How Many Syns in Semolina?

Semolina is the coarsely ground endosperm of durum wheat, the same hard variety used to make most dried pasta, and it has long held a curious place in British kitchens. For older generations it conjures memories of school dinners: a slightly lumpy, vanilla-scented pudding served with a generous splodge of red jam in the middle.

For younger cooks it tends to appear in homemade pasta dough, in the dusting on the base of a pizza, or whisked into a North African or Middle Eastern dessert such as basbousa or halva. On Slimming World, semolina sits firmly in the cereal category and behaves rather like couscous or polenta, which means it carries a syn value rather than being free.

Twenty grams of dry semolina, roughly a heaped tablespoon, works out at around two and a half syns, while a 200g serving of finished semolina pudding made with whole milk and sugar climbs to around eight syns once everything is totted up. The cooking medium really is the deciding factor here.

Boil it in skimmed milk from a Healthy Extra A allowance, sweeten with granulated sweetener instead of sugar, and stir through vanilla or a grating of nutmeg, and you can keep a comforting bowl of pudding to a much gentler three or four syns. Savoury uses are friendlier still: a teaspoon scattered on a baking tray to stop low-syn flatbreads sticking, or a sprinkle in a slow-cooked tomato sauce to thicken it, will barely register.

Treat semolina as a useful flavour and texture tool rather than a daily staple, weigh it carefully on digital scales, and it slots neatly into a week of Food Optimising without derailing your syns allowance.