Solina

Solina traces its roots back to the early 16th century. It is a soft and tall wheat, extremely rustic and adapted over the centuries to growing on mountain terrain. ‘Solina’ is a traditional winter soft wheat landrace, cultivated in mountain areas in the Abruzzo region of Italy. The landrace shows high adaptability to marginal areas, as well as resistance to cold. It also shows high yield stability, and because of its height (110-135 cm) and tillering ability is highly competitive with weeds. It does not require high amount of nitrogen. The spike is relatively long (8.0-9.5 cm), white (sometimes it is also possible to find reddish ones) and awned. ‘Solina’ produces big caryopses (average weight 42-46 mg; length 2.85-2.95 mm) characterized by relatively high amount of proteins (13.5-15.5%). Solina is a fall planted soft red wheat that has been traditionally used to make homemade bread and pasta. There is an old saying from the Abruzzo’s interior region; “Solina fixes all flours”. This wheat improves the baking quality and flavor when blended with other wheat flours. Solina is in the Italian Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. Original seed stock from John Sherck who got his from the Abruzzo region in 2016.