Just wanting to know what farina is, and how it is made. (As in Cream of Wheat, or Malt O Meal) Is it whole wheat? Mary

-- Mary Fraley (kmfraley@orwell.net), February 09, 2001

Answers

I looked it up in my dictionary. I was wondering the same thing the other day and just thought of it again when you mentioned it. Here is what it says: Flour or meal made from various seeds, esp. of cereal or leguminous plants, or from certain roots, as the potato; also, a granular preparation of white maize, finer than hominy;also starch;also, any powdery substance, as the pollen of flowers or a mealy powder found on some insects. Well, that didn't help us much did it? It says it is maize? I thought it was wheat based too! Sorry! I tried!

-- Nan (davidl41@ipa.net), February 09, 2001.

There is a discussion about this in the archives for a more well rounded overview of different farinas. However, the one you are asking about is a wheat product that has been malted (sprouting at controlled temperature, or occasionally, only by adding malt powder to wheat), fermented, ground,pre-cooked, reground, and packaged.

-- Julie Froelich (firefly1@nnex.net), February 09, 2001.