Whole Grain Einkorn Pasta Made from World’s Most Ancient Wheat

When scientists unearthed the body of Ötzi, the Bronze Age man found perfectly preserved in a glacier in the Italian Alps in 1991, they discovered he had eaten an ancient species of wheat called Einkorn for his last meal. A group of Italian researchers became curious about the grain and started what would be more than a decade of discovery.

Jovial has now introduced the organic First Ever™ Whole Grain Einkorn Pasta, made from the world’s most ancient wheat, first cultivated 12,000 years ago. Einkorn was lost in time when new varieties of wheat with much higher yields were created by natural and commercial hybridization. 

“Jovial had its official start in 2010, but was idealized for many years,” said Carla Bartolucci, co-founder of Jovial. “It is our dream to change the future of agriculture by creating consumer demand for the purest, most ancient varieties of food. Our sustainable economic model focuses on farming first and then considers the entire process all the way through to the shelf. We believe the purest food we are all seeking can only come from the purest seed.”

Jovial Whole Grain Einkorn Pasta is available in five varieties: Rigatoni, Penne Rigate, Fusilli, Spaghetti and Linguine, range from $3.39-3.69 per 12 oz box, and are available at Whole Foods nationwide.

Ancient grains are inherently more nutritious than modern varieties. Einkorn is the most ancient wheat. It is more nutritious on many levels than modern organic wheat, and even outperforms other “superfoods” including the blueberry in its nutritional value.  Although Einkorn is a healthy source of dietary fiber, it does not have a grainy or gritty texture. Packed with protein, B vitamins and minerals, a meal with Einkorn pasta is very sustaining. It's:

• High in Thiamin, essential dietary and trace minerals.
  
• Good source of protein, dietary fiber and a number of B Vitamins.
  
• Higher Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity (ORAC-antioxidant capacities) twice that of durum and bread wheat.
  
• Higher content of tocotrienols than other species of wheat, a potent form of Vitamin E.
  
• Lower percentage of nutrient loss during processing
  
• One 2oz. serving contains as much of the antioxidant Lutein as a whole egg (which provides nutritional support to our eyes and skin).

“We believe that the future of our food is a thing of the past,” said Bartolucci. “We were so excited to discover that a food from ancient history was preserved in time and could still be grown today.”

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