EINKORN (Triticum monococcum L. ssp. monococcum), AN ANCIENT WHEAT WITH NEW APPEAL

Einkorn, domesticated about 10000 years ago in the Fertile Crescent (Salamini et al., 2002), along with emmer and barley started the agricultural revolution. From its home in Central Turkey, it quickly spread all over Europe and until the Bronze Age (IV-III millenium a.C.) was the staple food of agricultural populations. Afterwards, durum and bread wheats, free-threshing and better yielding, drastically limited its importance: nowadays, einkorn is cropped only in restricted areas of the mediterranean region. Reports on its excellent nutritional characteristics and its good adaptation to low-impact management techniques have elicited new interest for this ancient cereal. Aim of our research was therefore to evaluate the potential of einkorn for human consumption and food manufacturing through the analysis of the chemical composition and technological properties of whole meal flour from >50 einkorn accessions. Several Triticum turgidum and Triticum aestivum cultivars were also assessed. On average, the einkorn samples contain high protein (18.2±1.48%) and ash content (2.35±0.165%). Carotenoids, mostly lutein, averaged 8.4±1.39 mg/g (dry matter, dm). Several accessions showed significant amounts of carotenes (above 25% of total carotenoids), sometimes together with high lutein contents. Tocols averaged 78.1±9.19 mg/g (dm); the most abundant tocol was -tocotrienol (48.1 mg/g, dm). Among the 14 fatty acids detected, linoleic (50.8% of total fatty acids), oleic (24.8) and palmitic (16.6) were the most abundant. lipoxygenase activity was very low. Among some compounds with positive effects on health fructan content was about 2 g/kg dm. Total starch (65.5±2.56%) and total amylose (25.7±1.23%) were also measured. Among the technological parameters, the SDS sedimentation volume was low (25.6±8.7 ml), but a few accessions with good values were recorded. The pasting parameters studied were peak viscosity (2426 cP±202.9), breakdown (765 ±109.1 cP), final viscosity (2788±268.2 cP) and setback (1126±139.6 cP). Significant differences from the controls and a broad variation for all the traits analysed were observed.