Durum

Durum wheat is a tetraploid wheat, having 4 sets of chromosomes for a total of 28, unlike hard red winter and hard red spring wheats, which are hexaploid (6 sets of chromosomes) for a total of 42 chromosomes each.[9]

Durum wheat originated through intergeneric hybridization and polyploidization involving two diploid (having 2 sets of chromosomes) grass species: T. urartu (2n=2x=14, AA genome) and a B-genome diploid related to Aegilops speltoides (2n=2x=14, SS genome)[10] and is thus an allotetraploid (having 4 sets of chromosomes, from unlike parents) species.

Commercially produced dry pasta, or pasta asciutta, is made almost exclusively from durum semolina.[11] Most home made fresh pastas (pasta fresca), such as orecchiette and tagliatelle, 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 tabbouleh, kashk, kibbeh, bitfun and the bulgur for pilafs. In North African cuisine and Levantine cuisine, it forms the basis of many soups, gruels, stuffings, puddings and pastries.[12] 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 or torte. Couscous is a Middle Eastern dish made from small, boiled balls of durum wheat.[13] The Israeli variant of couscous involves larger pearls of durum called ptitim in Hebrew.[14]

Durum flour and semolina are good for making pasta because they do not create doughs hard to shape, e.g. into sheets. Technically, the dough is relatively plastic, contrasting with the strong elastic doughs obtained from bread flours. 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 aletría in the case of Spanish sources) during the 15th century.[12]

Most of the durum grown today is amber durum, the grains of which are amber-colored due to the extra carotenoid pigments and are 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. Notably semolina is also one of the only flours that is purposely oxidized for flavor and color. 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.[15] 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.[16] West amber durum produced in Canada is used mostly as semolina/pasta, but some is also exported to Italy for bread production.[17]

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.[18]

In India durum accounts for roughly 5% of total wheat production in the country, and is used to make products such as rava and sooji. [19]

Production of wheat 2017/2018[20]

Producer	Production (million metric tonnes)
European Union	151.6
China	129.7
India	98.5
Russia	84.9
United States	47.3
Canada	30.0
Ukraine	26.9
Pakistan	26.6
Australia	21.5
Turkey	21.0

Because durum wheat contains gluten,[8] it is unsuitable for people with gluten-related disorders such as celiac disease, non-celiac gluten sensitivity and wheat allergy.[22]

• Brown, AHD; Marshall, DR; Frankel, OH; Williams, JT; International Board for Plant Genetic Resources, eds. (1989), The Use of Plant Genetic Resources, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-34584-7
• Bushuk, W; Rasper, Vladimir F (Aug 1994), Wheat: Production, Properties and Quality, Springer, ISBN 978-0-7514-0181-3
• Donnelly, Brendan J; Ponte, Joseph G Jr (2000), "Pasta: raw materials & processing", in Kulp, Karel; Ponte, Joseph G Jr (eds.), Handbook of Cereal Science and Technology, Food science & technology — Marcel Dekker, 99 (2nd, rev & exp ed.), New York: CRC Press, ISBN 978-0-8247-8294-8
• Matz, Samuel A (1999) [1972], Bakery technology and engineering (3rd ill ed.), Springer, ISBN 978-0-442-30855-1
• Watson, Andrew (October 2008) [1983], Agricultural innovation in the early Islamic world: The Diffusion of Crops and Farming Techniques, 700–1100, Studies in Islamic Civilization, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 978-0-521-06883-3
• Wishart, David J (2004), Encyclopedia of the Great Plains, University of Nebraska Press

• Cohen, Daniel (2006). Globalization and its enemies. MIT Press..
• Griggs, C Wilfred; Amitai-Preiss, Reuven; Morgan, David (2000). The Mongol Empire and Its Legacy. Brill Publishers..
• Taylor, Julie (2005). Muslims in Medieval Italy: The Colony at Lucera. Lexington Books.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Triticum durum.

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