Ingredient Wiki: Pasta

What is Pasta?

Pasta meaning paste in Italian, gets its name from its composition and texture that is achieved from a mixture of flour and water. Under Italy?s laws pasta is to be made only from durum wheat flour/semolina to ensure the firmness and quality of the pasta.  Pasta made from wheat flour yields a softer texture, and is a cheaper version of the durum wheat, making it hard to control the firmness which in Italian is referred to ?al dente?.

Pasta comes in a variety of shapes, short, long, spiraled, cylinders, tubes, flat, sheet, wheel, shell, and it goes on indefinitely. There are over 600 different shapes produced worldwide, and only two types of pasta, dry or fresh. Fresh pasta being softer in texture and many times containing eggs.

Italians still make Fresh Pasta at home, but don?t be confused as to the quality of the pasta. Italians use both dry and fresh, depending on the dish. The two give a completely different taste and they are used in different circumstances. Even though it may seem like a tedious job to make pasta at home, you should try it once in your lifetime. Follow my recipe for Homemade Egg Noodles Made Easy or

Even though durum wheat/semolina, is the Italian standard, there is a large variety of flours that can be used for pasta, some of which are quinoa, jerusalem artichoke, whole wheat, rice, buckwheat, amaranth, soy, spelt, and millet.  The use of these flours depends on where in the world it is being used, and what grains are grown locally. Of course each of the aforementioned have their own particular texture.

As for the origin of pasta, it is a subject still very much debatable. Some believe it originated in China, which is described as having been made from breadfruit, not at all the pasta made with wheat. Some claim it originated in the Middle East. The latter is made with ingredients that have made pasta most popular worldwide today and was introduced actually to Sicily by the  Arabs in the late 7th century. Italians even though were not the inventors of pasta were certainly the masters at the art of shaping it and marketing it. Palermo, Sicily seems to be the city where dried pasta was first produced in proportions large enough to be offered for sale in the markets. By the 17th century it was readily available throughout Italy, and the fact that it was cheap and versatile, eventually helped pasta to reach worldwide fame. Italy is the major producer of Durum Wheat used to make Semolina flour. Today pasta is synonymous with Italian cuisine all over the world. When one thinks of pasta, one thinks of Italy, and the staple of the Mediterranean diet

Pasta makers today have incorporated flavors such as spinach and tomato, and an array of sauces have, and still can be invented to flavor a pasta dish. Pasta in itself is not fattening, but the sauces accompanying it, may be. For those who suffer from Diabetes choose pasta made from jerusalem artichoke, quinoa, amaranth flours etc… Avoid pasta made from wheat as wheat is metabolized as sugar.

Remember a few most important things when cooking your pasta

1-do not overcook it. Overcooked pasta is not the way Italians eat their pasta. Americans tend to cook pasta until it is too soft, making pasta too mushy for the Italian palate. Good rule of thumb for thin spaghetti it to cook it only 6 minutes.

2-Fresh pasta will take even less time to be cooked to perfection.

3-Use a large cooking pot and plenty of water. Pasta needs plenty of room inside the water to prevent it from sticking

4-add the salt to the cooking water before adding the pasta,

5-Wait for water to boil before adding pasta

6-Stir the pasta frequently while cooking

7-Never rinse pasta with cold water, as this will rinse the starchiness which gives body to the pasta and washes out the salt you incorporated.

8-You may want to reserve some of the liquid you cooked the pasta in, to help you mix a sauce that may have resulted too dry.

Italians serve pasta as the first course, but not limited to.

If you are curious about methods used throughout history, how pasta was made, what machines were used, learn about pasta making processes, get nutritional value information, when in Rome, visit the museum of pasta. Italians take pasta very seriously, and as such, every year in October they celebrate pasta day. Did you know that Italians consume over 60 pounds of pasta per capita per year?

Interesting facts:

The first recipe for tomatoes with pasta was written in 1839, by Ippolito Cavalcanti, Duke of Buonvicino, Calabria.

During World War II, another famous recipe was invented in Italy in order to satisfy the American soldier?s craving for bacon and Eggs for breakfast, so the Carbonara sauce was born as a result of it, pasta with bacon and eggs.

Macaroni and cheese became a famous dish in America when Kraft Company put it in a box in 1937 and every American kid thereafter grew up with macaroni and cheese. There can be no doubt that its ultimate origins are Italian, as one finds macaroni and cheese recipes from the late thirteenth century in southern Italy.

For more pasta recipes check my pasta link under categories.

All of the Ingredient Wiki has been created and compiled by I Sicilian and from sources on the web like Food Wikipedia and other food reference books and sources.