Semolina

Semolina is a coarse flour, milled from the endosperm of wheat, that is used mainly for pasta and also in many sweet and savoury dishes. Made from durum wheat, it has a pale yellow colour and a high protein and gluten content that makes it especially suited to pasta.

History

The word semolina comes from Italian, an alteration of a Latin term that is ultimately of Semitic origin, linked to an Arabic and Aramaic word for food or bread. Its production depends on modern milling, which uses grooved steel rollers set slightly narrower than a wheat kernel. The rollers strip away bran and germ and crack the starchy endosperm into coarse pieces. Sifting then separates these particles, which are the semolina, from the bran, and the semolina is ground again into flour.

Because the inner part of the endosperm breaks into smaller pieces than the outer part, milling can separate the endosperm into different grades, producing flours of varying quality. Semolina from hard durum wheat, Triticum durum, is the basis of Italian pasta and North African couscous, while semolina from common wheat, Triticum aestivum, is beige and used more for desserts. In the United States the latter is called farina, and the term semolina is also applied to meals made from rice or corn.

Culture

In the Mediterranean, and especially in Italy, semolina is the raw material of dried pasta. In North Africa it forms the base of couscous and of flat breads such as m'semen and harcha, the latter often eaten at breakfast with jam or honey. In North India and Pakistan it is called sooji, and in South India rava, used both in savoury dishes such as upma and rava dosa and in sweets such as halwa and rava kesari.

In Central Europe and the Balkans, semolina porridge cooked with milk and sugar is a familiar breakfast, while in Sweden, Estonia, Finland and Latvia a light whipped dessert made with berry juice is often eaten in summer. In the Middle East and North Africa, basbousa, a semolina cake soaked in syrup, is widespread. In Peru it appears in budín de sémola with raisins and in sweet humitas, and in Chile in sémola con leche. In Valencia, rice semolina is eaten instead, and it contains no gluten. Today it is found in both home pantries and the pasta industry.

Trivia