APULICA / FRESH PASTA, BREAD AND PASTRY

Grano dei morti (All Souls' wheat)

PAT · Fresh pasta, bread and pastry · Puglia

Apulica editorial team · Sources checked: 2026-10-11

In brief

Boiled wheat berries dressed with fig syrup, pomegranate, almonds, walnuts, candied fruit, chocolate and spices. (Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Grano dei morti)
It is made for All Souls' Day on 2 November and comes from the Greek-rite Christian custom of eating blessed wheat. (Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Grano dei morti)
Stated area of origin: the province of Foggia; it is made at home and not sold. (Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Grano dei morti)

History and origin

Grano dei morti, wheat of the dead, is a dish from the province of Foggia tied to the commemoration of the dead on 2 November, listed among Puglia's traditional products. Its name points back to the Byzantine word kolba, kollyba in Greek, meaning cooked wheat.

The custom comes from the tradition of Greek-rite Christians, who on the day of the dead ate boiled wheat blessed during the religious service. Over time other ingredients were added to the wheat, enriching its taste and deepening its symbolic value.

This is the case with the pomegranate, a fruit of Phoenician origin and a symbol of rebirth and life, which since antiquity was placed in tombs beside the wheat, to provide nourishment for the dead and a hope of resurrection. Walnuts too were dear to the ancients, who called them Jupiter's acorns.

Sources: Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Grano dei morti · Masaf — Elenco nazionale dei prodotti agroalimentari tradizionali, XXVI revisione (2026)

Area and method of production

Preparation begins days in advance. The wheat grains, freed from the chaff, are soaked for about three days, changing the water daily. Then they are cooked in plenty of water until the kernels split open, rinsed several times and left in water a little longer.

An hour before serving, the wheat is drained and dressed with plenty of fig syrup, a mix of chopped toasted almonds and walnuts, pieces of candied fruit, chocolate shavings, cinnamon, cloves and pomegranate seeds, all mixed together well.

Fig syrup, in turn, is a product of country tradition: very ripe figs boiled, pressed in a linen bag and reduced until they give a dark, thick and very sweet liquid.

Sources: Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Grano dei morti · Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Cotto di fico

How to recognise it

Grano dei morti has a very intense taste, the result of mixing many different ingredients. The soft wheat kernels, cooked until they split, are the soft base for the bright red of pomegranate seeds, the brown of fig syrup and chocolate and the colours of candied fruit.

On the palate the dense sweetness of fig syrup alternates with the crunch of almonds and walnuts, the fresh, slightly tart note of pomegranate and the warm scent of cinnamon and cloves. It is a rich, fragrant spoon dessert.

Sources: Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Grano dei morti · Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Cotto di fico

In the kitchen

Grano dei morti is not an everyday sweet but a ritual dish, made in November and especially for the commemoration of the dead on 2 November. It is made at home and eaten within the family, as a gesture of remembrance for those who are gone.

Every ingredient carries a meaning: the wheat, tied to the old custom of blessed grain; the pomegranate, a symbol of rebirth; walnuts, a precious food for the ancients. Fig syrup, which farming families made in every home in summer, gives the dish its sweetness, together with chocolate and candied fruit. It is served freshly dressed, once all the ingredients have been mixed well.

Sources: Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Grano dei morti · Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Cotto di fico

Where to taste it

Grano dei morti is not sold: the regional record explains that it is made at home and eaten within the family. To get to know it you therefore need to follow its calendar, in the days around 2 November, in the province of Foggia, its area of origin.

A public occasion to taste cooked wheat is the Sagra del grano cotto in Margherita di Savoia, in the province of Barletta-Andria-Trani, listed by the regional record among promotional events; for dates it is best to ask the municipality. Visitors to the Foggia area in early November may encounter this tradition in the homes and communities that keep it alive.

Sources: Atlante dei PAT di Puglia — Grano dei morti