Flour

There are two kinds of wheat in Italy: grano tenero, soft and hard wheat from Triticum aestivum; and Triticum durum, a much harder highprotein wheat from which the durum wheat and semolina for pasta are milled. Flour from grano tenero is graded in five categories; 00 is the most refined—all the husk and whole grain have been sifted away. Grade 0 has had most of its husk and germ extracted, leaving a light-beige tint from the remaining nutrients. Flours 1 and 2, rarely seen or used in Italy any more, have much more of the bran and endosperm; nothing has been extracted from whole wheat flour.