Where Delicious Meets Nutritious

      What specifically is Einkorn wheat and how is Einkorn different from the other varieties of wheat that we consume? Why is it healthier for us and what is it about Einkorn that makes it so much easier for our bodies to digest? To answer these questions, we first need to have a basic understanding of exactly how the foods that we consume are produced. All the food that we eat falls under one of three categories, and we need to understand the differences between these three categories to fully understand the effect that these foods have on our bodies. 

       Most of the food that we consume first begins as a seed. All fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes and nuts are grown from seeds. Even the dairy and meat that we eat is derived from animals that eat food that is grown from seeds. Each seed falls under one of three categories: Heirloom, hybrid, or genetically modified. 

Heirloom Seeds

The first type of seed, an heirloom seed, is a seed that has never been altered or changed in any way. It is essentially the way that God created and intended for it to be. Einkorn is an heirloom wheat and is also the only variety of wheat that has never been altered in any way.  

Hybrid Seeds

The second type of seed is called a hybrid seed. Hybrid seeds are seeds that have been taken and cross pollinated with two different varieties of seeds to produce a new variety. Now on the surface this can sound harmless, however, most hybrids are created in labs using exposer to radiation and chemicals. Generally, when a hybrid is created it doubles the number of chromosomes within the seed. This creates a genetic mutation that is less nutritious and more difficult for our bodies to digest. 

Genetically Modified Seeds

The third and last category is genetically modified seeds. There are two types of genetic modification. The first type happens when genetic information is removed from the seed, the second is when genetic information is added into the seed. An example of the first kind of genetic modification would be apples. Because apples turn brown so quickly after being cut open certain distributors wanted the enzyme, polyphenol oxidase (PPO), that causes the apple to turn brown when it is exposed to air, removed. Scientists genetically modified several varieties of apples by removing the polyphenol oxidase from the apple. The problem with this is that you need all the ingredients working together to provide the optimal nutritional benefit for your body. 

The second form of genetic modification is when they add something into the seed. An example of this would be corn. Instead of spraying the pesticides that repel or kill insects over the top of corn stalks, they found that it was easier to simply insert the pesticide directly into the corn. Now it does not take a genius to figure out that if the sole purpose of the pesticide is to kill the insects that eat it, it is probably not the best thing to be putting into our bodies. In Genesis God looked at everything that He had made, and He called it “good.” I am of the opinion that man is not able to take what God has created and called good and improve upon that. 

So, where does Einkorn fit into all of this? Wheat has been both genetically modified and hybrid. However genetically modified flour it is not available for sale in the United States, yet. However, hybrid wheat is. As a matter of fact, all the food that contains wheat products that we purchase from major retailers is from wheat that has been hybrid. To understand what this means we need to understand the basic genetic makeup of wheat. Wheat is a diploid. This simply means that, like humans, it has two sets of chromosomes. One set of chromosomes is from its mother plant and one set is from the father plant. It receives 7 chromosomes from the father plant and seven chromosomes from the mother plant for a total of 14 chromosomes. However, all the wheat products that we purchase from stores, retailers and bakeries has a total of 42 chromosomes. This is because it is a hybrid of a hybrid. Remember earlier when I was explaining about how making a hybrid doubles it number of chromosomes? So, if you take number 14 and double it you end up with 28. If you add 14 more to that number, you end up with 42, this makes modern wheat a hybrid of a hybrid. This is why gluten intolerance seems to be a relatively new phenomenon. The majority of human beings never struggled to digest wheat until we began altering its genetic makeup in our labs. There is only one wheat that is pure and has never been altered or changed in any way and that is Einkorn wheat.