In antiquity, barley and wheat were the most important grains that Greeks used to cultivate.

A famous Greek saying, literally translated as “I have to spread trahana” suggests a time consuming and serious activity.

They also developed grain processing methods for the production of flour.

One of the processing practices of wheat was the following: coarsely ground wheat was sieved and then dried to produce hondron (i.e. bulgur).

Aristophanes describes it in his play The Wasps.

Later in Byzantium times, trahana was a known and established food. A kind of sweet trahana with honey, called grouta, was served sprinkled with locust tree seeds or raisins.

In other sources trahana pie is mentioned, made of trahana, egg, butter and grated cheese.

Trahana was a common food served in inns as a soup.

The French traveller Belon, who visited Greece during the 16th century, describes trahana as cracked wheat mixed with sour milk, dried in the sun and then rubbed into granules.

Trahana was also a food commonly found along the coastline of Asia Minor, particularly in Cappadocia and Pontos.

The ingredients used in the preparation of trahana varied.

Trahana was traditionally made of milk kneaded with hondros (cracked wheat), or with flour, with semolina flour or with bulgur. In some areas, cultured buttermilk, yogurt, or even tomato was used instead of milk.

Throughout Greece, trahana is distinguished as either sweet (with milk or tomato) or sour (with yogurt or cultured buttermilk).

Trahana is cooked in various ways: as a porridge-like dish, a soup or a pilaf, and can be also served as a side dish with meat or legumes.

A famous Greek saying, literally translated as “I have to spread trahana” suggests a time consuming and serious activity.