Quality and Sustainability Feed

Green. Aromatic. Unique: Green spelt – trend raw material

Green spelt is much more than early harvested spelt! What’s behind the unique aromatic raw material with a long tradition and how it can be best processed in baked goods, you will learn in our IREKS IQ-Centre informs edition “All about green spelt”.

Necessity is the mother of invention – and the history of green spelt is a good example for it! Almost 400 years ago, farmers from Germany tried to save their spelt harvest during prolonged periods of adverse weather by taking their spelt from the field early and then preserving it by drying it over beechwood smoke. As the grain kernels were not yet fully developed at that time, the green spelt had initially no baking ability and was added to soup.

In the meantime, however, people know more about what to do with this trend raw material! In combination with flours with good baking properties, green spelt rounds off the taste of baked goods with its hearty, smoky aroma, giving them an unmistakable character.

As in the past, spelt of the variety “Bauländer Spelz” is still used, which is grown and processed in specific regions of southern Germany. Only this type of grain may later also bear the protected designation of origin “Fränkischer Grünkern”. That is why we rely on cooperation with contract farmers from these regions. Their knowledge of this centuries-old tradition is still decisive today for determining the right point of harvest – the transition from the milk ripening phase to dough maturity of the grains – and the sophisticated further processing.

Even though the historic green spelt kilns have been replaced by modern drying towers: beechwood smoke is still used for drying. In modern methods, a heated air-smoke mixture is constantly circulating around the early harvested spelt in drying towers and dries it in this way.

The result is a trend raw material that fulfils consumer needs for naturalness, authenticity, taste and an impressive story. You can find even more information about green spelt in our edition of IREKS IQ informs (PDF, 725 KB)!