Durum

This article is about the cultivar of wheat. For the Turkish döner wrap, see dürüm.

Durum
Durum wheat
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
(unranked):	Angiosperms
(unranked):	Monocots
(unranked):	Commelinids
Order:	Poales
Family:	Poaceae
Subfamily:	Pooideae
Tribe:	Triticeae
Genus:	Triticum
Species:	T. durum
Binomial name
Triticum durum Desf.
Synonyms
List Triticum accessorium Flaksb. nom. inval. Triticum alatum Peterm. Triticum algeriense Desf. ex Mert. & W.D.J.Koch nom. inval. Triticum bauhinii Lag. Triticum brachystachyum Lag. ex Schult. & Schult.f. nom. inval. Triticum candissimum Bayle-Bar. Triticum caucasicum Flaksb. nom. inval. Triticum cevallos Lag. Triticum cochleare Lag. Triticum densiusculum Flaksb. nom. inval. Triticum fastuosum Lag. Triticum hordeiforme Host Triticum laxiusculum Flaksb. nom. inval. Triticum longisemineum Flaksb. nom. inval. Triticum maurorum Sennen nom. inval. Triticum molle Roem. & Schult. nom. inval. Triticum orientale Flaksb. nom. inval. Triticum platystachyum Lag. Triticum pruinosum Hornem. Triticum pyramidale Percival Triticum rarum Flaksb. nom. inval. Triticum rimpaui Mackey Triticum siculum Roem. & Schult. Triticum tanaiticum Flaksb. nom. inval. Triticum tiflisiense Flaksb. nom. inval. Triticum tomentosum Bayle-Bar. Triticum transcaucasicum Flaksb. nom. inval. Triticum trevisium Desv. nom. inval. Triticum venulosum Ser. Triticum villosum Host

Durum wheat, pasta wheat or macaroni wheat (Triticum durum or Triticum turgidum subsp. durum) is the only tetraploid species of wheat of commercial importance that is widely cultivated today. It was developed by artificial selection of the domesticated emmer wheat strains formerly grown in Central Europe and the Near East around 7000 BC, which developed a naked, free-threshing form. Like emmer, durum wheat is awned.

Durum in Latin means "hard", and the species is the hardest of all wheats. This refers to the resistance of the grain to milling, in particular of the endosperm, implying dough made from its flour is weak or "soft". This makes durum favorable for semolina production and less practical for flour production which requires more work than with hexaploid wheats like common bread wheats. Despite its high protein content, durum is not a strong wheat in the sense of giving strength to dough through the formation of a gluten network. Durum contains 27% extractable, wet gluten, about 3% higher than in common wheat (T. aestivum L.).

Genealogy

Durum wheat is a tetraploid wheat, having 28 chromosomes, unlike hard red winter and hard red spring wheats, which are hexaploid and have 42 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 species.

Uses

Commercially produced dry pasta, or pasta secca, is made almost exclusively from durum semolina. Most home made fresh pastas (pasta fresca), such as orecchiette, cavatelli, and malloreddus, also use durum wheat or a combination of soft and hard wheats.

Husked but unground, or coarsely ground, it is used to produce the semolina in the couscous of North Africa and the Levant. It is also used for Levantine dishes such as tabbula, kishk, kibba, bitfun and the bulghur for pilafs. In North African cuisine and Levantine cuisine, it forms the basis of many soups, gruels, stuffings, puddings and pastries. When ground as fine as flour, it is used for making bread. In the Middle East, it is used for flat round breads, and in Europe and elsewhere, it can be used for pizza, torte, etc. It is not, however, good for cakes, which are made from soft wheat to ensure softness.

Durum flour and semolina are good for making pasta because it does not create doughs hard to shape, e.g. into sheets. Technically, the dough is relatively plastic, as opposed to elastic, strong doughs, obtained from bread flours. The french language differentiates strength (force) from hardness (dureté), resolving a contradiction present in english language presentations: durum is rich in gluten but that is not readily available as the endosperm is hard to break to release that gluten. Durum wheat is thus less used in breadmaking. Its protein content is almost as high as that of hard spring or winter wheat and so is its gluten content, necessary for bread to rise. Although 100 percent durum wheat breads do exist (such as pagnotte di Enna or "rimacinato" bread from Sicily, as well as Altamura bread from Apulia and Matera bread from Basilicata) in most instances bread doughs contain only a portion of durum wheat and are supplemented substantially with commercial white flours, often those higher in gluten necessary to offset the poor contribution of durum flour to the gluten network. Pure durum wheat breads are often dense, containing little air bubbles, with relatively little elastic structure (continuum). The uncooked dough splits easily and is easier to shape, as for instance to make pies or pastas.

The use of wheat to produce pasta was described as early as the 10th century by Ibn Wahshīya of Cairo. The North Africans called the product itrīya, from which Italian sources derived the term tria (or aletria in the case of Spanish sources) during the 15th century.

Another type of pasta, al-fidawsh (called "dry pasta"), was popular in al-Andalus. From there it was transmitted to Christian Spain, and it frequently appears in Hispano-Muslim cookbooks. From al-fidawsh was derived the Spanish word for noodles, fideos, and the Italian fidelli or fidellini.

In the American Great Plains, durum wheat is used almost exclusively for making pasta products such as spaghetti 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 endosperm, which gives pasta its color. When durum is milled, the endosperm is ground into a granular product called semolina. Semolina made from durum is used for premium pastas and breads. There is also a red durum, used mostly for livestock feed.

The cultivation of durum generates greater yield than other wheats in areas of low precipitation (3–5 dm). Good yields can be obtained by irrigation, but this is rarely done. In the first half of the 20th century, the crop was widely grown in Russia. 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 is used mostly as semolina/pasta, but some is also exported to Italy 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.

Area under cultivation and production of durum wheat

Region	Area (1000 ha)	Production (1000 tonnes)
Western Europe	2,490	5,730
North America	2,960	5,756
South America	102	196
Middle East	4,462	6,950
North Africa	3,290	3,214
Others	3,756	3,540
World	17,060	25,360

Processing and protein content

Durum wheat is subject to four processes: cleaning, tempering, milling 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 grinding and sieving. 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. The quantities mixed vary, depending on the acidity of the mixture. The dough is mixed with yeast and lukewarm water, and then fermented for hours.

The quality of the bread produced depends on the viscoelastic properties of gluten, the protein content and protein composition. Containing about 12% total protein in defatted flour compared to 11% in common wheat, durum wheat yields 27% extractable, wet gluten compared to 24% in common wheat.

Health concerns

Main article: Gluten-related disorders

As durum wheat contains gluten, it is unsuitable for people with gluten-related disorders, such as celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity and wheat allergy sufferers, among others.

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External links

• Durum Wheat Research, Grain Research Laboratory, Canadian Grain Commission