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durum and semolina

dalepadams@juno.com
Sun, 27 Apr 2003 21:49:15 -0400
v103.n022.10
Hello to all,

A couple of weeks ago someone asked about the difference between durum 
wheat and semolina.  I am offering additional information on that query. 
There are six classes of wheat grown on a large scale in the US.  They are 
hard red spring, hard white, soft red winter, soft white, and durum. The 
so-called gold and white flour contains both bran and endosperm from white 
wheat.  Durum, from the Latin word for hard, is the hardest of all wheat 
varieties.  When durum is milled, bran is removed and endosperm is 
left.  The endosperm of durum wheat is hard enough to hold together, unlike 
most wheats, which have a powdery endosperm flour.  The result is called 
semolina.  It is amber colored and larger than those of other wheat 
classes.  It is used to make pasta.  Also unique to durum is the fact that 
the endosperm is not creamy white but yellow, giving pasta its pleasing 
yellow color.  Semolina is the principle raw ingredient in pasta and 
couscous.  It is mixed with water to form a stiff dough.  It is then forced 
through dies to create pasta's characteristic shapes.  A rotating knife 
cuts the extruded pasta into desired lengths.  Then the shaped pasta is 
dried to 12-13% water, allowing the pasta to be stored.  A standard bushel 
of wheat weighs 60 pounds and that gives enough semolina for about 42 
pounds of pasta, or about 210 servings.

I hope this is interesting reading for all and not more than you ever 
wanted to know about durum wheat.

Dale