Freekeh is durum wheat harvested while still green and unripe, then roasted over fire and rubbed and cracked, which gives it a distinctive smoky, nutty taste and a firm, chewy bite. An ancient grain of the Levant and the eastern Mediterranean, it is prized in Arab cooking for hearty pilafs, soups and stuffings, and its young-grain harvest leaves it higher in protein and fibre than the same wheat ripened. Because it is a true wheat it contains gluten and is unsafe for people with coeliac disease.