Unlocking the Potential of Ancient Grains: Health Benefits and Food Applications
A special issue of Foods (ISSN 2304-8158). This special issue belongs to the section "Grain".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026 | Viewed by 2096
Special Issue Editors
Interests: wheat; minor cereals; cereal quality; gluten; gluten intolerances; gluten-free; pasta; cereals processing; bioactive compounds; functional foods; plant biotechnology; breeding for quality
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Interests: wheat; cereal quality; pasta; cereals processing; cereal technology; bioactive compounds; functional foods; malt; beer; cereal pathology; vegetable milks
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
The need for agro-food biodiversity, as well as the contemporary consumer demand for traditional healthy foods, has driven renewed interest in ancient grains. Even though they have been around for centuries, old species and varieties of cereals and legumes have been widely promoted in recent years to exploit their nutritional, technological, sensorial and healthy (real or alleged) properties, taking into account their intrinsic cultural and historic value. Ancient species and varieties have unique genetic makeups compared to modern counterparts due to many years of adaptation to their original growing conditions, although their superior healthy properties remain a controversial issue due to the fragmentation of scientific knowledge. Ancient grains can represent a valuable source of income for supply-chain actors, such as farmers, food producers and retailers. In particular, the food industry has been attracted by these commodities and is investing in the production of innovative foods using these grains either as raw or functional ingredients. In this Special Issue, we will publish innovative research and review papers about the rediscovery of ancient grains; their technological, biochemical and nutritional characteristics; and tests of their suitability for use in innovative food products that meet the needs of health-conscious consumers to encourage the use of niche raw materials. New raw materials, new functional ingredients, up-cycling of waste materials, and in vivo experiments to test the effects of the consumption of these grains will be addressed in this Special Issue. Predictions of product quality, adopting chemometric, multi-variate and statistical data analysis approaches, are welcomed. Tools (e.g., focus groups, surveys, and semi-structured interviews) that help us to identify the factors that affect the adoption of ancient grains at different stages of the value chain, as well as identify opportunities for their expansion, will be further addressed in this Special Issue.
Dr. Laura Gazza
Dr. Francesca Nocente
Guest Editors
Manuscript Submission Information
Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Foods is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.
Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.
Keywords
- cereals
- legumes
- landraces
- populations
- associations
- sustainability
- agro-food biodiversity
- healthy diets
- agroecology
- value chain
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