# einkorn wheat
## English
### Alternative forms

* einkorn

### Etymology

Borrowed from German Einkorn (literally “single grain”).

### Noun

einkorn wheat (countable and uncountable, plural einkorn wheats)
* A type of wheat, characterised by the presence of a single grain in each spikelet, that was cultivated in the Fertile Crescent and was one of the first grains to be domesticated; any subtype of said wheat, considered as a unit; in particular, the domesticated form.
    Synonym: little spelt
    Coordinate terms: emmer, spelt, farro
    Hypernym: hulled wheat
** 2001, Bruce D. Smith, Chapter 6: The Transition to Food Production, Gary M. Feinman, T. Douglas Price (editors), Archaeology at the Millennium: A Sourcebook, Springer, 2007, Softcover, page 207,
    A team of researchers from Norway, Germany, and Italy, for example, has recently pinpointed the particular populations of modern wild einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum subsp. boeoticum) that best fit the profile of those stands that probably gave rise about 10,000 years ago in the Near East to domesticated einkorn (Heun et al., 1997).
** 2006, Terence A. Brown, Sarah Lindsay, Robin G. Allaby, “Chapter 9: Using Modern Landraces of Wheat to Study the Origins of European Agriculture”, in Timothy J. Motley, Nyree Zerega, Hugh Cross, editors, Darwin's Harvest: New Approaches to the Origins, Evolution, and Conservation of Crops, Columbia University Press, page 197:In Southwest Asia, cereals were among the first plants to be domesticated, with einkorn wheat (Triticum monococcum L.), emmer wheat (T. dicoccum Schiibl.), and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) present at farming sites dating to the 9th millennium BC (Bell, 1987; Kislev, 1992; Zohary and Hopf, 2000).
** 2011, Nancy H. Demand, The Mediterranean Context of Early Greek History‎, Wiley (Wiley-Blackwell), page 17:Nevertheless, since some plants and animals were more amenable to domestication and more useful (the “founder crops” of emmer and einkorn wheat, barley, lentil, pea, chickpea, bitter vetch (Zohary and Hopf 2000); and sheep, goats, and pigs), its origin and spread within that region can be traced.
** 2013, Winnie Abramson, One Simple Change: Surprisingly Easy Ways to Transform Your Life, Chronicle Books, page 56:If and when you do eat carbohydrate-rich foods like noodles, try to choose those made with Einkorn wheat or a wheat alternative, and be sure to eat them with protein and healthy fat, so they don't raise your blood sugar too much.
** 2014, Anne Bergeret et al., “2: Valorization of Agricultural By-Products in Poly(Lactic Acid) to Develop Biocomposites”, in Vijay Kumar Thakur, editor, Green Composites from Natural Resources, Taylor & Francis (CRC Press), page 14:Wheat refers to genus Triticum, of which a great number of species are cultivated. Einkorn wheat is one of them and refers to the genus Triticum monococcum. It is one of the earliest cultivated forms of wheat and its husks enclose the grains tightly. The husking process of Einkorn wheat is shown in Figure 2.1.

#### Usage notes

* A distinction commonly made (such as in the context of taxonomy) is that between wild and domesticated forms. This and similar distinctions are made complicated by the lengthy historical process of domestication, the details of which remain unclear.
* There are two distinct approaches to the taxonomy of wheat types in general (and thus of einkorn wheat in particular).
** The traditional approach distinguishes types at the species level. In this approach, the wild and domesticated forms of einkorn wheat are respectively classified as Triticum boeoticum and Triticum monococcum.
** The genetic approach classifies types as different subspecies. In this approach, the wild and domesticated forms are respectively classified as Triticum monococcum subsp. boeoticum and Triticum monococcum subsp. monococcum.

#### See also

* Appendix:Grains

### Further reading

* Wheat on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* Taxonomy of wheat on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* Triticum on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
* Triticum monococcum on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
* Triticum monococcum on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
* Triticum boeoticum on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons