 SPELT HEALTHY! WHOLE FOOD NEWS
By Marsha Cosentino, Author, Spelt Healthy!
Piles of gold are not as good as stores of grain.
--Oriental Proverb
December 2007
Spelt Healthy! in Bookstores/On the Web
Book Awards and Reviews
Shopping for Spelt Updates
One Stop Shopping, Pasta, Spotlight on South Florida and Ontario, CA
Spelt Time—History Prehistory . . . Ever Wonder What It Was Like Back Then?
Hermannsdorfer Landwerk Farm
Anthropology/Archaeology/Science News about Food and Us
The Big Mystery of Paleoanthropology . . . What Changed to Create the Human Big Brain . . .Amylase and Mouth Watering Possibilities
People in the News: Seattle Spelt Baby
Spelt Healthy! Nautilus 2007 Book Award
SPELT HEALTHY! IN BOOKSTORES AND ON THE WEB
Officially released to the book trade by IPG on September 2007, Spelt Healthy! is now available in bookstores in the U.S. and Canada as well as online booksellers nationally/internationally. People around the world—Singapore, Saipan, Scotland to South Africa—are now into Spelt Healthy! Thank you spelt enthusiasts.
I want to let you know that I have received my book via Amazon and I love it. It came a month earlier than they said it would so that is great. I am telling my friends about it. It has a lot of great information and I am looking forward to making the recipes. Already the bread turned out better than what I was making previously. –Marguerite, Canada
BOOK REVIEWS
October 1, 2007 issue of Library Journal
Most of us know little about spelt, its health benefits, and least of all, how to cook and bake with it. This fabulous introduction to the flowing grass, a relative to wheat, whose fruit is a grain includes information on the historical use of spelt, the arguments for its place in a healthy diet, and simple and complex ways to integrate it into a recipe. The recipes allow the reader to indulge in comfort foods, but Cosentino, a field archaeologist and historian, is conscious of staying away from prepackaged items. At the end of the book, there is a convenient appendix with a listing of nutrition information for each recipe. This is not only for the serious cook but also for those with an affinity for natural, whole, and slow-cooked foods. It is also good for readers who follow the blood-type diet, because each recipe is marked for its ideal blood-type match. Recommended for every public and academic library with a cookbook or nutrition collection.
June 2007 Midwest Book Review
‘Spelt Healthy!’ is a specialized cookbook that culinary expert Marsha Cosentino has compiled to showcase the versatility of this ancient grain in baking and cooking. . . . A welcome addition to personal, family, professional, and community library specialized cookbook collections.
SHOPPING FOR SPELT—UPDATES*
*Neither the author nor Autumn Rose Press receives or has received compensation from any of the venders listed in the book or on this website. When it becomes advertising we will make it clear to you so you do not have to wonder. Spelt Healthy! was/is an independent book meaning not sponsored by any vender of spelt or other food industry products or cooking schools.
One of the many useful features of Spelt Healthy! is its Appendix called Shopping for Spelt—Resources and Information. That list was vetted for baking and other qualities as well as customer service because your time, money and energy matter. New products and services are entering the marketplace rapidly and are often regional or local so I depend upon you to let me know about them. I promised I would keep the list updated as spelt grows in popularity and product variety. Instead of sending you to omnibus sites, I try here to connect you with the makers of the product(s) and also turn you on to local sources, products or dining establishments that sell or serve spelt in keeping with the idea of shopping locally for whole food products.
Pressed for time? One stop Spelt shopping is here.
The two major quality venders of spelt in the U.S. are now offering customers one stop shopping for all your spelt cooking and baking needs. You will see them at the top of the list in the book. Both of these companies ship internationally. If you are in a “send” country you may need to call for pricing but the products will get to you.
Purity Foods/VitaSpelt purityfoods.com (Vita-Spelt On-Line Store) now offers the full line of their pasta and other spelt products directly from their website along with Spelt Healthy! so you can go there for one stop shopping to get you started, keep you going or make a gift basket for someone who matters in your life. I still think VitaSpelt pretzels rule the crunchy spelt comfort food universe.
Bob’s Red Mill bobsredmill.com offers a variety of high quality spelt products including Light Spelt and Rolled Spelt. They carry Spelt Healthy! along with a host of products mentioned in the recipes as well as other necessary baking supplies. This independent miller is one of, if not the, largest miller/purveyor of whole grain products in the world so your choices are many.
More Shopping for Spelt
On the first page of text in Spelt Healthy! I mention the many forms that Spelt can take in the marketplace including sprouted spelt flour. The source? Summers Sprouted Flour Company creatingheaven.net/eeproducts/eesfc
Shelly Summers, nutritional counselor and lively founder of this New Mexico company, created a line of sprouted flours including spelt, rye, wheat and now kamut. One of the things you will read about on Shelly’s site is that sprouted flour digests as a vegetable. To understand the work it takes to ensure product integrity, take a tour of Summers’ milling facility at: creatingheaven.net/eeproducts/eesfc/news/index.html
Shopping for Spelt Pasta Update
In the book is speltlife.com. The SpeltLife site is no longer viable so I am sorry to say their Italian handmade pastas such as Lemon Pepper Flavored Fettucine are no longer available. Never fear, other venders are here. VitaSpelt offers a full line (see above). Eden Organic quality foods offers Ribbons, Spaghetti and Ziti at edenfoods.com.
Buying Locally
South Florida. Now this is service! deliciousorganics.com Delicious Organics is a south Florida delivery service for fine quality, local, organic products including a fine selection of Eden and Vita Spelt pastas (angel hair to ziti) as well as fresh bread: French Meadow Health Seed Spelt Bread and Rudi’s Spelt/oat bread and organic Spelt English Muffins. Go on line to see their offerings, order and it is delivered to your door or you can pick it up. Not an internet service.
Ontario, Canada. Spelt Gourmet Pasta. Only Pasta Inc. onlypasta.ca/flash 457 Jevlan Drive, Unit 1, Woodbridge, Ontario. L4L 7Z9. Tel: (905) 856-4499 Fax: (905) 856-6715. For our many Canadian readers, you can now buy specialty spelt pastas made by Only Pasta at their retail location in Woodbridge, Ontario or enjoy their fine spelt organic pastas at Mastrorobeberto’s in Woodbridge, Marrini’s in Woodbridge, Antipasto’s in Woodbridge, or Mira’s Restaurant in Toronto. Dominic Pede of Only Pasta told me these restaurants between them carry many dinners made with spelt pastas. For a review, go to: thestar.com/printArticle/267437. It makes your mouth water to read about the meat-filled spelt ravioli where “Each plump pillow offers a burst of juicy flavor.” I haven’t tried Only Pasta but when I get to Ontario have no doubt I will. In the meantime, I hope you will send me your own reviews of Only Pasta.
SPELT TIME—HISTORY, PREHISTORY
Ever Wonder What It Was Like Back Then?
Spelt Healthy! is not just a cookbook. One of the reasons readers are finding it fascinating and libraries across the country are putting it on their shelves is the depth of researched information and curious tidbits about spelt that it contains.
Grain Has Many Uses--Spelt and the Spirits
Here is another place for you to visit in Europe where you can get first-hand experience of traditional, sustainable farming methods. There is information in the book about spelt and its long association with brewing and winemaking from the past to the present day.
“Sustainable Brewing the German Way” is an article about the interchange and innovation happening in the brewing field as “brewers in Germany are embracing the spirit of ingenuity of American craft brewers.” It spotlights Hermannsdorfer Landwerk farm in southern Bavaria, a model productive farm where school kids not only visit they can learn by doing traditional farming. The farm also offers an on-site kindergarten class “which raises its own goats and chickens, and in a new program children will camp in nomadic shelters and learn about primitive baking, cheese and sausage making.” Like Sharpham Park mentioned above, you get to see food in its historical context. One of the longstanding uses of spelt is as healthful animal feed. On this farm, the cheeses are made from milk that comes from cows that are “fed on the brewery’s spent grain.” Spelt also has a long history associated with wine and brewing. Hermannsdorfer Landwerk has a micro-brewer that produces “Hell, Dunkel, a wheat beer and a spelt beer.”
Read about it at: guestontap.com/byview.php?id=60711
Context is everything. To read more about Hermannsdorfer farm go to the site below for an article “Two Possible Futures for Farming and Food” which puts sustainable farming versus industrial agriculture in a nutshell through two examples, one of which is the Hermannsdorfer farm. It’s worth the read.
sustainer.org/dhm_archive/index.php?display_article=vn713babolnaed
ANTHROPOLOGY/ARCHAEOLOGY/SCIENCE NEWS
THE BIG MYSTERY OF PALEOANTHROPOLOGY—WHAT CHANGED TO CREATE THE HUMAN BIG BRAIN?
In an article form Nature Genetics (9/9/07) at Physorg.com physorg.com/news108572275.html The big question, and possible answer, about the human leap forward (brain size, body size, geographic range) is mouth watering.
Research anthropologists find that humans have many extra copies of the salivary amylase gene. “They use the copies to flood their mouths with amylase, an enzyme that digests starch. The find bolsters the idea that starch was a crucial addition to the diet of early humans (circa two million years ago) and that natural selection favored individuals who could make more starch-digesting protein.” In sum, the ability to digest starches greatly expanded human nutritional possibilities beyond fruits, nuts and meat.
Fast forward to circa 20,000 years ago B.P. and consider that once humans discovered the bonanza of the earliest grains like barley and einkorn (the first member of the Spelt family), grain became the staple because it contained the ingredients for life (protein, complex carbs, phytonutrients). That same original powerhouse of nutrients is still found naturally in spelt.
But there is more to the story. Amylase is found not only in our cheeks (salivary amylase). It is also found in our pancreatic juices. Beyond humans, it is found in certain mammals and in many of the natural foods we eat because most plants contain this enzyme. Humans caught onto it a long time ago and have used this naturally occurring enzyme (protein) especially for making beer, bread and cheese.
In modern times, amylase has gone far beyond naturally occurring uses and traditional applications and is made on an industrial scale for a variety of uses. It is one of the prime food additives found in processed foods. Its uses are many, for example, for thickening, extending shelf life, to coagulate cheese and to make high fructose corn syrup. It is also being used in medicines. To draw your own conclusions about the reason for eating whole foods versus processed foods, read more about the significance of amylase in connection to food, baking and medicines at sites like these:
The importance of amylase in bread-making (yeast also contains it): bakeinfo.co.nz/school/school_info/bread_ingredients.php
Applications of food biotechnology:
http://www.eat-online.net/english/education/modern_biotechnology/applications.htm
Web MD, uses of amylase in treatment of digestive problems:
webmd.com/drugs/drug-32641-Amylase-Lipase-Protease-Pancr+Oral.aspx?drugid=32641&drugname=Amylase-Lipase-Protease-Pancr+Oral
“Our foods and our recipes are legacies of the past bequeathed to us by trial and error from our ancestors. Life has always revolved around food. Food is the sun of social life, the family bond, that which seals the deal.” (Spelt Healthy! page 17).
Anthropology of Food
indiana.edu/~anthro/food_anthro.html Universities are finally catching on to what archaeologists have always known about digging up the past--the remains of hearths, broken cooking pots and grinding tools are far more common in archaeological remains than cool clothes, gold statues and lavish buildings. So for you foodies who can’t get enough, this information:
Indiana University is offering a new PhD degree in the Anthropology of Food. “Food represents an integral part of human livelihoods, biology, identify, and culture. The practical dimensions and ramifications of food production, consumption and sharing, and the symbiotic and ideological meanings attached to food, have relevance across all of anthropology’s subdisciplines—sociocultural anthropology, bioanthropology, archaeology and linguistics. As a theme it integrates aspects of all the four traditional subfields of anthropology.”
PEOPLE IN THE NEWS
Seattle Spelt Baby
One of the top reasons people say they are buying the book is to offer their kids healthier foods that taste great so kids won’t junk out on the alluring snack (“savories”) and fast foods predominantly made from modern wheat and corn. One of our readers sent Autumn Rose our first ever “Spelt Baby” pictures.
 
Olivia, born November 29, 2006.
Olivia’s parents, professional people from Seattle, have integrated spelt/whole food eating into their busy lives. Here you can see “The Olive” munching on a spelt breadstick (pureed beef filling). Dad, who never made bread before, was taking care of baby one afternoon when the whim struck him to make different kinds of breadsticks from the Dove’s Farm Soda Bread recipe in Spelt Healthy! Baby dug them and had plenty of energy to spare at the park later.
MAY THE WEALTH OF GOOD HEALTH BE YOURS,
Marsha Cosentino
Email me at:
inquires@spelthealthy.com
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