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From Ilia Ballauri/ Thekri once in the area of Korça

2024-08-28 10:27:00, Kulturë Ilia Ballauri

From Ilia Ballauri/ Thekri once in the area of ??Korça

Rye (Secale cereale) is a type of grain, used for bread and fodder. It grows and is cultivated in mountainous areas, on weak soils and tolerates the cold better than other cereals, such as wheat, barley and oats. It is sown later than wheat and reaped later than wheat.

Its cultivation has been known since the Neolithic period, while the Celts and Germans not only cultivated it, but also produced a type of bread called "galette" from rye. Also, in the Middle Ages there was an extended cultivation especially in the plains of Hungary and it constituted the main grain for bread.

Rye flour for bread makers is more difficult to process, but the bread has high dietary values. In the past, a lot was planted in the district of Korça, I don't know if this grain that has fed people for thousands of years is still being planted today.

In the following, I am bringing my research on rye in the Korça area and around, which have not been easy, to extract the few data that continue about this rare and not well-known culture.

In the area of ??Korça, the data from 1972 show that in terms of varietal structure, the rye that was planted at that time, in a good percentage, consisted of the so-called local rye, which was considered a mixture of natural hybrids and their populations, with an elongated cylindrical ear.

The zonal origin of this variety is not mentioned, but on the other hand, it is emphasized that the Korça district had a central place for rye and that it was mainly planted here in the areas of Vithkuq, Voskopoja and Gramoz.
Meanwhile, a strain called Mokra (foreign, with changed name) is also mentioned, of the autumn type, which reached a height of 150-170 cm, had a prismatic ear of 10-12 cm, with 30-36 grains in it.

The literature mentions that in those times, there was also a special perennial rye of the botanical type, Secale cereale montanum, which existed in two forms: spontaneous wild in pastures and; cultivated. This species propagated by rhizomes, was typical of areas with very harsh winters, numerous fraternities and brittle ears.

The description of the literature does not refer to our area, but it is such that it hints that, perhaps at that time, this thing was considered well-known./ CNA