What is Kamut?
“Time interval is a strange and contradictory matter in the mind. It would be reasonable to suppose that a routine time or an eventless time would seem interminable. It should be so, but it is not. It is the dull eventless times that have no duration whatever. A time slashed with interest, wounded in tragedy, crevassed with joy– that’s the time that seems long in the memory.”
East of Eden, John Steinbeck
Inspiration
What is Kamut? I had never heard of Kamut until my brother Nick made the introduction. Kamut is a high protein grain with a sweet, nutty, rich buttery taste. Nick grinds all his own whole grain flour in a burr grinder, by hand: Kamut, spelt, soft wheat and red wheat. Even more surprising is that I was unaware he has been grinding his own flour for almost twenty years! Where has the time gone? I was actually shocked. Clearly, I need to spend more time with my brother. When we both lived in Salinas, we used to bake together from The Tassajara Bread Book, by Edward Espe Brown. We both have kept our original copies, which are well worn from lots of baking. The years have flown by. We married, had families, worked and didn’t really stay in touch. When we visited, our conversations were never centered around food. Recently, when we talked about cooking and my blog, he shared his passion for whole grains as a source of protein and its importance in our diet. Nick and his wife Nancye make fresh yeast rolls for their breakfast from a mix of freshly ground flours. When he sent me samples of his marvelous flours, it was Kamut that that I found inspiring. Kamut is the trademarked name for an ancient grain, Khorasan wheat. It’s history and current production is described in this video. If Kamut flour is not available to you locally, the web site has a list of sources. You won’t be disappointed!
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