Spelt soup (minestra di farro)

Spelt (farro) has been grown in the Apennine mountains for thousands of years: it withstands cold and poor soils. Around L’Aquila it was used mainly cracked, so it cooked faster in soups.

Spelt soup is made with a few garden vegetables and a little pork, such as pork rind or guanciale, which flavours the broth. It is served hot, with grated pecorino and raw oil.

• 250 g cracked spelt
• 150 g pork rind or 80 g guanciale
• 1 onion, 1 carrot, 1 celery stick
• 2 tablespoons tomato passata
• 1.5 litres vegetable stock or water
• Extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Grated pecorino

1. If using pork rind, blanch it for 10 minutes, scrape it and cut it into thin strips.
2. In a pot warm the oil and fry the chopped onion, carrot and celery with the rind or diced guanciale.
3. Add the rinsed spelt and toast it for a couple of minutes, stirring.
4. Add the passata and the hot stock and simmer for 50–60 minutes, stirring now and then and adding stock if needed.
5. Season with salt and pepper: the soup should be thick but soft.
6. Serve with grated pecorino and a drizzle of raw oil.

• With pearled spelt the cooking time drops to about 30 minutes.
• For a vegetarian version leave out the pork and add potatoes and beans.
• Reheated the next day it becomes even creamier.

We do not have photos of this dish yet: the image is an illustration made for this page.

Spelt was the grain of the Romans and of the Italic peoples of the Apennines. With the arrival of soft wheat and maize it was almost abandoned, but it never disappeared from mountain villages.

Today it is back in the fields of inland Abruzzo and in kitchens, both in soups and in summer salads.