Yes, and you may be right that most strains of wheat don't lend themselves to risotto as well as farro, so you may have caught me out on that, my knowledge doesn't run that deep in empirical evidence. Excuse me if I geek out a little here:
'Hard' and 'soft' in wheat berries has to do with the when of harvesting – you may find that you like spring (soft) wheat for risotto, while summer (hard) wheat doesn't work. I am not sure specifically about risotto; I'm thrifty & like to use barely. Spelt and Kamut are also 'wheat berries'. Kamut and Farro are the same strain by different names – this strain of wheat is around seven thousand years old (spelt e.g., is in the 4-5 range).
I have had a dietician friend unable believe the soft, fine quality of white whole wheat flour after years of only knowing the red. Perhaps American wheat berries are usually red, and farro and spelt white? I am running to the limits of my knowledge... so I will qualify my earlier comment: It is the same part of the plant, at the same level of processing – in my experience, they are interchangeable in most applications. Though the cooking time can vary some. You may find that you prefer a certain strain. I tend to stick with the wheat berries, since they cost a fraction of what farro does. Barley is very inexpensive and it makes a lovely risotto.
Again, please excuse me for nerding out. I swear I'm not a 'know-it-all', just a bit of a geek. xx
Anything you can do with Farro, you can do with wheat berries. Farro is a particular strain of wheat, but the plant part and level of refinement/processing is the same.
are you quite sure about that? I make a farro risotto which is rather creamy but i don't feel confidant that you could get wheatberries to go creamy. also, hard wheat and soft wheatberries are fidd as well, yes?
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'Hard' and 'soft' in wheat berries has to do with the when of harvesting – you may find that you like spring (soft) wheat for risotto, while summer (hard) wheat doesn't work. I am not sure specifically about risotto; I'm thrifty & like to use barely. Spelt and Kamut are also 'wheat berries'. Kamut and Farro are the same strain by different names – this strain of wheat is around seven thousand years old (spelt e.g., is in the 4-5 range).
I have had a dietician friend unable believe the soft, fine quality of white whole wheat flour after years of only knowing the red. Perhaps American wheat berries are usually red, and farro and spelt white? I am running to the limits of my knowledge... so I will qualify my earlier comment: It is the same part of the plant, at the same level of processing – in my experience, they are interchangeable in most applications. Though the cooking time can vary some. You may find that you prefer a certain strain. I tend to stick with the wheat berries, since they cost a fraction of what farro does. Barley is very inexpensive and it makes a lovely risotto.
Again, please excuse me for nerding out. I swear I'm not a 'know-it-all', just a bit of a geek. xx