You’ve cooked your way through quinoa of every color, dabbled in amaranth and moved beyond millet. That farro and kale salad? It’s been in your dinner party rotation for at least two years.

But when was the last time you cooked up a pot of whole berry spelt? And have you ever tried einkorn, emmer or any of the other ancient, heirloom and obscure grains that are now becoming available at the greenmarket and specialty shops all over the country?

Even if you haven’t, chefs at New York’s high-end restaurants have — seduced by the same nutty, rich and earthy flavors and high nutritional content that lured our ancestors away from their millenniums-old diet of foraged berries and the occasional antelope. Home cooks would be wise to follow suit, because cooking with these grains, each with its own characteristics and nuance, can be a delectable endeavor.

(Read more about the types of ancient grains.)

For example, at Upland, there’s savory rye and emmer porridge beneath the osso buco. Chewy einkorn berries speckle a pleasingly textured pan sauce for chicken at Gramercy Tavern. Dan Barber stirs unpearled barley, buckwheat groats and spelt into a rice-free risotto at Blue Hill, while farther uptown at Eleven Madison Park, Daniel Humm crisps emmer in hot oil to use as a garnish for salads and vegetables. And at Semilla, Pamela Yung miraculously makes fermented whole grain oatmeal with brown butter and beets into a sublime dessert.