Page "Couscous" Paragraph 11

The semolina is sprinkled with water and rolled with the hands to form small pellets, sprinkled with dry flour to keep them separate, and then sieved.

Any pellets which are too small to be finished granules of couscous and fall through the sieve will be again rolled and sprinkled with dry semolina and rolled into pellets.

This process continues until all the semolina has been formed into tiny granules of couscous.

This process is very labour-intensive.

In the traditional method of preparing couscous, groups of women would come together and make large batches over several days.

These would then be dried in the sun and used for several months.

Couscous was traditionally made from the hard part of the durum, the part of the grain that resisted the grinding of the relatively primitive millstone.

In modern times, couscous production is largely mechanized, and the product is sold in markets around the world.