Farina - Definition

The name farina is used in a number of circumstances:

• Farina (from the Italian for "flour") is a bland-tasting meal made from cereal grains. It is a protein-rich food often cooked in boiling water and eaten for breakfast or in puddings such as semolina. Is farina the equivalent of oat bran for wheat? Is it wheat bran? Reports say it is milled from different parts of the grain. Also sold as Cream of Wheat, farina is made from the endosperm of the grain, which is milled to a fine granular consistency and then sifted. Although the bran and most of the germ are removed, this cereal is sometimes enriched with B vitamins and iron. Farina is most often served as a breakfast cereal, but can also be cooked like polenta.
  Farina cereal with shelf price at Shaw's Supermarket in Watertown, MA, October 2004.
• Farina di granturco (Italian for "cornflour, maize flour"), when mixed gradually with boiling water, makes polenta.
• Farina is a town in South Australia.
• Dennis Farina is an actor.
• Richard Fariña, noted folk music performer
• Mimi Baez Fariña, sister of Joan Baez and wife of Richard Fariña, also a folk performer
• Farina, an 1857 novel by author English writer George Meredith
• Allen "Farina" Hoskins was one of the African-American characters in the Our Gang (Little Rascals) short films.