first wheat to be cultivated, around 10,000
years ago. It grows best in cool conditions,
tends to be rich in yellow carotenoid pigments
and is high in protein. However, where the
proportions of elastic glutenin and flowing
gliadin (p. 521) are 1 to 1 in bread wheat, in
einkorn they’re 1 to 2. The result is a sticky,
fluid gluten that’s unsuited to breadmaking.
Emmer Wheat or Farro Emmer wheat, T.
turgidum dicoccum, was probably the second
wheat to be cultivated. It grew in warmer
climates than einkorn, and became the most
important cultivated form from the Near East
through northern Africa and Europe until
early Roman times, when it was superseded
by durum and bread wheats. But pockets of
emmer cultivation survived in parts of
Europe, and emmer is now widely available
under its Italian name, farro. In Tuscany
whole farro grains go with beans into a winter
soup; the pre-soaked grains are also made into