Semolina

Food, Plant source foods, Flours

Consumption area(s): Earth

Introduction

Semolina is a coarse flour traditionally derived from durum wheat. Its high protein and gluten content make it particularly suitable for pasta production. However, semolina is not limited to durum wheat; it can also be obtained from oats, barley, soft wheat, spelt, millet, or buckwheat, often used in porridge-based dishes, typically sweet preparations. Corn is used to make polenta semolina. However, the most common type remains durum wheat semolina.

Descriprion of semolina

In parts of Central and Eastern Europe, including Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Serbia, Slovenia, Romania, Slovakia, and Croatia, durum wheat semolina is called (Hartweizen-)Grieß, and it is often combined with eggs to make Grießknödel, dumplings that can be added to soups. The grains are relatively coarse, ranging from 0.25 to 0.75 millimeters. It can also be cooked in milk and served with chocolate as a breakfast dish.

In Italy, fine semolina is directly boiled in vegetable or chicken broth to prepare a type of soup. It is also used for gnocchi alla romana, where semolina is mixed with milk, cheese, and butter, formed into a log, sliced, and baked with cheese and béchamel.

In India, semolina—called sooji in the north and rava in the south—is widely used in savory dishes such as upma, rava dosa, rava idli, and rava kitchri. It can coat fish slices before frying or be made into rotis.

In West Africa, particularly Nigeria, semolina is consumed as lunch or dinner with stews or soups, prepared in a way similar to eba or fufu, by boiling it in water for several minutes. Across North Africa, durum wheat semolina is a staple ingredient in various flatbreads, including m’semen, kesra, and khobz.

Semolina is also extensively used in sweet preparations. In Central Europe, it is known as Weichweizengrieß (soft wheat semolina) and often cooked with milk and sugar, or simply milk, then topped with cinnamon, sugar, or butter, forming dishes called Grießkoch in Austria and Grießbrei in Germany. Grießauflauf involves mixing semolina with whipped egg whites, sometimes including fruit or nuts, and baking it.

In Italy, the Neapolitan migliaccio is a baked semolina dessert combined with ricotta, vanilla, and citrus peel, similar in flavor to sfogliatelle, producing a firm cake. In northern and eastern Europe, semolina is eaten as breakfast porridge, often mixed with raisins and served with milk. In Sweden, Finland, Estonia, and Latvia, it is boiled with berry juice and whipped into a light texture, called klappgröt, vispipuuro, mannavaht, or debessmanna, typically enjoyed in summer.

In the Middle East and North Africa, semolina forms the base of sweet cakes such as basbousa (harisa), often soaked in syrup and garnished with nuts, or harcha, a griddle cake commonly eaten for breakfast with honey or jam. Baghrir, a pancake, also uses semolina.

On the Indian subcontinent, semolina is central to sweets like halwa, rava kesari, and seviyan pudding. In Nepal, it is called suji, used for haluwa or puwa, while in Myanmar it is known as shwegyi for sanwin makin desserts. In Sri Lanka, semolina (rulan) is used in creamy porridge and rulan aluwa.

Across Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Palestine, semolina forms the base of traditional halwa or helva, sometimes cooked with sugar, butter, milk, or nuts. Turkey also features revani, şekerpare, and şambali, while Greece has galaktoboureko, a semolina custard wrapped in phyllo, and Cyprus uses semolina mixed with almond cordial for a light pudding.

Semolina production method

Modern grain milling uses grooved steel rollers. These rollers are adjusted so that the gap between them is slightly narrower than the width of the grain kernels. Semolina consists of small grain fragments, usually between 0.3 and 1 mm in size (300–1000 µm).

The production of semolina follows a process similar to that of flour, but the mill settings are different. The finer fraction generated during milling is sifted out and used as flour. A miller can adjust the milling process to yield more semolina or a larger proportion of flour particles.

Classification of semolina

Flours are categorized according to the ingredient that is ground to produce them. Among the most common varieties are:

• Durum wheat semolina
• Soft wheat semolina