A man wearing a white cowboy hat and a checked shirt stands in the middle distance with his hands on his hips in a field of ripe, yellow Soft Svevo durum wheat that stretches away up to the horizon. Photo from USDA.

Durum wheat is only about 5% of the total wheat harvest around the world. For those of us who like our pasta, that’s a very important 5%. Different gluten proteins make a durum dough stretchy rather than elastic — perfect for pasta. The kernels are very hard and need dedicated milling machinery, which produces small granules — semolina — rather than flour. That, however, may be about to change.

Listen to It’s a Hard Grain at Eat This Podcast.

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