'''Spelt''' (''Triticum spelta'') was an important wheat species in parts of Europe from the Bronze Age to medieval times. It now survives as a [[relict]] crop in [[Central Europe]], but has found a new market as a health food. Spelt is sometimes considered a subspecies of the closely related species [[common wheat]] (''T. aestivum''), in which case its botanical name is considered to be ''Triticum aestivum'' subsp. ''spelta''.
==Evolution==
Spelt has a complex history. It is a [[hexaploid]] [[wheat]] species known from genetic evidence to have originated as a [[hybrid]] of a domesticated [[tetraploid]] wheat such as [[emmer wheat]] and the wild goat-grass ''[[Aegilops tauschii]]''. This hybridization must have taken place in the Near East because this is where ''Ae. tauschii'' grows, and it must have taken place prior to the appearance of [[common wheat|bread wheat]] (''Triticum aestivum'', a hexaploid free-threshing derivative of spelt) in the [[archaeological record]] c. 8000 years ago.

Genetic evidence shows that spelt wheat can also arise as the result of hybridization of bread wheat and emmer wheat, although only at some date following the initial 'Aegilops'-tetraploid wheat hybridisation. The much later appearance of spelt in Europe might thus  be the result of a later, second, hybridization event between emmer and bread wheat. Recent DNA evidence supports an independent origin for European spelt, through this hybridization<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14564390&dopt=Abstract
| accessdate = February 14
| accessyear = 2006
| title = About the origin of European spelt ( Triticum spelta L.): allelic differentiation of the HMW Glutenin B1-1 and A1-2 subunit genes.
| publisher = PubMed
| year = 2004
| author = Blatter RH, Jacomet S, Schlumbaum A
}}</ref>. However whether spelt has two separate origins in Asia and Europe, or single origin in the Near East, is currently disputed.<ref>{{cite paper
| author=Blatter,R.H. et al. | title=About the origin of European spelt ( Triticum spelta L.): allelic differentiation of the HMW Glutenin B1-1 and A1-2 subunit genes| date=2004 | format=html | url = http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=14564390&dopt=abstract}}</ref><ref>{{cite paper
| author=Ehsanzadeh, Parviz | title=Agronomic and Growth Characteristics of Spring Spelt Compared to Common Wheat| date=1999 | format=pdf | url = http://library2.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-10212004-001220/}}</ref>

==Early history==
The earliest archeological evidence of spelt is from the fifth millennium BC in Transcaucasia, north of the Black Sea. However, the most abundant and best-documented archaeological evidence of spelt is in Europe.<ref>{{cite paper | author=Cubadda, Raimondo and Marconi, Emanuele| title=Spelt Wheat in Pseudocereals and less Common cereals: Grain Properties and utilization Potential (eds. Belton, Peter S.; Taylor, John R.N.) | date=2002 | format=html | url = http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN3540429395&id=NRMdXx8fC8kC&dq=Pseudocereals+and+less+Common+cereals:+Grain+Properties+and+utilization+Potential}}</ref> Remains of spelt have been found in some later Neolithic sites (2500 - 1700 BC) in Central Europe.<ref>{{cite paper | author=Cubadda, Raimondo and Marconi, Emanuele| title=Spelt Wheat in Pseudocereals and less Common cereals: Grain Properties and utilization Potential (eds. Belton, Peter S.; Taylor, John R.N.) | date=2002 | format=html | url = http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN3540429395&id=
NRMdXx8fC8kC&dq=Pseudocereals+and+less+Common+cereals:+Grain+Properties+and+utilization+Potential}}</ref><ref>{{cite paper
| author=Akeret, Ö.| title=Plant remains from a Bell Beaker site in Switzerland, and the beginnings of Triticum spelta (spelt) cultivation in Europe | date=2005 | format=html | url = http://china.springerlink.com/content/j0453274uw744tw9/?p=9a73f75a245d448a844fbf12f99e7740&pi=0}}</ref> During the Bronze Age, spelt spread widely in central Europe. In the Iron Age (750-15 BC), spelt became a principal wheat species in southern Germany and Switzerland, and by 500 BC also in southern Britain.<ref>{{cite paper
| author=Cubadda, Raimondo and Marconi, Emanuele| title=Spelt Wheat in Pseudocereals and less Common cereals: Grain Properties and utilization Potential (eds. Belton, Peter S.; Taylor, John R.N.) | date=2002 | format=html | url = http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN3540429395&id=NRMdXx8fC8kC&dq=Pseudocereals+and+less+Common+cereals:+Grain+Properties+and+utilization+Potential}}</ref> 

References to the cultivation of spelt wheat in Biblical times (see [[matzo]]), in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and in ancient Greece, are incorrect, and result from confusion with emmer wheat.<ref>{{cite paper | author=Nesbitt, Mark | title=Wheat evolution: integrating archaeological and biological evidence | date=2001 | Format=PDF | url=http://www.rbgkew.org.uk/scihort/ecbot/papers/nesbitt2001wheat.pdf}}.</ref>  

==Later history==
In the [[Middle Ages]], spelt was cultivated in parts of [[Switzerland]], [[Tyrol]] and [[Germany]]. Spelt was introduced to the [[United States]] in the [[1890s]]. In the [[20th century]], spelt was replaced in almost all those areas in which it was still grown by bread wheat. As spelt requires less [[fertilizer]]s, the [[organic farming]] movement made it more popular again towards the end of the century.

==Nutrition==
Spelt contains about 57.9 percent [[carbohydrate]]s (excluding 9.2 percent [[fibre]]), 17.0 percent [[protein]] and 3.0 percent [[fat]], as well as [[dietary mineral]]s and [[vitamin]]s.<ref>{{cite paper
| author=Parr RM et al. | title= Contributions of calcium and other dietary components to global variations in bone mineral density in young adults | date=2002 | format=pdf | url = http://www.unu.edu/unupress/food/fnb23-3s-5.pdf}}</ref> As it contains a moderate amount of [[gluten]], it is suitable for [[baking]]. In Germany, the unripe spelt grains are [[drying (food)|dried]] and eaten as ''Grünkern'', which literally means "green seed".

Spelt is closely related to [[common wheat]], and is not usually a suitable substitute for people with [[celiac disease]] and wheat allergy.

==Names==
The name of spelt in Hungarian is "Tönköly Búza", in German is ''Dinkel'', and the hull which covers the seed is called ''Spelz''. Hulled grains, which don't thresh freely like modern wheat, were identified by this quality and the term "spelt wheats" was often used in nineteenth century English to mean hulled wheats in general, not just spelt wheat.

The [[Luxembourg|Luxembourger]] surname ''Speltz'' is derived from this grain.  In Italy both emmer wheat and spelt are known as ''farro'', although emmer is more common in Italy. In France spelt is known as ''épeautre''. In Romania it is known as ''alac''.

The Spanish terms for spelt are ''espelta'' or ''escaña mayor''. Historically, in Spain spelt has only been grown in [[Asturias|Asturias]], where it is known as ''escanda''.

==Products==
Usually spelt is sold in the form of a coarse pale bread, similar in colour and in texture to light rye breads but with a slightly sweet and nutty flavour.  

Cookies and crackers are also produced, but are more likely to be found in a specialty bakery or health food store than in a regular grocery store. 

Spelt [[pasta]] is also available in health food stores and specialty shops.

The raw grain when chewed releases trace amounts of gluten giving the mass a slight resilience, not unlike gum{{Fact|date=February 2007}} (whereas wheat becomes a sticky glutinous mass, similar to thick jam).{{Fact|date
=February 2007}} The texture slightly crunchy. The nutty flavour is more intense than it is in most breads and some prefer the raw substance to the baked goods.

Dutch [[jenever]] makers distill a special kind of gin made with spelt as a curiosity gin marketed for connoisseurs. (It is not clear how the connoisseurs could distinguish between alcohol derived from spelt from alcohol derived from other grains, especially after it has been distilled to very high proof.)

==References==
<references/>
*{{cite book | author=Padulosi, Stefano, Karl Hammer and J. Heller | title=Hulled Wheats. Promoting the conservation and use of underutilized and neglected crops. 4. Proceedings of the First International Workshop on Hulled Wheats 21-22 July 1995, Castelvecchio Pascoli, Tuscany, Italy | year=1996 | url=http://www.ipgri.cgiar.org/publications/pubfile.asp?ID_PUB=54}}
*{{cite book|title=Domestication of plants in the Old World|author=Zohary, Daniel and Maria Hopf|location=Oxford | publisher=Oxford University Press|id=ISBN 0-19-850356-3|year=2000}}

==See also==
{{Wheat}}

{{Cereals}}

[[Category:Wheat]]
[[category:Cereals]]
[[Category:Underutilized crops]]