A short history of the polenta

The polenta is definitely one of the traditional winter dishes of Italy and elsewhere.

In central Italy it is also fascinating for its power to bring families or friends together around the table: who has never eaten it lying on the “cutting board” and topped with sauces, meats or vegetables?

That simple mixture of water and yellow corn flour — wait a minute! But if corn only made its way from the Americas to Europe starting in the 1500s, how was it prepared before that?

Let’s back up a few steps…

The polenta, a simple mixture of water and easily found flours that is cheap, good and satiating, is undoubtedly one of the oldest dishes in history, prepared for millennia.

In any given period of history, civilization, and geographic area with different conditions or climates we find different types of polentas.

The polenta in the ancient civilizations

The earliest traces of the polenta can be found in Mesopotamia where the Sumerians prepared it with millet and rye flours.

It was eaten in ancient Egypt, and similarly in ancient Greece where it was prepared from barley flour.

While remaining in Mediterranean Africa, it was certainly also consumed in the areas of modern Tunisia to the extent that in a play by Titus Maccius Plautus the main character was Patruos Pultiphagonĭdes i.e., “the polenta-eating uncle,” according to the derogatory definition by which the Carthaginians were called in Rome.

The polenta in the days of the ancient Romans

But even the ancient Romans were actually pultifers, that is, polenta eaters. Indeed, eaters of puls to use the Latin name.

Seneca wrote “Pulte, non pane, vixisse longo tempore Romanos manifestum” meaning “of pulta and not of bread lived the Romans for a long time.”

In fact, during dinner they ate a polenta made from spelt or wheat flour, usually accompanied by legumes or spit-roasted meat.

It was once again spelt flour that filled the pouch that Roman legionaries always carried.

The Roman gastronome writer Apicius is even more precise, writing in his “De re coquinaria” that the spelt used for “pultes julianae” was “spelta” (spelt).

The polenta from the Middle Ages onward

In the Middle Ages the poorer classes of the population used to prepare the polenta not only with spelt flours but also with millet flour or buckwheat flours.

In the mid-1400s Maestro Martino da Como cooked polenta for the Patriarch of Aquileia with spelt flour (always present), but also with chestnut flour and millet flour, as well as with bean curd flour.
And it was often accompanied by more readily available flavorings found in nature: fennel, honey, sage, onion.

And it was only at the end of this “journey” with the discovery of America and the spread of corn first to Andalusia, and then to Italy in the areas of Veneto and Friuli, that the polenta also became made with Turkish wheat (where by “Turkish” in the 1500s they called everything foreign).

However, for the history of the proliferation of corn and the emergence of the related polenta in the Triveneto region, before it spread throughout Italy with dozens of regional nuances, we would like to refer you to this fine reconstruction.

What we are interested in is going back to the polenta that has been consumed in Italy for millennia: spelt semolina polenta.

The Spelt semolina polenta

The spelt polenta has been the most widespread and ever-present in these two thousand years of Italian history, from the ancient Romans to the present.

Definitely more delicate than corn polenta, it goes well with any seasoning, enhancing the flavor thanks to its light taste.

The spelt semolina polenta is a nutritious dish being much richer in vitamins than the corn polenta.

On the contrary, the spread of the corn completely lacking in the B vitamins and vitamin PP found in other grains caused serious problems. In the countryside of northern Italy, the lack of variety in the diet, combined with the consumption of only cornmeal and polenta, caused numerous pellagra epidemics until after World War I.

Since spelt is an ancient grain with a low glutin content compared to other grains, its polenta is also well suited for those with mild intolerances.

In addition, Dicoccum spelt also has a low glycemic index so it is particularly suitable for those who practice sports, have diabetes problems or perform sedentary work.

If you want to try some of the polenta from Italy’s culinary history, our store has organic spelt semolina. Added to a delicate and nutritious polenta you can enjoy all the safety of the organic Capoccia Bio.