Farina Recipes for Breakfast or Dessert
Farina is made from the germ and endosperm of hard wheat. It’s finely ground and sifted to become similar in texture to flour.
Usually cooked as a hot cereal, it has a bland taste, although other ingredients are often added for flavor. Farina can also be used to make flummeries, puddings, and other dishes.
Three popular brands of farina in the U.S. are Cream of Wheat, Malt-O-Meal, and Farina Mills. Click to read an interesting article on “What is Farina?”
INFORMATION BELOW COMPILED FROM 1800s COOKBOOKS
FARINA
Farina is a very fine and delicate preparation made from the inner part of the grain of new wheat. It is exceedingly nutritious, and excellent, either for invalids or for persons in health. Its bland taste is good for invalids and children, but sugar, fruit, milk, and other ingredients are often added.
FARINA GRUEL
Have some water boiling on the fire, and slowly sprinkle in sufficient farina to thicken it to the desired consistence. Continue the boiling twenty minutes afterwards. Sweeten it with loaf-sugar.*
*loaf-sugar – sugar sold in a hard block, which has to be broken and then pounded into sugar granules.
FARINA PANADA
Soak the farina for several hours in milk. Then drain it and put it into a vessel that has a close lid. Set this vessel in a kettle of water, raising it on a trivet or something similar. Place it over the fire, and make it boil all round the outside of the inner vessel. This will cook the farina very nicely. Keep it boiling till it becomes a thick, smooth mass. When done, sweeten it with white sugar and, if permitted, you may flavor it with a little nutmeg and white wine. Some fresh lemon peel may be boiled with it, to be removed when the farina is taken up.
FARINA FLUMMERY
Mix with a small pint of water a large pint of the juice of ripe currants, strawberries, or stewed cranberries in winter, made very sweet with white sugar. Boil the water and juice together, and stir in gradually a quarter pound of farina, and then boil it fifteen minutes longer. Afterwards transfer it to molds, and set it on ice till congealed. Eat it with sweetened cream.
BAKED FARINA PUDDING
Boil a quart of milk, gradually stirring into it while boiling, a quarter of a pound of farina. Then take it up and while warm, mix into it a quarter of a pound of sugar, half a nutmeg grated, and a wine-glass of rose-water, white wine, or half a glass of brandy. Then beat four eggs very light, and stir them gradually into the farina mixture. Bake it in a buttered, deep dish, and grate sugar over it when done.
FARINA PLUM PUDDING
Having extracted the seeds from half a pound of the best raisins, cut them in half and dredge them well with sifted flour, to prevent their clodding, or sinking in the pudding. Pick, wash, and dry half a pound of Zante currants, and dredge them also with flour. Prepare a heaped teaspoonful of powdered spice; nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon, mixed together.
Boil three pints of milk and while it is boiling, sprinkle in a half pound of farina. Next add the spice, and let it boil a quarter of an hour longer. Then take it up, and set it to cool. When it is lukewarm, stir in gradually, six well-beaten eggs, in turn with the raisins and currants, a large piece of fresh butter, and a small glass of brandy. You may add some slips of citron, dredged with flour.
Stir the mixture very hard, then put it into a buttered pudding-mold. Tie a double cloth tightly over the top, and place it in a pot of boiling water. Boil it three or four hours and then turn it out on a dish. Eat it with wine-sauce; or with cold butter and sugar stirred together to a cream, and flavoured with nutmeg and lemon.
FARINA CUSTARD
Stir one cup cold farina and two cups milk together until they are perfectly smooth. Then add two eggs, beaten slightly, one-half cup sugar, one-fourth teaspoon nutmeg, and mix well. Bake in a moderately hot oven* until firm and serve hot or cold with any sauce desired.
*moderate oven – about 350-400 degrees Fahrenheit.
FARINA SOUFFLÉ
Stir one cup cold farina smooth with one and one-half cups milk. Add one-half teaspoon salt, one-fourth teaspoon paprika, one cup grated cheese, and two egg yolks, which should first be beaten. Then beat the egg whites stiff and fold them into the mixture. Pour all into a buttered baking dish, place this in a large pan filled with enough hot water to reach almost to the top of the baking dish, and bake in a moderately hot oven* until the mixture in the dish is firm in the center. Serve at once upon taking from the oven.
*hot or quick oven – about 400-450 degrees Fahrenheit.
Image from Deposit Photos
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I never liked hot cereals as a child and usually ate cold cereal or buttered toast. I now lean toward scrambled eggs with bacon or sausage, or a cheese omelet.
What about you? Do you like hot cereals? Please leave a comment below.
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7 thoughts on “Farina Recipes for Breakfast or Dessert”
I GREW UP EATING FARINA COOKED IN CHICKEN BROTH. MY WIFE ALWAYS HAD HERS COOKED IN MILK. I LIKE IT BOTH WAYS. I ADD BUTTER AND A SHOT OF HOT SAUCE TO THE ONE MADE WITH MILK, AND GRATED PARMESAN OR (PREF.) PECCORINO ROMANO TO THE CHICKEN BASED VARIETY.
It’s easy to experiment and find ways to flavor a simple dish. I rarely eat hot cereal grains, but spice up scrambled eggs in a variety of ways.
My grandmother used to make a cookie the family dubbed “gizzard scrapers”. All I remember is they had farina and oatmeal in them. The family used to love them. I could trade for anything at school, usually 2 cookies would get me a tuna fish sandwich and a twinkie. The farina was definitely coarser than flour. I wonder if subbing farina for flour in an oatmeal cookie recipe would work. I despised raisins, maybe chocolate chips would work.
What a cute name for a cookie! They sound good. I think it would be worth a try to substitute farina. Or perhaps divide the oatmeal cookie recipe in half and try following the recipe with one half, and substituting farina for the other half.
I like Farina year round. We have too many boxes on hand & wonder if there’s any cookie recipes that use Farina.
You might look on Pinterest.com. There are lots of recipes there. I wonder if you could also look for recipes using “Cream of Wheat” or “Malt O Meal.” These are commercial breakfast cereals similar to farina.
Nope. I’m not a hot cereal fan either but I love the name farina flummery! 🙂