For such an unassuming plant, wheat is pretty fascinating. It’s been with us since the dawn of civilisation, initially being collected in the wild before being cultivated and domesticated thousands of years ago. As the world’s societies became more advanced, our knowledge of farming and wheat grew with it, and we started to cross-breed and hybridise different varieties of wheat grasses with one another to boost yields, improve flavour and make harvesting easier. Wheat went from being a wild grass to one of the most important crops in the world.
However, by the beginning of the twentieth century, global populations were rising so quickly that high yields and ease of harvest started to take priority over flavour. Modern wheat was created which, in combination with new nitrogen-based fertilisers, grew quickly, was better at resisting pests and disease and didn’t require much processing to be turned into flour. This modern grain soon became ubiquitous, as farmers knew they could rely on it to provide consistent results with minimal fuss, and it continues to be the most common form of wheat grown today.
However, from around the 1970s onwards, there has been a rapidly expanding movement to start growing and milling the varieties of wheat that came before the commoditised modern version. Fans of organic produce, the health-conscious and those who wanted interesting or different flavours in their flours started to rediscover ancient grains that had once been the norm until modern bread wheat muscled them out of the fields. In the past few years demand for these wheat varieties has exploded, and it’s common to see loaves made with the likes of spelt and rye in most British bakeries – something that was all but unheard of a few decades ago. But why do people seem to love these ancient grains so much, and what do they bring to the table when making bread? Learn about the origins of the six most popular varieties below and why you should try them out next time you feel the need to knead.