Tweet20-09-2011 om 08:30 by Sueli Brodin

I have always liked bread, in all its varieties of tastes and shapes, and find almost impossible to step out of a bakery shop with only one loaf of bread.

Since I came to live in the Netherlands, I have bread and cheese every day for lunch, just like the Dutch. Even in the weekend. When he is home for lunch, my Dutch husband prefers eating leftovers, but I stick to my delicious slices of bread and melted cheese.





A few years ago, during our summer holiday in the French Provence, I discovered a new local bread specialty called "Pain de la Drôme", made out of wheat and rye flour and spelt grains.





I was intrigued by the spelt grains in the bread and was conquered by their rich texture and nutty flavour. I had never seen them before and found out that they were an ancient wheat species that used to be widely cultivated in Europe up until the 20th century, when it was replaced by wheat. Nowadays spelt is slowly being revived, especially in the organic farming industry, and I never miss a chance to buy spelt products such as bread, pasta, cookies or flour whenever I come across them because I have grown very fond of the taste of spelt.



As luck would have it, it turns out that some farmers in South Limburg rediscovered spelt as an ancient local grain too and started cultivating it in the Kollenberg in Sittard. The Maastricht bakery De Bisschopsmolen uses spelt flour from the Kollenberg fields for all its production of bread and "vlaaien" and markets them as typical local specialties.



I like everything about spelt bread: its nutty and wholesome taste, its rich yet soft texture, but also the fact that it is made from an ancient grain which, by a strange coincidence, has been revived in two meaningful regions to me, South Limburg and the French Drôme Provençale.



On a few occasions, I let myself be tempted by the delicious fruit "vlaaien" made with spelt flour. I find them much tastier than the regular "vlaaien", because the spelt flour adds a much more subtle flavour to the the pastry.



My latest discovery is a pack of organic milk-like beverage made of spelt, which I recently found in an organic shop in Maastricht.

For some mysterious reason, I haven't tasted it yet. Maybe I'm just waiting for a special occasion to do it, because I think it will be heavenly.

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