Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
On the Verge of
Extinction
heat whispers the journeys of the people who planted them: the
village traditions, the trading and migrations that are kneaded
into our breads. The heritage wheat of North America originated in the
majestic landraces of the Fertile Crescent and Old Europe. When people
immigrated to the New World, they brought cherished landrace seeds from
their homeland. These are the wheats that nourished earlier peoples, but
today they are almost lost, replaced by modern Green Revolution wheat
dependent on agrochemicals to survive.
For the past 12,000 years farmers have selected seed, generation by
generation, to develop the landrace1 wheats that nourished civilizations.
Landrace wheats have robust root systems that reach out to absorb organic
nutrients, height that shades out encroaching weeds, root exudates that
suppress the weeds (no herbicides needed), complex resistances to local
diseases, and incomparable flavor. Yet who today has heard of a landrace?
Today genetic management of wheat has shifted to the hands of industrial breeders who have replaced landraces worldwide with patented
commercial varieties that are bred for uniformity in agrochemical-soaked
fields. Modern wheats narrow genetic base leaves them vulnerable to disease and lacking adaptability to the weather extremes of drought and heavy
rain. Global warming looms menacingly. Industrial wheat, the most widely
grown crop on the planet, is a teetering monocrop that has been fine-tuned
for predictable weather in computer-controlled mega-farms; dwarfed for
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Durum
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12
Spring
(excl. durum)
49
97
Insecticides
19
Winter
Fungicides
Herbicides
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0
10
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30
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50
60
70
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acceptable for daily human consumption.7 In the article The Truth about
Roundup and Wheat,8 Monsanto explains that their labels instructions for
glyphosate advise to use it two weeks prior to harvest so that the poison has
ample time to break down. Monsanto states that absolutely no poison can be
absorbed into the wheat kernel. This comes as little reassurance.
What Is Gluten?
Legend attributes the discovery of gluten to Buddhist monks who observed
that when bread dough was immersed in water, the starchy flour washed
away, leaving an elastic glob of gluten. This food, known as seitan, is a
high-protein fare enjoyed through the centuries by monks.
Gluten is the protein-rich molecular matrix that transforms a mixture
of flour and water into an elastic, responsive dough.16As dough rises due to
the air bubbles generated by yeast microorganisms, gluten holds the dough
together, giving bread its shape and fluffy, crumbly texture. Gluten consists
of gliadin and glutenin. Gliadin and glutenin differ in the size and weight
of their molecules. Modern bread wheat has been bred for a higher proportion of high-molecular-weight glutenin, which imparts elastic dough
strength. Wheat landraces that have not been industrially bred have less
glutenin, and therefore a more fragile gluten structure. It is not exactly the
same as having less gluten. Most have very high gluten content. Einkorns
delicate gluten has a different quality from all other wheats because it is the
only grain classified as a wheat that did not evolve from wild emmer wheat
(Triticum dicoccoides).
How is gluten developed?
Physical kneading strengthens gluten adhesion by stretching and folding
for a cross-linked, cohesive mass with greater bonding. The dough starts
out lumpy and gradually bonds smoothly together with spring-back if
poked. When gluten is well developed, the dough will stretch into a paperthin film without breaking.
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