Pasta della Mamma

The manufacture of the pasta

The manufacture of the pastas requires three natural ingredients: durum semolina, water and eggs.

Three ingredients are so simple in themselves, but can produce an infinite combination of pastas of different shapes and colours … Amazing!

Semolina, the main ingredient of pasta

Whereas flour is white and comes from soft wheat, semolina is yellow and comes from a different type of wheat: durum wheat.

In the old days, wheat was sown and harvested by hand. Men threshed the ears to separate the grain from the chaff. In the windmill, the grains were crushed between two large cylindrical stones, driven by wind or water.

Nowadays, fields of wheat are sown and harvested with the aid of sophisticated farming machinery. The combine harvester, in one operation, cuts the wheat, separates the straw from the ears and the grains from the chaff before discharging the grain into trailers which transport it to the mill. These industrial mills are powered by electricity, and the millstones have been replaced by stainless steel rollers.

Water, at the heart of quality

You can’t make good pasta with just any water. The quality of the water is particularly important: pure and crystal clear water will of course give a better result than one that has been treated with chemicals.

The eggs: be careful not to touch the shell!

In the old days, whole eggs were used to make pasta. This method is still used in the preparation of pasta at home.

Nowadays, in the food industry, hygiene standards have become very strict in order to avoid bacteriological contamination. That is why the eggs are broken mechanically so that the white and the yellow do not come into contact with exterior of the shell. So eggs arrive at the factory packed in plastic bags, or in flasks where the shell has been replaced by plastic.

Dried pasta or fresh pasta?

• In the South of Italy, in the old days, long pastas were placed on wooden broom handles to dry in the sun. Short pastas were also dried in the sun, spread out on trays with a latticed base: these were the dried pastas.
• In the regions of the North where the climate is cooler and cloudier, the pastas couldn’t dry out as thoroughly as in the South, and so retained some of their moisture: these were the fresh pastas.

Chaque région avait donc sa spécialité de pâte en fonction de son climat.

Cette technique de séchage en plein air a ensuite été remplacée par les séchoirs à pâtes, qui étaient des grandes armoires de bois dont les pans étaient ajourés afin de laisser passer l’air. Le courant d’air ainsi créé allait sécher la pâte.

Nowadays, the different stages of mixing, kneading, rolling and drying are carried out by one machine which carries out all the operations in rapid succession: the pasta production line.

The different ingredients are stored in tanks or silos which release the correct amounts into the mixer which mixes and kneads the pasta. The mixer is directly connected to the roller or the press which transforms the mass of pasta into a particular type. This then falls onto a conveyor belt which takes it to a dryer to make it into dried pasta, to a cooker for precooked pasta, or to a pasteuriser to prolong its shelf life. It finishes in a bagging machine which weighs it and packages it in its final packaging.