Timilìa

Organic durum whole wheat flour
Old Sicilian stone milled wheat

Timilìa (or Tumminìa) durum wheat is among the oldest varieties in Sicily. Even Theophrastus (322 BC) and Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) speak of it.
For centuries it has been considered the “grain of the peasants”, because being a late grain, it was sown after having finished working the fields “of the masters” and was therefore destined for the family pantry.
On the pitch it is a real strength: it goes well through periods of drought and it resists very well to weeds. Being an ancient wheat, it is not genetically modified and no fertilizers or herbicides are needed to grow it. It has a very weak gluten index. It is naturally rich in polyphenols and, thanks also to the favorable climate, it does not contain mycotoxins. Traditionally it was used to make bread, which takes on a brown color, the prerogative of the “black bread of Castelvetrano”.

Today Timilìa is recognized as a precious grain to be kept and we, farmers of Valdibella, have been awarded the title of “guardian farmer” (ministerial decree of 5 March 2018). This entails setting aside seed storage fields, so that this heritage that has survived our modernity for millennia continues for another millennia.