Emmer Wheat (Farro Dicocco)

Emmer spelled (Triticum dicoccum), also known as Emmer, medium spelled or commonly just spelled, is a cereal, a close relative of wheat. It is one of three species of the genus Triticum commonly called spelt. It was one of the first eight crops made cultivable

The first mentions of this cereal are found in the Mesopotamia of the third millennium, and later also in the Bible. Spelled flour was the basis of the diet of the Latin populations.

Spelt bread was consumed jointly by the spouses in the cumfarreatio rite, the most solemn form of marriage in ancient Rome.

Spelt also grows on soils poor in nutritional elements, in hilly areas between 300 and 1,000 m above sea level. Sowing takes place in autumn, on previously prepared soil, using dressed seed. The preparation of the soil does not use herbicides. The plant is robust and does not require chemical fertilizers or pesticides, being resistant to cold, diseases and weeds.

The harvest, later than that of wheat, is carried out in summer with normal machines also used for threshing wheat.

This cereal is commercially available in two forms: hulled spelled and pearled spelled. Spelled is a "dressed" cereal, as the glumette, the external film of the grain, rich in fibre, is very adherent and therefore is not eliminated by the normal refining with cylindrical rollers to which wheat is subjected. Hulled spelled retains the pericarp intact, which is instead eliminated in pearled spelled, which has a much lighter color and cooks in a decidedly shorter time. The polished spelled grain can be further ground for the preparation of pasta, bread or biscuits. Spelled flour is also used in the confectionery industry.