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Farmers once whimsically called it "King Tut's wheat" because of its Egyptian pedigree and the husk's wispy, goat-hair-like pharaoh's "beard." Then, in the 1990s, it began to morph from county-fair curio to staple of the organic-manic Birkenstock set.

Now Kamut, the heirloom wheat with bountiful nutritional qualities and a transcendental flavour reminiscent of sweetly nutty, preindustrial flour, is the hottest carbohydrate in food-obsessed Italy.

"If you eat it once, you feel the difference, and it's very difficult to go back to the standard durum wheat pasta," said Riccardo Felicetti, part-owner of Pastificio Felicetti SRL, a premium pasta maker based in Predazzo, north of Venice. "Kamut pasta is going strong and it's growing every day."

Mr. Felicetti, who imports his Kamut (pronounced kah-MOOT) from Saskatchewan, where most of the world's supply is grown, turns it into a variety of premium products, such as spaghetti and penne, which retail in Italy for up to $5 for a 500-gram box. That's roughly five times the price of the best-selling regular brand made from durum wheat, the standard hard-grain variety used in pasta and also known as macaroni wheat.

In the United States, Mr. Felicetti's top-end pastas sell in gourmet shops for a whopping $7 (U.S.) for a 500-gram box, while in Canada, where he began exporting a more affordable line two months ago, the price ranges from $3.49 (Canadian) to $4.

"In eight years, Italy has become the leading country of consumption," said Bob Quinn, a Montana farmer and president of the Kamut Association, a trade group of about 150 growers in Saskatchewan as well as Montana and Alberta. "It's going great guns. They are eating 43 per cent of everything grown now in the world."

From pasta to bread sticks to crackers to beer to soy-type "milk" beverages, Italian factories now are churning out 1,100 of the world's 1,400 commercial Kamut products, up from zero in 1999. The latest innovation: pizza. "That's just getting started," Mr. Quinn said.

One reason for Kamut's Italian invasion is flavour. An ancestor of modern durum wheat, Kamut - in contrast to spelt, another alternative grain and distant cousin of wheat - yields a pliable but elastic dough with all the chewy character of durum.

Some say the taste is better than that of regular durum because Kamut, which yields about a third the grain quantity per acre, hasn't been bred for high output and ease of harvesting at the cost of flavour.

"I find its flavour rich, nutty, sweet - but not as in sugary - more mellow and satisfying," said Giuliano Hazan, a cookbook author who recently won the International Association of Culinary Professionals' 2007 award for cooking teacher of the year.

Mr. Hazan, who runs a cooking school in Italy (Giulianohazan.com), says he has been cooking with Kamut for about two years and finds Kamut-based pastas more forgiving in the kitchen. "It does not overcook as easily as other pastas," he said.

Needless to say, great-tasting pasta is an obsession in Italy, where the average person consumes 28 kilograms annually and where noodles are typically more scantily sauced than in North America.

Kamut's more demonstrable and widely publicized virtue, nutritional superiority, is also winning a higher rate of converts in carb-centric Italy. Not only is the grain higher in protein (by 40 per cent), vitamins and minerals, it contains much more selenium, a natural antioxidant proven to lower the risk of prostate cancer.

And, most striking of all, Kamut, though a wheat, can be consumed by most people with durum-wheat sensitivities because it has not been genetically refined. That has made it the darling of naturopathic Italian doctors, who, according to Mr. Quinn, seem more predisposed to prescribing alternative foods in treating allergies.

Kamut's ascendance to the dolce vita lifestyle is an unlikely turn for a grain that was virtually lost to time 60 years ago. According to prevailing legend, U.S. airman Earl Deadman returned to Montana in 1949 or 1950 with a handful of grain he'd received from a friend who claimed it was discovered in a pharaoh's tomb.

Curious local farmers started growing novelty plots, dubbing it Giant Wheat for its tall, harvester-unfriendly stalks and large, banana-shaped kernels.

The enterprising Mr. Quinn eventually planted some at his family ranch in Big Sandy, Mont., and earned his first sale at an organic food show in 1986, when a San Diego health food store agreed to take all the grain he could produce.

In 1989, Mr. Quinn seized on the idea of getting a trademark for a new name of the grain, which had been generically known by the original Persian name khorasan. By branding his product Kamut, an ancient Egyptian word for wheat that he pulled out of a hieroglyphic dictionary from the library, he could control the supply and ensure all the grain sold under the name was organic and 100-per-cent pure.

Organically inclined farmers in Montana, and then Saskatchewan and Alberta, started licensing the Kamut name. Eventually, three companies were formed to market their output, which accounts for all of the world's Kamut.

Production this year will reach 12,000 hectares and sales are growing at 12 to 15 per cent a year, Mr. Quinn says, although the rate is much higher in Italy.

"It's really growing like wildfire," he said.

Kamut, broccoli rabe and sausage medley

If you're a fan of broccoli rabe, this combination will appeal to you for a casual, lusty supper. Kamut, with its mild, buttery taste, makes a good foil for the intense flavours of sausage and broccoli rabe.

What you need

1 bunch broccoli rabe

1 tablespoon olive oil

3 fully cooked Italian-style chicken or turkey sausages, diced

1/3 cup chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes

2 cups cooked Kamut

Pinch crushed red pepper flakes (optional)

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

Salt to taste

Grated Romano cheese, for garnish

What you do

Holding the broccoli rabe in a bunch, trim off and discard the root ends. Cut the stems into two-centimetre pieces. Chop the leaves coarsely, attempting to keep the florets whole.

Heat the olive oil in a large, deep skillet. Stir in the sausage and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until the sausage is lightly browned, about three minutes.

Add ¾ cup water, sun-dried tomatoes, Kamut and crushed red pepper flakes (if using). Set half of the broccoli rabe on top, cover and cook over high heat for one minute, or until it wilts. Add the remaining broccoli rabe, cover and continue cooking until the broccoli rabe is tender, 4 to 7 minutes more. If the mixture becomes dry, add more water.

Stir in the vinegar and salt to taste. Pass the cheese in a bowl at the table for garnish.

Variation: Use kale instead of broccoli rabe.

Serves 3 to 4.

Recipe adapted from Whole Grains Every Day, Every Way by Lorna Sass (Clarkson Potter). Copyright Lorna Sass, 2006.