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Triticum dicoccum
Also called Emmer Wheat, Hulled Wheat
Emmer is an ancient hulled wheat, one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East, now grown mainly as a relict crop in mountain areas. Its grains are eaten as bread, porridge and pilaf, and it tolerates poor soils and resists stem rust.
Emmer is a hybrid species of wheat. Along with einkorn, it was one of the first crops domesticated in the Near East. It was widely cultivated in the ancient world, but is now a relict crop in mountainous regions of Europe and Asia. Emmer is one of the three grains called farro in Italy.
The edible seeds have been used as food since ancient times. The domesticated types are Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccum and Triticum turgidum subsp. durum. The wild plant is called Triticum dicoccoides. The seeds have an awned covering, the sharp spikes helping the seeds to become buried in the ground. The principal difference between the wild and the domestic forms is that the ripened seed head of the wild plant shatters and scatters the seed onto the ground, while in the domesticated emmer, the seed head remains intact, thus making it easier to harvest the grain.
Today emmer is primarily a relict crop in mountainous areas. Its value lies in its ability to give good yields on poor soils, and its resistance to fungal diseases such as stem rust that are prevalent in wet areas. Emmer is grown in Armenia, Morocco, Spain (Asturias), the Carpathian mountains on the border of Czechia and Slovakia, Albania, Turkey, Switzerland, Germany, Greece and Italy. It is grown in the U.S. as a specialty product. In Ethiopia, the grain is traditional.
In Italy, uniquely, emmer cultivation is well established and even expanding. In the mountainous Garfagnana area of Tuscany emmer (one of three grains known as farro) is grown by farmers as an IGP (Indicazione Geografica Protetta) product, with its geographic identity protected by law. The demand for Italian farro has led to competition from non-certified farro, grown in lowland areas and often consisting of a different wheat species, spelt.
Emmer's main use is as food, though it is also used as fodder. Ethnographic evidence from Turkey and other emmer-growing areas suggests that emmer makes good bread (judged by the taste and texture standards of traditional bread); it was widely eaten as bread in ancient Egypt.
Common wheat · Durum wheat · Einkorn · Polish Wheat · Spelt · Timopheev's wheat · Rivet wheat
Text excerpted from the Wikipedia article Emmer by its contributors, under CC BY-SA 4.0; the excerpts and the care summary drawn from them are shared under the same licence.
The care summary was written by AI (Claude, Anthropic) from the sources on this page, with general growing knowledge where they are silent. Check before relying on it.
