The New International Encyclopædia/Farina

FARINA, fȧ-rī′nȧ or fȧ-rē′nȧ (Lat., flour, from far, coarse grain). The flour or powder of substances rich in starch, including cereal grains, as wheat and rice, leguminous seeds, as peas and beans, and roots such as potato and arrowroot, and other like compounds. A food product called farina, similar to hominy, but with coarser granules than meal and finer than those of hominy, is made from white maize. A similar granulated preparation, prepared from the inner portion of the finest wheat, is similarly named. Both products are employed in the making of gruel, puddings, etc. Farina is an important constituent of numerous prepared foods that are called farinaceous on account of the starch that they contain. In botany the pollen of flowers was formerly called farina.