Frike: A Money Spinner for the Poor (English part 1)

Burn your crop, increase your profits. A traditional product offers opportunities for value addition in West Asia.

n 2300 BC, a Mediterranean city was under siege. Its inhabitants fought back. The invaders retreated but before they did, they set fire to the green wheat fields. When the inhabitants returned to their fields they found the crop burnt, but only partially. To salvage what remained, they rubbed away the burnt layer to reveal the green grain inside. It tasted different, but delicious. They called it Frike (pronounced free-kay) and it soon became a staple food in the Middle East and the Maghreb. Today, the region produces an estimated 200 to 300,000 tons each year.

Full story at http://www.icarda.org/Publications/Caravan/Caravan24/Focus_6.htm

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Howto & Style

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• Food
• recipe
• agriculture
• wheat
• durum
• dryland
• ICARDA
• marriage
• fire
• burn
• Syria
• story
• women
• farmers