Have You Heard of Einkorn?

One of the biggest culinary trends for 2011 is the emergence of ancient grains, both on supermarket shelves and restaurant menus.  Some ancient grains you may already be familiar with include quinoa, amaranth, and spelt.  But have you heard of einkorn? I hadn’t until I received an email from the nice folks at Jovial Foods. They wrote to tell me about their new line of whole grain pastas made from einkorn and offered to send me some samples. I never turn down samples, especially when it’s for something that’s supposed to be nutritioulicious! Shortly after receiving the samples, I made their “first ever einkorn pasta” and absolutely loved it! (By the way, my husband liked it too, and he’s normally not a fan of whole wheat pasta).

Here’s the lowdown on einkorn and Jovial’s einkorn pasta:

• Einkorn was first domesticated from the wild over 12,000 years ago during the Neolithic Revolution. Today, einkorn can still be found in the wild in Turkey and it’s very rarely cultivated in some parts of Europe.
• Einkorn is the most nutritious form of wheat because it has never been hybridized – meaning it hasn’t been combined with other species of wheat like spelt and durum wheat have.
• Einkorn pasta (and all forms of einkorn) is high in thiamin, a good source of protein, dietary fiber, vitamin E, and other B vitamins, and rich in antioxidants, especially lutein.
• The ingredients in Jovial’s First Ever Einkorn Pasta are organic whole grain eikorn and water. As you can see, the pasta is not enriched with other vitamins and minerals as are so many other whole grain pastas.

I would highly recommend trying einkorn pasta, but one thing to note is the cooking time may be longer than it says on the package. Keep an eye on it when you’re cooking so it’s at just the right texture for your palate!

Have you tried einkorn?

*I was not paid to promote Jovial’s Einkorn pasta.