Durum Wheat in India

Durum Wheat

Wheat, is a staple food of many nations, societies and communities. It is consumed by people in many ways. The historians point out that Wheat is cultivated as main source of food since prehistoric times by the tribes in temperate zones.  

Wheat belongs to the family of grasses, and are tall (an average height of 1.2 metres or 4 feet). It has slender stalks leading to spikes with bundles of grains at the top. The leaves of the wheat plant resemble  those of grasses and matures for yields roughly in six to eight months.  

Species of wheat are classified based on the number of chromosomes found in its  vegetative cell. Three series of wheat species are chosen for cultivation i.e. the diploid, or einkorn, containing 14 chromosomes; the tetraploid, or emmer, containing 28 chromosomes; and the hexaploid, containing 42 chromosomes.  

Durum wheat belongs to tetraploid and is of importance to India in the current scenario. Durum wheat is (Latin durum, "hard") is known by its name because of the hardness of the grain (it is the hardest of all wheat). Internationally, Durum is grown in north-central regions of the United States, Australia, eastern Europe, etc. India cultivates relatively lesser quantities of Durum. Indian States having dry and hot environments (such as Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, etc.) are suited for durum cultivation. However, only less than 5% of the Indian cultivation produces durum wheat.

Durum Semolina is the major raw material for commercial produced dry pasta (spaghetti, macaroni, etc. ), and also for many kinds of soups, stuffings, gruels, cereals, puddings, pastries, etc.  The use of wheat to produce pasta was described as early as the 10th century by Ibn Wahshīya of Cairo.

In India Durum wheat can go well with the slogan of “Make in India”, companies need to develop finer quality semolina from durum wheat. Companies such as Shree Kailash Grain Mills of Indore are taking efforts to bring the durum wheat products to international standards and they have two national brands Golden Bhansi kesari rava and Golden Bhansi daliya of premium quality.  

India has the potential to emerge as a super producer of foods.