We have just harvested the spelt that we grow for Roger Saul at Sharpham Park in Shepton Mallett to transform into organic spelt flour and other organic goodies. The field looks amazing, I walked the dogs across there tonight and the views are breathtaking. Spelt is an ancient relative of wheat, recorded back as far as 8,000 B.C. (read more on wikipedia).
A lot of people who cannot tolerate wheat in thier diet can eat bread and biscuits made from spelt flour, its easily digested in comparison with its modern cousin.
The ears of spelt are quite different from wheat, much tighter and harder to extract the kernal.
Our good friend John “I don’t believe in all this organic rubbish” Binnie has bought all the organic wheat straw for his cattle and sheep in Staple Fitzpaine and he is collecting the straw over the weekend.
I do love it when, over a nice cup of organic coffee or a local pint from Cotleigh Brewery he starts disparaging the credentials of the Soil Association – he thinks we’re all completely barking mad, organic fanatics – determine to take over the world! The truth is though John, its better for the whole world to be farming organically and, with massive population increases over the next 30-40 years we need to be all be working towards our food being supplied locally, organic and seasonal. These three words are the most important change that we will have to make when we eventually get around to reorganising our outdated food system, set up after the war – it just does not hold up in the very different world we live in today.
<deep breath in…….and relax> …ok, end of rant. Have a look at these pictures below – you have to agree that there is nowhere more beautiful than English countryside when the sun is shining…
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Hi Lizzie
I live in South Africa and I am planning to grow spelt this winter, this will be my first experiment with spelt. I don’t yet own a farm but there is some empty land outside my property that I will experiment on. What I would like to ask is how do I de-hull the spelt? I will be growing a fairly small crop so will be harvesting it by hand and I was wondering if there is any way to de-hull it without using machinery?
Kind regards
Angeleen
Hello Angeleen,
Thank you for getting in touch.
Spelt is incredibly difficult to de-hull (even with machinery!) – the difference in price is about £100 per tonne for husk on/off which is a fairly good indication of the effort involved.
It’s a variety of grain that was used in ancient Egypt so there must have been a non-mechanical way of de-hulling once upon a time.
I found a quote which states: “the most common way of removing the husk of spelt is abrading by abrasive wheels, however there may be some damage to the outer layer of the seed”.
We will investigate and see if there are any more method suggestions – in the meantime, good luck, and let me know if you find any alternatives.
Warm regards,
Lizzie