Introduction

Freekeh, wild wheats and ancient grains have re-emerged into our culinary landscape as we connect again with the importance of our agricultural heritage.

In this book I will lead you into the discovery and cultivation of wild wheats and ancient grains over the passage of time, and methods of early farming. Over the course of 10,000 years, our knowledge of these ancient grains and cereals, the history of bread, loaves and artisan bakers, together with biblical citations of freekeh, wheat and barley, will be explored, and we will look at the domestication of wild wheats from within the ‘cradle of civilisation’. The dawn of agriculture saw the farming of wild wheat, barley and millet, and marked the transition from hunter-gathering to crop husbandry. This all took place in the region that was known as the Fertile Crescent, spanning the countries from the mouth of the river Nile to the northern tip of the Persian Gulf. This includes Israel, Palestine, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Egypt and covers centuries of agricultural, anthropological and culinary history.