Grano Saraceno

This grain, belonging to a different family from wheat, originated in Mongolia and was brought to Europe by the Moors in the Middle Ages, hence its Italian name. In the sixteenth century it was used to make bread all over Italy, now there are only two small areas where it is grown. One is Valtellina, a valley in Lombardy, where it is used to make a type of pasta called pizzoccheri, as well as a type of coarse rustic polenta. This polenta taragna uses a mixture of maize and buckwheat flours, together with the local cheese Scimud or Bitto. The other buckwheat-growing region is the Veneto, where it is also still used to make polenta.