THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021
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28
L'Italo-Americano
F
a r r o i s n o w
trendy because of
its health bene-
fits, but here in
Umbria it's been
a staple for over 2000 years.
In ancient Rome, farro
flour was the ingredient of
choice to make puls, a sort
of porridge served with veg-
e t a b l e , b e a n s , p e c o r i n o
cheese or — for the upper
classes — with lamb or pork.
Farro flour was also used to
make savillum, a soft cake
m i x e d w i t h r i c o t t a a n d
served drizzled with honey,
a n d a l s o g n o c c h i w h i c h
were fried in olive oil.
Farro was so important,
that a marriage ceremony
named confarreatio was
exclusively reserved to patri-
cians. The rite involved the
bride and bridegroom shar-
ing a cake of spelt, named in
Latin far, or panis farreus,
hence the rite's name. The
ceremony also included a
sacrifice to Jupiter Farreus,
that is Jupiter of the wheat.
There is even a legend to
explain the modern Roman
tradition of eating gnocchi
on Thursdays. The ancient
Roman gnocchi were made
w i t h f a r r o a n d n o t w i t h
semolina or potato like now.
T h e s t o r y g o e s t h a t
Thursday, the day dedicated
t o J u p i t e r , m i g h t h a v e
remained connected — in a
f a i r l y l o o s e w a y — t o t h e
dumplings made with the
cereal sacred to the god.
But what is farro?
Farro is a heritage wheat
with a characteristic nutty
flavor and a high protein and
f i b e r c o n t e n t . T h e t e r m
"farro" is a collective name
u s e d f o r t h r e e s p e c i e s o f
grains: emmer, einkorn and
spelt. The best farro, and the
most delicious, tender lentils
a r e p r o d u c e d n e a r
Castelluccio di Norcia, a
tiny village located on a lone-
ly outcrop in the centre of
the Piano Grande plateau.
This is a site of spectacular
beauty and fantastic food,
d o n ' t m i s s i t i f y o u v i s i t
Umbria!
In this recipe, the use of
ginger, instead of classics
like rosemary or sage, might
seem exotic, but in reality
ginger was used in Italian
cuisine until about 500 years
ago. Then it disappeared, but
it feels appropriate to intro-
duce it in such a timeless
recipe.
Modern farro is generally
LETIZIA MATTIACCI
This soup includes ginger among its ingredients: not many know that, up to 500 years ago, its use was common in Italian cuisine (Photo courtesy of Letizia Mattiacci)
Continued to page 30
Farro, ginger and lentil soup
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