Emmer Wheat

An ancient hulled wheat (Triticum turgidum subsp. dicoccum) domesticated in the Fertile Crescent roughly ten thousand years ago, among the founder crops of Old World agriculture alongside einkorn wheat and barley. Its tough husk clings to the grain even after threshing, making it labor intensive to process, and free-threshing wheats largely displaced it across the ancient world, though it remained a staple in parts of Ethiopia and mountainous Italy into the modern era. Emmer has seen a small revival in recent decades as a specialty grain, marketed in Italy as farro and valued for its nutty flavor and drought tolerance on marginal land.