Durum

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Durum

Durum wheat or macaroni wheat (also spelled Durhum;Triticum durum or Triticum turgidum durum) is the only tetraploid species of wheat

Wheat

Wheat , is a worldwide cultivated Poaceae from the Levant region of the Middle East. Globally, after maize, wheat is the second most-produced food among the cereal just above rice....
of commercial importance that is widely cultivated today. It was developed by artificial selection

Artificial selection

Artificial selection describes intentional breeding for certain traits, or combination of traits. It was defined by Charles Darwin in contrast to natural selection, in which the differential reproduction of organisms with certain traits is attributed to improved survival or reproductive ability ....
of the domesticated emmer wheat strains formerly grown in Central Europe and Near East around 7000 B.C., which developed a naked, free-threshing

Wheat

Latin

Latin is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Through the Military history of the Roman Empire, Latin spread throughout the Mediterranean and a large part of Europe....
means "hard", and the species is the hardest of all wheats.

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Encyclopedia

Durum wheat or macaroni wheat (also spelled Durhum;Triticum durum or Triticum turgidum durum) is the only tetraploid species of wheat

Wheat

Artificial selection

Wheat

Latin

Protein

Proteins are organic compounds made of amino acids arranged in a linear chain and joined together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of adjacent amino acid Residue ....
and gluten

Gluten

Gluten is a composite of the proteins gliadin and glutenin. These exist, conjoined with starch, in the endosperms of some Triticeae glutens cereal, notably wheat, rye, and barley....
content, as well as its strength, make durum good for special uses.

Genealogy

Durum wheat is a tetraploid wheat, having twenty-eight chromosomes, unlike hard red winter

Winter wheat

Winter wheat is a cereal. In the Northern Hemisphere, winter wheats are planted in the autumn, from September through December. Winter wheat sprouts before freezing occurs, then becomes dormant until the soil warms up in the spring....
and hard red spring wheats, which are hexaploid and have forty-two chromosomes each.

Durum wheat originated through intergeneric hybridization and polyploidization involving two diploid grass species: T. urartu (2n = 2x = 14, AA genome) and a B-genome diploid related to Aegilops speltoides (2n = 2x = 14, SS genome) and is thus an allotetraploid

Polyploidy

Polyploidy occurs in biological cell and organisms when there are more than two Homologous Chromosomes sets of chromosomes.Polyploidy is a state different from most organisms which are normally diploid meaning they have only two sets of chromosomes - one set inherited from each parent; polyploidy may occur due to abnormal cell division....
species.

History

Durum wheat is thought to have originated in either Abyssinia

Ethiopia

Ethiopia , officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country situated in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia is bordered by Eritrea to the north, Sudan to the west, Kenya to the south, Somalia to the east and Djibouti to the northeast....
or southern parts of the Mediterranean basin

Mediterranean Basin

The Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around and surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea. In biogeography, the Mediterranean Basin refers to the lands around the Mediterranean Sea that have a Mediterranean climate, with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers, which supports characteristic Mediterranean forests, woodlands, and scrub...
. Records show that it was in cultivation in Byzantine Egypt; however, there is not yet evidence that it was grown elsewhere, as it is not mentioned in late classical works on farming, natural history, geography or medicine.

With the rise of Islam

Islam

Islam is a Monotheism, Abrahamic religion originating with the teachings of the Prophets of Islam Muhammad, a 7th century Arab religious and political figure....
, the crop diffused rapidly throughout the Middle East

Middle East

File:GreaterMiddleEast1.pngThe Middle East is a region that spans southwestern Asia, western Asia, and northeastern Africa. It has no clear boundaries, often used as a synonym to Near East, in opposition to Far East....
, the Maghreb

Maghreb

The Maghreb , also rendered Maghrib , meaning "place of sunset" or "western" in Arabic, is a region in North Africa. The term is generally applied to all of Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia, but in older Arabic usage pertained only to the area of the three countries between the high ranges of the Atlas Mountains and the Mediterranean Sea....
of North Africa

North Africa

North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, separated by the Sahara from Sub-Saharan Africa.Geopolitically, the United Nations subregion of Northern Africa includes the following seven countries or territories:...
, and Muslim Spain. In some parts of the Muslim Mediterranean, durum was the only wheat grown. New varieties appeared in the Maghreb, Yemen

Yemen

Yemen , officially the Republic of Yemen is an Arab country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. Yemen has an estimated population of more than 23 million people and is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the North, the Red Sea to the West, the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden to the South, and Oman to the east....
and Central Asia

Central Asia

Central Asia is a region of Asia from the Caspian Sea in the west to central China in the east, and from southern Russia in the north to northern India in the south....
. The wheat was also grown by Muslim

Muslim

:A Muslim , , is an adherent of the religion of Islam. The feminine form is Muslimah . Literally, the word means "one who submits "....
s during their habitation of medieval Southern Italy

History of Islam in southern Italy

The Muslim conquests and rule of Sicily, Malta, and parts of southern Italy was a process whose origin can be traced back through the Spread of Islam from the seventh century onwards....
, particularly at Lucera

Lucera

Lucera is a town and comune in the Province of Foggia, in the Apulia region of southern Italy....
during the thirteenth century. Durum was amongst the agricultural products that were exported from the Muslim world

Muslim world

.The term Muslim world has several meanings. In a Culture sense it refers to the worldwide community of Muslims, adherents of Islam. This community Islam by country, roughly one-fifth of the world population....
to the West.

Several medieval Muslim authors referred to the grain, noting it for its durability:

In his book, The government of Kings, Ibn Zafir [1117–1216] reports that the wheat of Maghrib could be stored for eighty years in silos, and then sown. the long period of storage increased its purity and quality.

After the Mongol invasions

Mongol invasions

The Mongol invasions progressed throughout the 13th century, resulting in the vast Mongol Empire covering much of Asia by 1300.The Mongol Empire emerged in the course of the 13th century by a series of conquests and invasions throughout Central Asia and Western Asia, reaching Eastern Europe by the 1240s....
, many Persian

Iranian cuisine

Persian cuisine or the cuisine of Iran is diverse, with each province featuring dishes, culinary traditions and styles distinct to their regions....
and Turkic recipes from the Muslim world were adapted in Chinese cuisine

Chinese cuisine

Chinese cuisine originated from the various regions of China and has become widespread in many other parts of the world ? from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa....
, some of which included durum as an ingredient. An example is the paste of gullach
Güllaç

G?lla? is a Turkey dessert made with milk, pomegranate and a special kind of pasta. It is consumed especially during Ramadan.G?lla? is mentioned by Charles Perry as being the first version of baklava ....
, today produced from bean

Bean

Bean is a common name for large plant seeds of several genus of the Family Fabaceae used for human food or animal feed.The whole young pods of bean plants, if picked before the pods ripen and dry, can be tender enough to eat whole, whether cooked or raw....
s, which was originally made from durum.

In the United States

United States

The United States of America is a Federal government constitutional republic comprising U.S. state and a federal district. The country is situated mostly in central North America, where its Contiguous United States and Washington, D.C., the Capital districts and territories, lie between the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Oceans, Borders of the U...
, records indicate that durum wheat was grown in Montana

Montana

Montana is a U.S. state in the Western United States. The western third of the state contains numerous mountain ranges; other 'island' ranges are found in the central third of the state, for a total of 77 named ranges of the Rocky Mountains....
as far back as 1841 and in South Dakota

South Dakota

South Dakota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States of the United States of America. It is named after the Lakota people and Sioux Sioux Native Americans in the United States tribes....
by the 1890s.

Uses

Husked but unground, or coarsely ground, it is used for semoules in the couscous

Couscous

Couscous or kuskus as it is known in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya and Egypt is a Berber people dish consisting of spherical granules made by rolling and shaping moistened semolina wheat and then coating them with finely ground wheat flour....
of North Africa, and other parts of the Arab world

Arab world

The Arab World refers to Arabic-speaking countries stretching from the Atlantic Ocean in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east, and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to the Horn of Africa and the Indian Ocean in the southeast....
. It is also used for Levant

Levant

The Levant describes, traditionally, the Eastern Mediterranean at large, but can be used as a geographical term that denotes a large area in Western Asia formed by the lands bordering the Eastern shores of the Mediterranean, roughly bounded on the north by the Taurus Mountains, on the south by the Arabian Desert, and on the west by the M...
ine dishes such as tabbula, kishk, kibba, bitfun and the burghul for pilaf

Pilaf

Pilaf, also called polao, pilau, or pulao, is a dish in which a grain, such as rice or cracked wheat, is browned in oil, and then cooked in a seasoned broth....
s. In Arab cuisine

Arab cuisine

Arab cuisine is defined as the various regional cuisines spanning the Arab World from Iraq to Morocco to Somalia to Yemen, and incorporating Levantine, Egyptian and others....
it forms the basis of many soup

Soup

Soup is a food that is made by combining ingredients such as meat and vegetables in Stock or hot/boiling water, until the flavor is extracted, forming a broth....
s, gruels, stuffings, pudding

Pudding

Pudding most often refers to a dessert, but can also be a savoury dish.In the United Kingdom and some Commonwealth of Nations countries, pudding refers to rich , fairly homogeneous starch- or dairy-based desserts , or informally to any dessert....
s and pastries

Pastry

Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baking made from ingredients such as flour, butter, shortening, baking powder or Egg s. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked goods are called "pastries"....
.

When ground as fine as flour

Flour

Flour is a powder made of cereal grains. It is the main ingredient of bread, which is a staple food for many civilizations, making the availability of adequate supplies of flour a major economic and political issue at various times throughout history....
, it can be used for macaroni

Macaroni

Macaroni is a kind of moderately extended, machine-made dry pasta. Much shorter than spaghetti, and hollow, macaroni does not contain eggs. Though home machines exist that can make macaroni noodles, macaroni is usually commercially made....
, pasta

Pasta

Pasta is a generic term for Italian cuisine variants of noodles, food made from a dough of flour, water and/or Egg , that is Boiling. The word can also denote dishes in which pasta products are the primary ingredient, served with sauce or seasonings....
and bread

Bread

Bread is a staple food prepared by baking a dough of flour and water. It may be leavened or unleavened. Edible salt, fat and a leavening agent such as yeast are common ingredients, though bread may contain a range of other ingredients: milk, Egg , sugar, spice, fruit , vegetables , Nut or seeds ....
. In the Middle East it is used for flat round breads

Flatbread

A flatbread is a simple bread made from flattened dough. Many flatbreads are unleavened—made without yeast or sourdough culture. They can range from one millimeter to a few centimeters thick....
, and in Europe and elsewhere it can be used for pizza

Pizza

Pizza is a world-popular dish of Italy origin, made with an oven-baked, flat, generally round bread that is often covered with tomatoes or a tomato-based sauce and mozzarella cheese....
, torte etc. It is not, however, good for cake

Cake

Cake is a form of food that is usually sweet and often Baking. Cakes normally combine some kind of flour, a sweetener , a binding agent , fats , a liquid , flavoring and some form of leavening agent , though many cakes lack these ingredients and instead rely on air bubbles in the dough to expand and cause the cake to rise....
s, which are made from soft wheat to prevent toughness.

The use of wheat to produce pasta was described as early as the tenth century by Ibn Wahshiya of Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , which means "the triumphant", is the Cairo and largest city of Egypt.It is the most populous metropolitan area in Egypt and is also one of the most populous in the world....
. The Arabs called the product itriya, from which Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
sources derived the term tria (or aletria in the case of Spanish sources) during the fifteenth century.

Another type of pasta, al-fidawsh (called "dry pasta"), was popular in al-Andalus

Al-Andalus

Al-Andalus was the Arabic name given to the parts of the Iberian Peninsula governed by Arab Muslims, at various times in the period between 711 and 1492....
. From there it was transmitted to Christian Spain and frequently appears in Hispano-Muslim

Islam in Spain

Islam in Spain has had a fundamental presence in the culture and history of the nation. The religion was dominant in southern Spain from 711 until 1492 under the rule of the Arabs and Moors of al-Andalus....
cookbooks. From "al-fidawsh" was derived the Spanish word for noodles, fideos, and the Italian fidelli or fidellini.

In the American Great Plains

Great Plains

The Great Plains are the broad expanse of prairie and steppe which lie west of the Mississippi River and east of the Rocky Mountains in the United States and Canada....
, durum wheat is used almost exclusively for making pasta products such as spaghetti

Spaghetti

Spaghetti is a long, thin, cylindrical pasta of Italy origin. A variety of pasta dishes are based on it, from spaghetti with cheese and pepper or garlic and oil to a spaghetti with tomato, meat, and other sauces....
and macaroni.

Production

Most of the durum grown today is amber durum, the grains of which are amber-colored and larger than those of other types of wheat. Durum has a yellow

Yellow

Yellow is the color evoked by light that stimulates both the L and M cone cells of the retina about equally, but does not significantly stimulate the S cone cells; that is, light with much red and green but not very much blue....
endosperm

Endosperm

Endosperm is the tissue produced in the seeds of most flowering plants around the time of fertilization. It surrounds the embryo and provides nutrition in the form of starch, though it can also contain Vegetable oils and protein....
, which gives pasta its color. When durum is milled

Mill (grinding)

Semolina

Semolina is the purified middlings of hard wheat used in making pasta; also, the coarse middlings used for breakfast cereals and puddings....
. Semolina made from durum is used for premium pastas and breads. There is also a red durum, used mostly for livestock feed

Fodder

In agriculture, fodder or animal feed is any foodstuff that is used specifically to feed domesticated livestock, such as cattle, goats, sheep, horses, chickens and pigs....
.

The cultivation of durum generates greater yield than other wheats in areas of low precipitation

Precipitation (meteorology)

File:MeanMonthlyP.gifIn meteorology, precipitation is any product of the condensation of Atmosphere water vapor that is deposited on the earth's surface....
(300-500mm). Good yields can be obtained by irrigation

Irrigation

Irrigation is an artificial application of water to the soil usually for assisting in growing crops. In crop production it is mainly used in dry areas and in periods of rainfall shortfalls, but also to protect plants against frost....
, but this is rarely done. In the first half of the twentieth century the crop was widely grown in Russia

Russia

Russia , or the Russian Federation , is a list of countries spanning more than one continent country extending over much of northern Eurasia....
. Durum is one of the most important food crops in West Asia. Although the variety of the wheat there is diverse, it is not extensively grown there, and thus must be imported. West Amber Durum produced in Canada

Canada

Canada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean....
is used mostly as semolina/pasta, but some is also exported to Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia....
for bread production.

In the Middle East and North Africa, local bread-making accounts for half the consumption of durum. Some flour is even imported. On the other hand, many countries in Europe produce durum in commercially significant quantities.

Processing

Durum wheat is subject to four processes: cleaning, milling

Mill (grinding)

A grinding mill is a unit operation designed to break a solid material into smaller pieces. There are many different types of grinding mills and many types of materials processed in them....
, tempering and purifying. First durum wheat is cleaned to remove foreign material and shrunken and broken kernels. Then it is tempered to a moisture content, toughening the seed coat for efficient separation of bran and endosperm. Durum milling is a complex procedure involving repetitive grind

Grind

The grind of a blade refers to the shape of the cross-section of the blade. It is distinct from the type of blade , though different tools and blades may have lent their name to a particular grind....
ing and sieving

Sieve

In general, a sieve separates wanted/desired elements from unwanted material using a tool such as a mesh, net or other filtration or distillation methods, but it is also used for classification of powders by particle size, or for size measurement as an analytical technique....
. Proper purifying results in maximum semolina yield and the least amount of bran powder.

To produce bread, durum wheat is ground into flour. The flour is mixed with water to produce dough

Dough

This article is about a cooking ingredient. For the British sitcom episode, see Dough .Dough is a paste made out of any cereals or legume crops by mixing the flour with a small amount of water....
. The quantities mixed vary, depending on the acidity of the mixture. The dough is fermented

Fermentation

Fermentation may refer to:* Fermentation , the process of energy production in a cell under anaerobic conditions * Ethanol fermentation, a form of anaerobic respiration used primarily by yeasts when oxygen is not present in sufficient quantity for normal cellular respiration...
for hours and then mixed with yeast and lukewarm water. The quality of the bread produced depends on viscoelastic properties of gluten, protein content and protein composition.

External links

- Grain research Laboratory, Canadian Grain Commission

Durum

Genealogy

History

Uses

Production

Processing

See also

External links