Spelt Flour for Wheat allergy but not Celiac Disease?!?

When my daughter was dignosed with wheat, soy and dairy allergy 8 years ago, I cried at the doctor office. How could my daughter allergic to the 3 most common food groups? And how could my daughter ever get nitrients? To make myself feel better, I thought about my origin and thank you for it.


I am chinese so rice is in my major diet and thanks God that Kimi is not allergic to rice. Kimi is also not allergic to corn and potato. Therefore, kimi was able to use rice and corn products. The only problem I found was bread. The taste of non-wheat breads are not very appealing. They tend to be very heavy and they're rather hard for a little girl to swallow sometimes. There is also very little dessert choice out there, ice-cream, cookies, cake and cupcake etc are completely cut out from her diet. I often felt sorry for her not being able to be a little kids when she could not enjoy some common dessert.


Then one day, some major bread through; one of my co-worker a few years ago has a friend whom has a daughter also has the same allergy as my Kimi and he told me that his friend mentioned about spelt flour as substitute for wheat. Then I do more research on spelt. I have done some research before and I ruled spelt out because spelt is in wheat family. My daughter is very sensitive in term of what she eats; hence, I did not even want to try spelt flour even I have heard people with wheat allergy can somehow tolerate spelt. In addition, I don't bake. I burned everything I baked. However, after I did more research on spelt flour and connect with Jeanie, I converted. Jeanie baked a birthday cake in Dora theme for my daughter on her 3rd birthday and by seeing Kimi's face light up when she saw and ate the cake. My heart melted.


Spelt flour can be used as a good alternative for people who has wheat allergies; however, it is not suitable for Celiac Disease.

What is Spelt Flour?
Spelt (Triticum spelta) is a hexaploid species of wheat. Spelt was an important staple in parts of Europe from the Bronze Age to medieval times; it now survives as a relict crop in Central Europe and has found a new market as a health food. Spelt is sometimes considered a subspecies of the closely related species common wheat (T. aestivum), in which case its botanical name is considered to be Triticum aestivum subsp. spelta. - From Wikipedia

Spelt is similar to wheat in appearance. However, spelt has a tougher husk than wheat, which may help protect the nutrients in spelt. Spelt flour has a somewhat nuttier and slightly sweeter flavor than whole wheat flour. Spelt contains more protein than wheat, and the protein in spelt is easier to digest. This means that some people who are allergic to wheat may be able to tolerate spelt. Spelt has gluten, just like wheat, so spelt is not suitable for a gluten-free diet.

Spelt flour can replace whole wheat flour or whole grain flour in recipes for breads and pasta. Some people like to blend spelt flour with wheat flour. I have used spelt to make bread, rolls, sweet-breads, cookies, muffins, bagels, pretzels and I have used spelt to replace wheat in almost any recipes.

Spelt is becoming better known as a healthy grain, so spelt products like bread and pasta are easy to find in most health food stores. .- From About.com - articke By Shereen Jegtvig