Ziti, tagliolini, fusilli, spaghetti, cavatelli, orecchiette, penne, shells, linguine, macaroni… There are so many pasta shapes, impossible to list them all. Of all the types of pasta (fresh, egg, stuffed, dry), the dry one accounts for 80 percent of consumption in Italy. Its ingredients are simple: durum wheat semolina and water. For this reason it is essential that they are both genuine and of the highest quality, worked to the best to preserve their value.
In Italy, a law requires pasta makers to use only durum wheat semolina, which makes Italian dry pasta unique in the world. Only products destined for abroad can contain soft wheat. What prompted Italian legislators to prefer durum wheat for the production of dry pasta? First of all, its ability to retain starch and ensure perfect cooking. But durum wheat also contains more proteins, gluten and more antioxidant carotenoids than soft wheat, and durum wheat pasta has a lower glycemic index, especially in the case of wholemeal.
Bronze-drawn pasta is rougher than Teflon-drawn pasta.
The dies, externally, are all bronze. It is inside that they change: they can have a Teflon insert or bronze again. Teflon makes it possible to speed up production times and eliminate any defects in the pasta due to the poor quality of the grain used. Teflon makes the paste smoother and more yellow, a color that is also accentuated by drying at high temperatures. The bronze die, which is more complex to manage, slows down production times and is used when you want to obtain a pasta with an artisanal look, very light and wrinkled, rough, particularly suitable for holding sauces and condiments. It is combined with slow drying.
A good pasta should keep cooking, if it doesn’t it means it may have been made with low quality wheat. The presence of many white or black dots indicates bad drying or the presence of soft wheat flour, but also possible impurities, such as fragments of vegetables or insects.
Experts are sure: the pasta should be drained at the right point and eaten al dente, that is, when it is tender on the outside but is still slightly hard on the inside. This type of cooking, in addition to enhancing the taste of the pasta, ensures its digestibility. In fact, the longer the work of the salivary enzymes and the slower the assimilation of carbohydrates, the lower the risk of incurring sudden increases in blood sugar.
there are characteristics, it means that they are the result of the quality of the wheat used and can make the difference.