The roasted green wheat used in Lebanese soups and pilafs is freekeh. Freekeh is made from green durum wheat harvested while the grains are still soft and immature. The wheat is dried, lightly roasted so the straw and chaff burn, then rubbed, threshed, and cracked into smaller grains.
That roasting gives freekeh a distinctive smoky, nutty flavor and chewy texture. Its name is linked to the Arabic word farīk, meaning “rubbed,” referring to the rubbing and threshing step used to remove the burned husks. Freekeh is a Levantine grain, popular in Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, and other eastern Mediterranean cuisines.
In Lebanese cooking, freekeh may be prepared as a pilaf with onions, spices, nuts, and chicken or lamb, or simmered in soup. It is often confused with bulgur because both are cracked wheat products, but bulgur is made from mature wheat that is parboiled and dried, while freekeh is made from immature green wheat and is roasted. Quinoa is a seed, and farro is an older form of wheat, not the same preparation.