Wheat and flours from Menorca

When the month of December arrived, wheat was sown and tradition dictated that it should always start on a Saturday, because this day of the week is dedicated to the Virgin Mary. It was also believed that it should be done on a new moon.

Many varieties of wheat were sown in Menorca, although the best known was Triticum sativum, which has numerous variants, of which the most used was the so-called xeixa grossa, light in color and large in grain, and which was already documented in the 14th century. The xeixa petita was also sown, also light in color, but with small grains, which was more suitable for sowing on thin soils. Other wheats known on our island when it was sown were the blue reed, which was introduced around 1924, and which was quite productive, but the ears were broken off, broken like a neck by the wind. In the 19th century, Algiers wheat was introduced and after the Civil War, red wheat began to be sown, with good results. The change made in Menorcan farming towards livestock and milk production meant that the wheat fields became pasture fields for cows to produce cheese.

In the past, when wheat was grown on our island and the mills were in full production, the following flours could be found:

- All-purpose flour or flour flour was the finest of all, with it the ensaimades of Sant Joan, the coques bambas, the magdalenes... It was mixed with normal flour to make bread. In recipes where all-purpose flour is used, we can use loose flour. To make ensaimades, it was customary to mix the two flours.

- Normal flour was the one used to make bread and also to make cakes, cheesecakes, pastries and other confectionery products. It would be the current strong flour.

- White flour, was used to make coca rossa, which as we have explained in this book was a very hard wholemeal bread that was not usually kept for more than a day and was consumed almost instantly.

- Flour that we mixed with bran to feed animals such as chickens and hens.