Eating Like the Ancients: Heirloom Grains Return

You've heard of heirloom tomatoes. Now meet heirloom flours, ground from grains first domesticated thousands of years ago. Also called "heritage" or "ancient," these grains are now in supermarket breads, health-food store pasta and cookies. They are billed as exceptionally nutritious and, in some cases, safe for people who can't tolerate gluten.

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F. Martin Ramin for The Wall Street Journal

From left: Organic einkorn grain from the Heritage Grain Conservancy, $34.95 for a 5-pound bag; Pepperidge Farm Ancient Grains multigrain bread, $4.29; Jovial organic einkorn checkerboard cookies, $4.39; Jovial einkorn linguine, $3.49 for 12 ounces; King Arthur Flour's Ancient Grains flour blend, including millet, sorghum, amaranth and quinoa, 2 pounds for $9.95

Some dietitians say they aren't necessarily better than modern whole grains, and new research casts doubt on the gluten safety of some products. Any grain that contains gluten, no matter how ancient, isn't safe for people with celiac disease, a severe intolerance to gluten found in about 1% of the population, says Alessio Fasano, director of the center for celiac research at the University of Maryland in Baltimore.

One of the oldest wheats to recently hit store shelves is einkorn (the first syllable rhymes with "mine"), which was domesticated some 10,000 years ago, says Austrian archeobotanist Klaus Oeggl. The stomach contents of Ötzi, a 5,200-year mummy also known as the Iceman, suggests his last meal was likely an einkorn flatbread, says Dr. Oeggl, a professor at the University of Innsbruck.

"Heritage grains are more delicious and more nutritious," says Eli Rogosa, founder of the Heritage Grain Conservancy, a Colrain, Mass., nonprofit working to save ancient wheat varieties from extinction. Modern wheat is bred for high yield, not for maximum nutrition, she says.

Today's einkorn flour is expensive, in part because of its low yield. A five-pound bag sells for $34.95 on the Heritage Grain Conservancy's website. That is at least four times the cost of organic flours ground from modern wheat.

Einkorn flour from Jovial Foods Inc. in North Franklin, Conn., sells for $7.99 for two pounds. The grain's pale yellow color is a reflection of its particular antioxidant content, the company's president, Carla Bartolucci. Jovial's whole-wheat pasta contains a quarter of a milligram of the antioxidant lutein—as much as in a large egg, the package says. It costs $3.49 for 12 ounces.

But the amount of the lutein, which is believed to help maintain healthy eyes, in einkorn is comparatively small. For example, ¼ cup of cooked spinach can contain some 7 milligrams, says Joy Dubost, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, a Chicago professional organization. Einkorn has more protein than most supermarket whole-wheat flour, plus more trace minerals such as phosphorus and zinc—but most Americans don't lack those, she adds. Fiber, which is often lacking in the diet, can be slightly lower in einkorn than in modern wheats.

"The evidence isn't there that ancient grains are any more nutritious to consume than other whole grains," says Ms. Dubost. It isn't true that modern breeding has reduced wheat nutrition, adds Judi Adams, president of the Wheat Foods Council, a trade group of wheat growers and flour producers. You do get more calcium from einkorn: According to the nutrition information printed on the packages, ¼ cup of Jovial einkorn berries—which must be ground before use—has 4% of the daily recommended calcium, compared with 2% from red wheat berries from Norwich, Vt.'s King Arthur Flour Co., and none in most supermarket preground flours.

In an informal taste test for this article, einkorn in baked goods had a rich flavor, much like cornbread. Baking with it can be tricky as it doesn't absorb as much water as regular all-purpose flour and can result in a sticky dough, says Jovial's Mrs. Bartolucci. Bread recipes must be slightly altered to work correctly, often by using less liquid. Muffins and cakes can be made without changing recipes, she adds.

In our test, blueberry muffins and pancakes made with einkorn flour were delicious, with an enjoyable, unique taste that was subtle enough to not overwhelm the goodies. Quick breads—one white and one whole wheat—made from the recipes on Jovial's packages were flavorful with a dense texture that some people may find too heavy.

Other ancient grains include sorghum, millet and a North African grain called teff, and pseudo-grains (similar but not in the same family) such as amaranth, buckwheat and quinoa. All of those products are safe for people who can't eat gluten, but make sure they are labeled gluten-free to be sure they don't have trace amounts of gluten, says Tricia Thompson, a Manchester, Mass., dietitian who specializes in gluten-free eating.

Preliminary laboratory research on cells suggested einkorn's gluten is different from the gluten in modern wheat and might be safe for people with celiac disease. This research has been cited by companies selling einkorn.

A small human test of einkorn crackers, presented in May at Digestive Disease Week in San Diego, found that the ancient grain "was not safe for celiac patients," says researcher Barbara Zanini, a scientist at the University of Brescia in Italy.

The study began with seven patients whose celiac disease was under control. After adding the crackers to their diet, two patients dropped out of the study because symptoms of the disease recurred and of the remaining five, four had compromised function of the villi, or small hairs in the intestine—a problem that is a hallmark of the disease.

It is possible that people who are sensitive to gluten, but don't have full-blown celiac disease, may be able to tolerate einkorn, but further research is needed, scientists say.

Write to Laura Johannes at laura.johannes@wsj.com