Consumption and milling trends for ancient grains

by Peter Marriott, Area Sales Manager, Henry Simon

Ancient grains have been feeding the public since the beginning of civilisation. However, they were largely ignored by Western countries, where selectively-refined grains provide an economic advantage.

That’s changing nowadays; grains like quinoa, amaranth, farro, and spelt are growing in popularity with today’s consumers because of their perceived health benefits, according to a new report from The NPD Research Group.
 

In an interview with Cali Amos, of Health Focus International, reports that half of consumers are interested in ancient grains, and “nearly 40 percent saying they use ancient grains at least once a week.”

Furthermore, “of those consumers interested, more than 20 percent are willing to pay a premium for products including ancient grains.”  In the last decade, there has been a renewed interest in the ancient wheat varieties for producing high-value food products with enhanced health benefits.

Bread and breakfast cereals were the first foods into which ancient grains were incorporated and followed by pasta and noodles. The increasing demand for healthy and convenient foods to be consumed on-the-go, resulted in snack bars, sweet biscuits and savory snacks capitalising on these trends.

There is no official definition for ancient grains. Whole Grains Council generally define ancient grains loosely as ‘grains that are largely unchanged over the last several hundred years’.  This means that modern wheat (constantly bred and changed) is not an ancient grain, while einkorn, emmer/farro, Kamut and spelt would be considered ancient grains in the wheat family.

Heirloom varieties of other common grains such as black barley, red and black rice, blue corn might also be considered ancient grains.  Other grains largely ignored until recently by Western palates (such as sorghum, teff, millet, quinoa, amaranth) would also be widely considered to be ancient grains.  Sometimes less common grains, like buckwheat, or wild rice, are also included in the list.

Read more HERE.

 

The Global Miller
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