A high protein ancient wheat species: Einkorn

The current interest for ancient hulled wheats is motivated by the increased demand for healthier foods and for more sustainable agricultural production systems. The diploid einkorn Triticum monococcum is an ancient, hulled wheat cultivated for thousand years and progressively replaced by free-threshing and higher yielding wheat species. Nowadays, its traditional cultivation is limited to marginal areas, but recently it has been re-introduced in different regions thank to its adaptation to poor soils and low-input agriculture, tolerance/resistance to pests and diseases, good technological and organoleptic properties and peculiar nutritional value. The better nutritional quality of einkorn respect to bread and durum wheat lies mainly in the superior content of proteins (up to 19–21% also under organic management), microelements and antioxidant compounds. The T. monococcum gluten content is comparable to that of modern tetraploid and hexaploid wheats, but its gliadin and glutenin allele composition displays an excess of gliadins over glutenins, leading to flours with very low gluten index and gluten strength. Nevertheless, einkorn flour is suitable for the manufacturing of cookies, unleavened foods and dry pasta. Finally, several studies are consistent with differences in einkorn gluten digestibility, resulting in a lower content of immunostimulatory peptides involved in gluten-related disorders.