Sweet wheat recipe
Sweet wheat or grano dolce is one of my favourite desserts at the beginning of the winter season. And it is even kind of healthy. The fruit gives it a nice freshness while whole wheat grains provide texture and sustenance.
Apart from that, sweet wheat is also a very old, traditional dish that has been used as food sacrifice for funerals and All Saints Day since Greek Antiquity. All the ingredients from grapes and wheat to pomegranates have symbolic value related to fertility, resurrection and the turn of the seasons, so it’s only natural it should be known throughout the southern regions of Italy. Where the sweet wheat is also used in such recipes as pastiera Napoletana
In Puglia, the dish of fruit, nuts and sweet wheat grains are known as La Colva or Grane Cuotte. Grano Dolce is supposed to be from Basilicata. And in Sicily they substitute wine with ricotta and call it Cuccia. Still, it is basically the same treat for all.
Ingredients
100 g farro, spelt or similar whole wheat grains
1 pomegranate
100 g white grapes
100 g walnuts
100 g dark chocolate
100 ml white wine
2 tbsp honey
1 stick of cinnamon
2 cloves
Preparation
Boil the wheat according to directions on the package. Raw wheat grains should be soaked first like dried beans, while ‘precooked’, tender grains can be prepared like rice.
Bring the white wine to the boil with honey, cloves and cinnamon to make a sweet vincotto
Drain the cooked wheat when the grains are tender and mix them with the dressing of sweet cooked wine
Leave the grains and the wine to cool before adding chopped walnuts, chocolate chips, white grapes and pomegranate seeds.
(It is easier and less messy to get the seeds out of the pomegranate, if you beat the fruit with a wooden spoon and cut it open in a bowl under water)
Mix well and leave the sweet wheat in the fridge for a couple of hours before serving.
Other Italian Christmas specialties
Buccellato – Sicilian Christmas wreath
Pangiallo – A Christmas cake from Rome
Very interesting sounding combo- photo is missing (?) but I bet it’s a riot of colors.
Don’t understand the missing photos – unless it is a temporary technical hiccup. If others have the same problem, please let me know.
Sounds like a lovely dessert and better still that it’s quite healthy! I love anything with pomegranates.
This sounds absolutely divine with a mix of so many flavours I love including cinamon, pomegranate and walnuts! Really want to try out the recipe!
It’s a tasty and different kind of fruit salad. I especially like the addition of grains.
I was raised on this wonderful seasonal Christmas treat. The textures of the wheat and walnuts with the sweet and tart flavors of dark chocolate bits and pomegranites ( we used purple grape syrup) was divine. As a child I couldn’t get enough. !
What a lovely tradition. It’s funny how memories and Christmas spirit get interlaced with particular flavours.