Khorasan Turanicum Wheat

According to a scientific model, its cultivation started from the Near East and headed towards Europe around 9500 years ago with a penetration speed of around one km per year across the coasts of the Eastern Mediterranean, arriving in Italy only a thousand years later.

This brief and introductory historical scientific framework tells us that:

The three genetic lines progenitors of modern cereals are already widespread throughout the Mediterranean area;

Triticum turgidum turanicum (Khorasan) is none other than one of the countless varieties of tetraploid grains that have evolved over time, but economically less advantageous according to the criteria of modern intensive agriculture (since it has a lower yield), therefore abandoned and subsequently recovered for its nutritional qualities.

Furthermore, the two speciesT. turgidumandT. polonicum, which are most often referred to when speaking of Khorasan wheat, were already well known by the end of the 1700s

Since then many authors have always confirmed the existence of these two species and it is right to say, speaking of Khorasan, that this is a grain today valued for its peculiar nutritional characteristics. This is to avoid attributing unfounded origins due to the impossible discovery of ancient seeds in Egyptian tombs, considering that a seed well preserved in a vacuum (with modern techniques) lasts a maximum of 30 months, imagine if it would have been preserved for 3000 years!

It was therefore not found in the tombs of Ancient Egypt, although it was also partly cultivated in the regions of Anatolia and in marginal areas of Asia and northern Africa.

To this day, the actual origin of Khorasan wheat remains uncertain, just as the origins of Triticum are generally uncertain.

Already in 1651 it was described as a grain with particularly large and long kernels, but only in 1681 was it named asT. polonicum.

Initially Khorasan was erroneously attributed to T. polonicum while since 2009 it has been attributed to T. turgidum turanicum.

In reality, reading Professor Percival's publications (1921), there would be a third variety associated with turgidum turanicum. This is defined as "oriental wheat" and places its origin in the Iranian region. The morphological characteristics of this species are different from those of T. turgidum and T. polonicum, but it is best to follow the provisions of the USDA (United States Departments of Agriculture). Among the varieties of wheat, it is the one that appeared most recently since there is no evidence of its existence prior to the first half of the 17th century.