Generally thought to be the most ancient of wheat varieties available today, einkorn is a diploid wheat with just two sets of chromosomes. While einkorn, with its hard-to-thresh hull, was abandoned as a mainstream crop, it’s still grown in Austria, southern France (where it’s called petit épeautre or “little spelt”), Italy (where it’s called farro piccolo or “little farro”), Germany, and some eastern European countries, in marginally fertile areas. 

More recently, farmers in Washington state and elsewhere are bringing drought-tolerant einkorn back into production in the U.S.