More than two and a half years ago, we blogged about an interesting Italian study we had stumbled upon in our never-ending search for cool info about grains. In this study, researchers showed that it's possible to render wheat technically gluten-free when it undergoes a slow lacto-fermentation with specific lacto-bacilli and fungi. The wheat started out life with a normal 75,000 ppm (parts per million) of gluten, but after the sourdough fermentation process, gluten levels were only 12 ppm. And remember, under the new gluten-free labeling laws, anything under 20 ppm is considered gluten free.
What's going on here? In short, gluten (found in wheat, rye, barley and triticale) is one of the world's more difficult-to-digest proteins. For most of us, the fact that we can't break it down completely isn't a problem; it passes through our bodies harmlessly. For others it causes medical problems. However, if natural "good" bacteria and fungi have already pre-digested the gluten, its problematic potential seems to disappear.
Still intrigued by this study, we recently checked in by email with corresponding author Marco Gobbetti, Professor of Food Microbiology at the University of Bari in Italy to see what was new in his team's research — which we'll share in today's blog in Q&A form.
To read the rest of the story, please go to: Oldways Preservation Trust/Whole Grains Council
