Farro refers to the

grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and legumes ...

of three

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

species, which are sold dried and cooked in water until soft. It is eaten plain or is often used as an ingredient in salads, soups, and other dishes.

Definition

Farro is an

ethnobotanical Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for m ...

term for three species of hulled wheat: spelt (''Triticum spelta''),

emmer Emmer wheat or hulled wheat is a type of awned wheat. Emmer is a tetraploid (4''n'' = 4''x'' = 28 chromosomes). The domesticated types are ''Triticum turgidum'' subsp. ''dicoccum'' and ''Triticum turgidum ''conv.'' durum''. The wild plant is ...

(''Triticum dicoccum''), and

einkorn Einkorn wheat (from German ''Einkorn'', literally "single grain") can refer either to a wild species of wheat (''Triticum'') or to its domesticated form. The wild form is '' T. boeoticum'' (syn. ''T. m.'' ssp. ''boeoticum''), the domesticated ...

(''Triticum monococcum''). Hulled wheat is wheat that cannot be threshed. In Italian cuisine, the three species are sometimes distinguished as ''farro grande,'' ''farro medio,'' and ''farro piccolo''. In French the three species are sometimes distinguished as ''grand épeautre'', ''moyen épeautre'' and ''petit épeautre'' — épeautre being French for spelt. Emmer is the most common variety of farro grown in Italy, specifically in certain mountain regions of Tuscany and Abruzzo. It is also considered to be of higher quality for cooking than the other two grains and thus is sometimes called "true" farro. Spelt is much more commonly grown in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Confusion about the terminology for these three wheat varieties is generated by the difficult history in the

taxonomy of wheat During 10,000 years of cultivation, numerous forms of wheat, many of them hybrids, have developed under a combination of artificial and natural selection. This diversity has led to much confusion in the naming of wheats. This article explains how ...

and by colloquial and regional uses of the term ''farro''. For example, emmer grown in the

Garfagnana The Garfagnana () is a historical and geographical region of central Italy, today part of the province of Lucca, in Tuscany. It is the upper valley or basin of the river Serchio, and thus lies between the main ridge of the Northern Apennines t ...

region of

Tuscany it, Toscano (man) it, Toscana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Citizenship , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = Italian , demogra ...

will be colloquially known as ''farro''. Also, some English speakers assume ''farro'' refers to steamed or boiled grain presented as salad and similar dishes rather than to the three grains themselves. Farro is sometimes inaccurately referred to as "spelt" in English, neglecting that the term refers to all three grains – emmer, einkorn, and spelt.

Etymology

The Italian word ''farro'' derives from the presumed Latin word ''farrum'', from Standard Latin ''far, farris n''.: a kind of wheat (as in farina). ''Far'', in turn, derives from the Indo-European root ''*bʰar-es-'': (spelt), which also gave rise to the English word barley, Albanian ''bar'': grass, Old Church Slavonic брашьно (''brašĭno''): flour, and Greek Φήρον (''phḗron''): plant deity.

References

{{Cereals Cereals Italian cuisine Wheat cultivars

Definition

Etymology

See also

References