Lest you were confused, as I was.
Mocked for my farro-equals-spelt assumption, I tried to exonerate myself by proving just how widespread is this misperception. Google “farro (spelt),” and you’ll get 2,100 hits, many for recipes that claim the grains can be used interchangeably. Even my family’s cookbook hero, Suzanne Goin, makes this claim in “Sunday Suppers at Lucques”: “Farro, also known as spelt, is probably my all-time favorite grain.” She cooks hers simply, in parsley and butter, or bulks it up with kabocha squash and cavolo nero. Farro is also wonderful in soups, like the hearty farro-and-kale soup in Sara Jenkins and Mindy Fox’s new cookbook, “Olives & Oranges.” (It’s clearly gaining ground. Recently, 2 of the 17 contestants on “Top Chef” offered dishes containing farro.) But Harold McGee, in “On Food and Cooking,” clarifies that farro is the Italian word for emmer wheat; of spelt, which he calls “remarkable” for its high protein content, he says, “Often confused with emmer (farro).”
So there you have it from me and McGee: farro is not spelt. Which still raises the question, How do you eat spelt if the whole-grain version so severely cramps a man’s body and spirit? Whole spelt berries are used (judiciously) as a healthful textural addition to muffins, stuffings and salads. Ground spelt is a popular substitute for wheat flour because of its lower gluten content
There is a pretty good tortilla made of spelt flour, but many spelt breads are pretty bland. This Mushroom Farro dish sounds pretty tasty, I’ll have to look for farro.
