an ancient grain is making a comeback spelt is a close cousin of wheat that was first used in biblical times spelt can be used the same way as wheat and many health-conscious consumers are rediscovering this grain for its high protein content and diverse spectrum of other nutrients and joining us today is DJ Stinchcomb did I get it right get it right from purity foods that's a tough one a manufacturer of spelt products welcome to the program thanks for having me appreciate it so I have to ask you what attracted you to working in the spelt industry well it's kind of funny my father bought the bought the purity foods out about 20 years ago and I was in a medical and pharmaceutical industry for a long time doing my thing and it gave me a good opportunity to get into this field and I actually have wheat sensitivities of my own so it kind of really mirrored what we were about as a company being a small business my brother runs the operation side my dad's a president on VP of Sales and Marketing small company that really believes in what we do with the ancient grain 90% of our business is was spelt specifically and only spell so it's a family affair right right so how does spelt differ from modern wheat I have some here which I picked these up from Whole Foods right this is the the spelt and you were nice enough to bring us some I don't know what you call this that's how it looks when it's grown in the field a spell train I guess would write called right and this is the flour correct so how does it differ from modern wheat why would I want to use this overusing wheat or should I use one over the other sure it's a good question how it differs it's not been hybridized it has been over processed with there's over 34,000 different varieties of wheat out there since the 1950s that's how many have been hybridized when there's only 19 different species of wheat in nature so it's been changed so dramatically and so so much that our bodies are mean recognizing what modern industrialized weak really is spelt is 2,000 years older than wheat it hasn't been it hasn't been tampered with by man and it's much more easier on the system to eat it has more nutria somnus it has more nutrients to eat and it's much more better much better for you to eat I was doing a little research and I noticed that it has manganese phosphorus vitamin B magnesium and copper so there's a lot of of nutrients additional nutrients in spelt so it's definitely something that would be good to add to keep a diet with a lot of variety since spelt is as you say it has a lot of nutrition superiority to wheat I guess in your opinion why did it fall by the wayside well when spelled has grown in the field as you see it it only has about 70 percent of that is what can be extracted and used in the final process so farmers out there when they're growing modernized wheat now they'll grow a hundred pounds of that and typically that can be turned into a hundred pounds of flour with spelt there's about 70 percent waste because the haul is much different than in a regular hybridized wheat so it's a lot different so a lot of farmers went to that because they want higher yields make more cash crops on their acres that they're farming so spelt was kind of left in the dust so to say when everything was starting to become hybridized now tell us about some of the products that you brought with you and and how it's used and what are these tastes like sure we this is our private line to buy to spell and we launched a new line in 2013 called nature's legacy we have the flour we have the two five pound flowers and white and whole-grain and we do it an organic or non-organic we have pretzels at organic we also have spelt sesame sticks we have whole-grain pastas white pastas in the the Longo's and the short goods variety sesame sticks some other type of snacking food that we also offer and we offer those in organic or non-organic as well now when you're cooking those spelt pasta is there anything different from cooking traditional wheat pasta that you have to do is at the same time or how does that work it actually with the pasta it actually cooks a little bit quicker there's less enzyme inhibitors that are in spelt and that are in wheat and it cooks much more quickly much more rapidly and probably when you're looking at the pastas about four to five minutes cook time on a white maybe six minutes on a whole-grain compared to maybe 12 minutes on a industrialized modern I modern-day wheat that you beating in a whole grain setting and I do want to point out to our viewers that YouTube is a great place to look about to how to use spelt I went on there when I was researching researching this segment and people were cooking spelt bread and you do have to add a few extra step you a few different steps right to traditional bread but definitely check out YouTube and I think buying the spelt products if you're not somebody who likes to bake might be an easier way to go because baking bread is a little bit of right it it takes a special person who wants to put that time in it's delicious but if you want to get the food quickly if you want to get these nutrients quick grab a sesame stick I think probably a better way to grow um now what does it taste like the taste is what I get for most people especially when they taste a pretzel that's easy to be sampled they'll say it tastes like a pretzel it there's no other taste I would say with the pastas though it might be a little bit more of a rich taste a little bit harder ever taste maybe with the whole-grain pasta too but we probably the best tasting whole grain pasta on the market and the best for you there's only two ingredients in it I mean you have the spelt flour and water so I don't know how much more natural you can get than out when you're looking to really clean out and have a good diet any good pasta that would be a nice snack or a nice main dish I want to point out to our viewers if you do have celiac disease or a gluten intolerance please consult your doctor first before trying these because this is in the wheat family and it does have gluten in it so you definitely want to consult your physician before trying introducing any new foods into your diet and and how can people reach you if they want more information about where these products are and how to use them sure we're carried in a lot of local bigger stores like a Whole Foods format or a mustard seed or even a Marc's here in the local Cleveland area and also you can go to our website which is either purity purity foods calm or WWH ours legacy four life.com and that will take you right there we can supply you we can ship right to your house from from online wonderful and there's a lots of good recipes on there too thanks so much for being with us well right back with more mind body and spirit