According to a news report from www.theprairiestar.com, “An ancient grain once forgotten in the global market has begun to regain popularity as new markets are discovering the potential found in the nutritious yet tasty Kamut grain.”
“Kamut, a trademark name used to market a relative to an ancient durum wheat, in which the kernels are twice the size of modern-day wheat, have better flavor and are more nutritious than modern wheat, according to organic farmer Bob Quinn of Big Sandy, Mont., who founded Kamut International in 1988,” said the story. “Kamut International, headquartered in Great Falls, Mont., experienced a 32-percent increase in Kamut sales in 2007 with 28 percent of the products being sold in the United States and Canada, and 72 percent sold in the European Union.”
“We’ve had a 60-percent growth rate in Italy alone,” said Quinn, who markets Kamut grain at food shows around the world. “They went from taking half of the market share to more than 60 percent of the global market share. They have developed 1,800 different products from Kamut grain, and there are only 2,000 products in the world – that’s about 90 percent coming from Italy.” The Italians have expressed great interest in creating a wide variety of Kamut products, replacing modern wheat varieties with the ancient durum-like variety, which Quinn grew from a handful of seeds his father found in 1978,” according to the article.
