Frekeh or firik

Frekeh is also known as firik. Frekeh, a non-paste durum wheat product, is a staple food in North Africa and the Middle East, especially Syria. Frekeh is a parched green wheat that is used in the same way as rice, bulgur, and couscous. In the Near East, 2% of durum wheat is used to make frekeh. In contrast to bulgur, frekeh making is a localized village industry. In many villages in northwestern Syria, frekeh is one of the most important sources of income. Although, it is a small industry, an estimated 200 to 300 thousand tons of frekeh are made every year in the Middle East.

The best frekeh is made from the largest, hardest, and greenest grains. Therefore, durum wheat, especially cultivars with large kernels, is the most suitable wheat for making frekeh. When processed from wheat harvested in late-milk to mid-dough stages, roughly 13 to 16 d after anthesis, frekeh is more delicious than that processed at the full-ripe stage, probably due to the higher contents of free simple sugars. Kernels in the early stages of development have high concentrations of minerals and vitamins, particularly thiamin and riboflavin.

Frekeh is made from immature wheat during a one- to two-week period of grain filling.  The wheat is swathed, hand gathered, and laid in the sun to partially dry. Frekeh is produced by two different procedures: roasting or boiling. In the roasting procedure, fire is used to burn off the awns, lemma, and palea from immature spikes.  Care is taken to avoid excessive parching of the kernels. The fire scorches the grain, giving the frekeh a characteristic flavor. In the boiling procedure, the immature spikes are boiled in water for about 20 min. In either process, the scorched or boiled spikes are dried in the sun. The heads are either hand (small-scale) or mechanically (large-scale) threshed to separate the grain from the chaff. Winnowing in the wind cleans the threshed grain. Finally, the grain is stored in bulk before it is bagged. 

Cooking/Use

Frekeh is prepared for eating by cooking it in water (1:2) for 20 min and allowing it to cool for 5 min. A minimum amount of water is used to avoid leaching soluble nutrients. Consumption of frekeh resembles that of bulgur. Frekeh is used as a substitute for rice and bulgur in pilav. Frekeh can be either boiled or steamed and is served with lamb or poultry (Özkaya et al., 1999).