Below I provide a profile of each of these wheat varieties both from the agricultural aspect and from the milling and bread-making qualities. The quality of the grain depends on numerous factors, the most important of which are:
A) the soil, a factor strictly independent of the climate, although little is known of its influencing action;
B) fertilization; it seems certain that nitrogen fertilizers, and in particular nitrates, are not only favorable factors, but that they have the task of increasing the protein content of wheat; however, this occurs within certain limits, since by exceeding a certain fertilization value, the quantity of nitrogen released by the fertilizers is no longer related to the quantity and quality of the gluten;
C) temperature and the hygrometric state of the air are believed to have an influence on the quality of the grain in its ripening phase, it is precisely in the last 20 days that precede ripening;
D) cultural precedents should also have a certain importance, although there is no absolute certainty; in any case, a better bread-making would be obtained from grains whose cultivation was preceded by that of potatoes or beets. In consideration of the particular type of climate necessary for its cultivation, the largest productions in the world are in Canada, in Argentina as regards the member countries of the EEC, in Italy and in France.
1. Chiarano: In the list of varietal orientation it occupies the first place; it is a prestigious variety and is grown mainly in the plains of Emilia Romagna, Lombardy and Veneto. It produces balanced flour, with a discreet aptitude for baking. High agricultural productivity (7,5t / ha) caregivers environmental adaptability; excellent resistance to winter cold and good tillering capacity; Average vegetative earliness, medium-high size (85-95cm) good resistance to lodging and excellent against rust and powdery mildew. w 120-150 p / l 0,55-0,60 Specific weight 80- 81 kg / hl Weight of a thousand grains 32- 36 g.
2. Centaur: It is a precious grain that is grown mainly in the plain areas of Emilia Romagna in the Veneto region. It produces high-value bread-making flour which is also used as corrective in blends with weaker flours. Aristato type, with high productivity (7,5t / ha); excellent resistance to cold and remarkable tillering capacity. Its early vegetative cycle; medium size (75-80cm) with erect leaves; normal resistance to lodging; moderately susceptible to rust, powdery mildew and cryptogamic diseases, on the other hand it has excellent resistance to tightness and septoria. It is especially recommended for fertile lowland areas. Analytical and averages: w 200-220 p / l 0,65-0,70 Hagberg index 300-305 Zeleny index 30-33.
3. Bear: It is a rustic variety that provides flour suitable for the production of biscuits; it is cultivated in the lowland areas in the hilly areas of central Italy: It has a high productivity (7-8t / ha), it bears the cold very well and has good tillering capacity. Of medium size (85- 90 cm), it has little resistance to lodging; its vegetative and medium-late cycle, its resistance to rust but low to powdery mildew. Average analytical characteristics: w 80- 90 p / l 0, 65- 0, 70 Protein on ss 12, 5% Hagberg index 315 Zeleny index 14 Weight of a thousand grains 33-35g Specific weight 80, 5 kg / l
4. Concordia: It is a purely autumnal wheat that is grown in the plains of Piedmont, Lombardy and Veneto. Provides mediocre flour for bread making very suitable for biscuits; I don't want to go into much detail giving all its features in detail but I can say that it has a value of W 90 - 100
5. Salmon: It is a grain of strength like Manital, Gladio, Loreto and Felino. Lombardy and Emilia Romagna are the regions that most cultivate it. It produces strong flours with much better characteristics, which can also be mixed with weaker flours, it can reach a maximum peak of W290-300. very low. The W is not always constant at each annual production. On average it can fluctuate even between 4-260 W in some years, while in others it can have W 280-230.
6. Pandas: from the same group as the Marzotto, it is mainly found in both hilly and lowland areas of Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Veneto and Umbria. It produces flours with a high technological value and can be used by mixing it with weaker flours. Value of W 200-240.
7. Manital: It is a grain of great strength grown in the very fertile areas of the plains, especially in Emilia Romagna, Veneto, Piedmont, Marche and Tuscany. It is a wheat with excellent technological parameters that provides strong flours to be used by mixing it with weak ones, on the milling level it is equivalent to the best strong grains produced in North America; its flours have improving properties. The W 280 - 300.
8. Marzotto: The most widespread wheat in the fertile areas of Northern Italy, especially in Emilia Romagna and Veneto. It is also popular in the Marche of pale straw-colored kernels, it produces high-quality bread-making flours, excellently balanced with decidedly improving characteristics. The W is 120.
In the Italian milling system from the end of the 80s to the present day, national wheat is mainly used during the first semester following the harvest, the European Community grains in the second semester; in order to minimize the financial immobilization of storage and to count on the most suitable and timely programmable qualities of community wheat. In any case, to keep the standards and flours unchanged during the vintage, the Italian grains are mixed with the French ones of strength such as Manital, Castano, Monopol, Courtot etc ...
Many Italian millers employ and mix 60% Italian merchant grains with 20% French strength grains with 20% Saudi semi-hard grain. About 80% of the semi-hard soft wheat, ground in Italy, is destined to produce flour for bread; the rest in flours for biscuits, panettone, pizzas, breadsticks and bakery products, for industrial confectionery, for self-raising mixes and for domestic use. In Italy it is difficult to buy standard quality grains with precise analytical characteristics, as the segregated ensilage technique is not very widespread. Based on the protein content and varieties, a contingency that heavily penalizes domestic soft grains compared to foreign ones. Some agricultural cooperative consortia of Northern and Central Italy, in addition to promoting the production and marketing of seeds of fine grains, are dedicated to the segregated storage of wheat varieties, in order to offer the milling industrialist homogeneous batches with constant qualitative characteristics. even for large quantities.
The authentic Italian flours that have their own name are not flours with a certain strength in terms of W. In the common market countries, as indeed in Italy, the old varieties of wheat are rapidly disappearing to make room for the new ones, agrarian more productive and of better technological qualities.
The characteristics of the national soft wheat can change with each vintage, for example Manital has reached a peak of 303 W and in a following year 280 W. This means that the qualitative characteristics of the national soft wheat fluctuate with each vintage.
On average, national soft wheat flours range from 90/97 W to a 200 W. Except for some strong wheat flours such as Manital, Salmon, Loreto, Gladio with W higher than 270.
Grains such as Mec, Marzotto, Centauro, Pandas and W 230.
The Chiarano wheat and the Livio have a W180.
After having explained what the types of Italian wheat are and what type of W of flour they produce, now we can ask ourselves what is meant when some Molino claims to produce strong Italian flour, that is with a high W. On what basis does someone say that can an Italian flour made with Italian grains have a W 350?
What are the Oasis or the plots of land uncontaminated by motorways and vehicles that some Italian Molino claims to have?
Is the name of the wheat you grow in these plots of land Italian? If so, which variety of these Italian grains do you grow?
They are Italian grains or are seeds of foreign origin grown in Italian soils and mixed in percentage with original Italian seeds. Why one of the main factors that negatively influence the agricultural yield of durum wheat, for example, is the use of non-certified seeds? As farmers resort to
Given the characteristics of Italian grains, flours produced from Italian grains with a W 350 cannot therefore exist in nature.
There may perhaps be flours produced in Italy also with grains grown in Italy but with grains of foreign origin, so in this case they could have a W350.
Therefore, to be fair, a mill should clarify what it is offering on the market.
Italian entrepreneurs tend to cultivate the most productive varieties, correcting their defects through chemical interventions.
The soft wheat crop is insufficient to cover only half of the national needs. Therefore Italy has become a strong importer of both soft and hard wheat. How can there be “made in Italy” flours if we import wheat from abroad, asks the association that groups a large slice of farms? The question is legitimate, but does not take into account the relevant laws. In Italy, companies and mills that offer packaged flour on supermarket shelves are not obliged to indicate the origin of the raw material on the packaging, but must report the name of the plant that carried out the last significant transformation. "The flours marketed in Italy - states Italmopa, in the press release of 21 March 2017 - are 100% Made in Italy, even if they contain imported wheat, because the last processing takes place on national soil". A flour produced from imported wheat but transformed in Italy is therefore "100% Italian" by law.
Having said this, before affirming or believing to use a flour produced only from Italian grains and especially with a W ranging from 280 upwards, it would be better to think carefully or open your eyes.
