Durum wheat pasta is arguably Italy’s best food manufacture today: The hygiene of production plants is between the highest in the food industry and the macaroni consumption is gaining traction worldwide, consumers are showing increased interest in this particular food because of its pleasant taste, flexibility in preparation with different sauces and recipes, long shelf life and, last but not least, a moderate price.
Many historians trace back the origin of durum wheat pasta to Roman times, when during the ancient empire a dish called “laganum” used to be consumed regularly, some others attribute its discovery to Venician explorer Marco Polo and its epic 1292 expedition to China, where he would discover pasta and take it back to Europe.
The difficulty to trace back in time the origins of the most popular Italian dish are, in fact, related to its very definition: what is pasta?
Today we consider pasta a mix of durum wheat semolina flour (or soft wheat, normally used for bread, or a mix of the two kinds) with water, that creates a paste, in Italian impasto, later extracted and dried to deprive it of its moist and enable long conservation.
The records, again, provide fragmented yet useful documents regarding the history of durum wheat pasta, especially the ones from Italian cities of Palermo, Genoa, and Naples.
The extensive production of dry pasta started in the second half of the nineteenth century for most, but some researchers fix it already in the seventeenth century, some, finally, claim it be produced as far back as in 1200. The “paste” used to be channeled with a wooden tool putting pressure on it and push it toward the drawing piece (Italian: trafila) to be cut. The freshly cut pasta would later be laid to be dried, a critical process subject to moisture level, ventilation and a multitude of other factors that would prevent or enable the correct processing of the pasta: any mistake would result in the pasta do be damaged.
Up until 1830 the mixing of water and durum wheat semolina would be done with bare hands and foot until progressive technologies such as mechanical tools optimized this procedure.
Regarding the drying process, it would be done by exposing the fresh pasta to normal environment air until the first decades of the last century, this operation would be carried out in wide-open spaces, usually located at the top of the pasta factories, or in rooms where wide windows could be opened or closed in order to dictate the optimal amount of air and temperature. From drawing/cutting to the end of drying as much as 30 days would go by, resulting in the possibility of fermenting, acidification, mold and other negative factors in the pasta as well as the exposure to insects such as flies and bees coming in contact with the production and a less than optimal hygiene in general.
With time, artificially heated drying system came into being and the production process of durum wheat pasta became integrated into all of its phases, from mixing of ingredients to final packaging with the advent of modern production lines in the 1950s. Even the drawing matrix, traditionally in bronze, started being replaced with Teflon-covered matrix pieces, resulting in a smoother surface of the pasta, bronze drawn pasta remains, at any rate, available today and many appreciate the porosity and sauce-retaining crust.
In the 1970s new technology allow for higher temperatures drying, up to 75 or 85 degrees Celsius: up to that moment the drying process was conducted at lower temperatures, usually below 60 degrees and for long periods of 15 hours or plus, the new, faster process enabled a higher output of factories and the related improvements in profitability.
Today virtually all macaroni manufacturers like regular and special shapes pasta suppliers implement modern production and packaging technologies: the entire process from the receiving of raw materials to the final packaging can be automated by computer-controlled machinery. The Italian regulation ensures the strictest purity of the product, which can be composed of exclusively durum wheat semolina flour and water for products distributed in the domestic market, making Italian pasta by far the best available. Water and flour are mixed by mechanical tools for a time of 15 to 20 minutes and later pushed toward the trafila, or the matrix giving shape to the pasta, by a large screw. In the matrix a rotating knife cuts the paste into the shapes we know, which later get deposited on trays and sent to drying ovens where the moist level is reduced by 30% to 12,5%, allowing for the long preservation with a shelf life of typically 2 or 3 years. In the drying oven, the streams of hot air are carefully controlled and delivered intermittently to achieve the ideal result and balance moist level across the outside and inside of the single durum wheat pasta pieces. In larger shapes such as the special shapes for filling a pre-drying is ensured to prevent the moist macaroni from flexing over their own weight, losing their typical shapes. After leaving the ovens the pasta is dry and ready for packaging and distribution.
Past is a nutrient dish according to most recent research and constitutes the basis of the Mediterranean diet: it is a partial protein food with a substantial amount of complex carbs, low on fats and cholesterol. According to the strict Italian pasta regulations, protein levels cannot be below 10,5%, such is achieved by mixing different grain varieties to reach the desired protein level up to 14% in the most premium products. The origin of durum wheat pasta grain has been a controversial topic in the Italian society in recent years, with a part of the public opinion condemning the import of foreign grains as pesticides are used in countries of origins such as Canada (glyphosate is not allowed in Italy) and the other side of the spectrum remarking how Italy’s total grain production is not sufficient to satisfy the country’s demand of durum wheat pasta.
Italian regulators dictate also the amount of egg to be mixed with the semolina flour in egg pasta: 200 grams of eggs for every kilogram of flour.
Over time, the thousands of Italian pasta manufacturers concentrated by a few key players that export their production worldwide and made it to top brands: Divella, Barilla, Pastificio Rigo, De Cecco, Del Verde, Granoro and other pasta suppliers today satisfy the world’s demand for Italy’s best product and continue to deliver an affordable, nutrient and tasty durum wheat pasta to creative food lovers worldwide.
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