Italiano
Hey Pasta Lovers!
Fancy two quick and simple tricks to test the quality of dried pasta?
1) Check the colour!
This must be a homogeneous amber yellow, not too dark (some types are actually white, indicating that they are dried at a low temperature. And that’s even better!).
A pasta with a too-bright yellow colour has undergone rapid drying at high temperatures, a fairly common process in industrial food processing. The colour is given by furosine, a compound that arises with the Maillard Reaction (but let’s not digress!).
High temperatures put a strain on the nutrients that provide benefits, reducing the range of aromas and flavours typical of pasta and its porosity (and consequently its ability to absorb the seasoning).
We were saying homogeneous colouring, so beware of dots!
If the pasta has red-brown dots, there have been small “burns”, and therefore the cooking result will not be homogeneous. If there are white dots, the semolina wasn’t hydrated properly; if the dots are black, it is a sign of the presence of bran fragments not eliminated during the grinding phase.
If you see whitish streaks, that’s not good either! Those weaken the structure, making the pasta break during cooking.
2) The cooking water!
When the dried pasta is of good quality, the water after cooking will be clear, or at least not very cloudy: an indication that it has released little starch, and will therefore tend to maintain its original shape and not crumble (we all hate it when this happens, right?).
During cooking (which does not necessarily have to be in boiling water), the starch swells, increasing in volume, and gelatinizes.
At this point, part of the starch crosses the protein network that holds it inside the pasta, leaking out and therefore dirtying the water. The less transparent the cooking water becomes, the greater the amount of starch that has escaped.
Truth be told, it’s good that some starch comes out, as it makes the pasta “bind better” with the sauce. However, if the gluten loss is excessive (often due to poor product quality), the pasta will be sticky and overcooked.
Enjoy your pasta, and… if you run a business in catering or foodservice industry, and you’re interested in my content-writing and/or copy-writing services, just give me a shout!
