Nowadays the use of the word “farro” is very common to indicate an ancient grain with peculiar healthy features. Markets and stores are full of shelfs with “farro” products and buying them people are sure to get a double right choice, as they will take home both taste, both nutritional quality.
What people do not know is that the word “farro” is a general term used to indicate an ancient variety of grain ancestor of all Triticum wheats and it includes three different species: Triticum monococcum, Triticum dicoccum and Triticum spelta. Triticum monococcum is commonly called einkorn or small farro and it is a diploid species; Triticum dicoccum is the emmer, a tetraploid grain and the most cultivated species of farro nowadays in the Mediterranean area; Triticum spelta is simply known as spelta or big farro: it is an exaploid species and the most spread in the North Europe. Until many years ago it was also the only species of farro known outside the Italian borders, where only recently was introduced the emmer, Triticum dicoccum.
Main feature of these species is that they are hulled wheats, as the kernels do not break free from its seed coat (glume) with threshing and it is difficult to separate the husk from the seed. They were the first cultivated wheats and the clear evidence of the domestication of einkorn dates from 10,000 years ago first in Egypt and then throughout the Mediterranean Baisin area.
All the three species of “farro” have healthy features among which the increased digestibility compared to other grains; despite this they contain gluten and are not suitable for people affected by coeliac disease. They also join a particular yellow-orange color of the seed (evident in particular in einkorn) due to the presence of carotenoids, above all lutein. They are rich in proteins, vitamins and mineral salts and their cultivation has a low environmental impact, as they can grow in poor and soil with no need of fertilizer treatments.
