Courtesy of Elisheva Kaufman:

Abundant remains of wheat were found by in the early 1970s by Prof. Yigal Yadin (translator of the Dead Sea Scrolls) at Masada, overlooking the Dead Sea in the Judean Mountains. The grains were stored in earthern jars when Masada was the royal palace of King Herod, from -37 to 73 CE. It is rare to be identify archeobotanic material to the level of a specific variety. The shape of the carbonized wheat rachis, the inner spin that holds the kernels and the kernels themselves from Masada were identified by Israeli plant-archeologist M. Kislev as Jaluli and Hourani.

Eli Rogosa, an artisan baker and researcher in Eretz Israeli foods and farming, succeeded in finding living wheat of these ancient heritage wheats by searching in genebanks world-wide. They were found in the collection of Nikolai Vavilov, a reknowned plant explorer who combed southern Fertile Crescent for rare varieties in the 1930s. Vavilov reported on the robust traits and exceptional flavor of Hourani in his paper on wheat breeding. The Masada wheats, through rare, are still grown today in remote Arab villages in Jordan and Palestine. Local farmers report that their flavor is wonderful, and the breads stay fresher longer than modern wheat varieties.

Eli is now growing and comparing the yield and flavor of traditional wheats with the modern varieties at at the Volcani Institute under the supervision of the Israel Genebank. The ancient varieties found at Masada, Jaljuli and Hourani, have scored highest in robust growth in the first year of trials.

This Shavout, after wheat harvest, grain weight per plant will be compared, and traditional breads will be baked once again in Israel from these ancient wheats in Eli’s wood-fired clay oven bakery in the Judean Mountains. To learn more about this delicious project and regional ‘Seeds for Peace’ cooperation, visit the website of the Israel Seed Conservancy <growseed.org/isc.html>.