farro

Meaning

1. 1noununcountable

   a chewy, nutty grain from an ancient type of wheat, cooked like rice and used in soups and salads.

   Grammar: A mass noun: a cup of farro.

   Patterns

   • cook farro
   • a salad with farro

   We cooked farro with mushrooms and herbs for dinner.

   The soup was thick with beans and farro.

   Farro has more bite than rice and stays firm after boiling.

Common combinations

cook farro

Cook farro in salted water until tender.

farro salad

A farro salad makes a filling lunch.

pearled farro

Pearled farro cooks faster than whole grain.

whole farro

Whole farro takes longer to cook.

farro risotto

She served a farro risotto with roasted squash.

Synonyms and how they differ

emmer

Emmer is the botanical name for one of the wheats sold as farro.

spelt

Spelt is a related ancient wheat, but its grains are usually larger and sold under their own name.

barley

Barley is a different cereal with a similar chewy texture but a milder taste.

Word family

grain noun

the seed of cereal plants

wheat noun

the cereal crop from which flour is made

emmer noun

an ancient wheat

Commonly confused: farro or faro?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “farro”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

Explore more words