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The world is grateful for pasta.
When we need a loving Mediterranean meal, we know we can retreat to the supermarket and find a cost-effective packet of pasta waiting for us in the aisles.
Yet, co-existing beside our gratitude is a feeling of confusion. There are so many types of pasta packets available for sale that it’s hard to pick out a quality product from the crowd.
Once you’ve chosen the right shape of pasta (linguine, spaghetti, macaroni …the list goes on), how do you choose the right packet? Here are some tips to help you know what features to look for so you can avoid highly processed pasta and enjoy an authentic Italian meal.
What to look for in a pasta packet
Italian-born food enthusiast and Insta-influencer, Vincenzo Prosperi of @vincenzosplate, explains that dried pasta is made with usually made with semolina and water. The pasta is shaped and dried in a factory at a specific temperature.
“The temperature can be low which means it takes longer [to dry the pasta in the factory] or the temperature can be high which means it takes less time to dry,” @vincenzosplate says.
Slow-drying pasta at a low temperature of 35-45 degrees Celsius might take anywhere from 18 hours to three days. But Prosperi says this will result in better quality pasta.
Highly processed dried pasta may be dried quickly at a high temperature for only a few hours. “That’s why pasta becomes orange.
Another Italian-born pasta lover and social media influencer, Alessio Pasini, advises shoppers to observe the varying colours of the same semolina-dried pasta product.
“The colour tells us which pasta to buy,” @thepasinis says in a social media video. “The colour yellow is what you don’t need to buy. Don't buy this colour pasta. You need to find this colour here: ivory.”
Pasini’s rule does not apply to fresh egg pasta, which may be yellow because of the presence of extra egg yolks for richness or wholewheat pasta.
Yellow or orange dried pasta made with semolina may indicate that it’s high in furosine. has shown that a low content of furosine is generally related to the high nutritional quality of food and the application of mild heat treatments – slow drying at a low temperature.
Author of the cookbook , Alec Morris is a pasta blogger who grew up in Australia with an Italian nonna who taught him everything about making pasta.
Tapping into generations of pasta wisdom, Morris takes a very different advice route, recommending that shoppers choose fresh pasta from the fridge over dried pasta.
“You’ll find that there are restaurants or grocers that sell pasta in the fresh section in the fridge,” says Morris. “If you try this sort of pasta, you’ll often find that you’ll enjoy a meal that’s pretty close to the homemade, handmade experience.”
Morris also encourages shoppers to buy pasta that’s made locally to ensure it’s not spent too much time in storage. “Fresh and local is always best. I would personally rather buy fresh pasta, made by someone down the road than dried pasta from Italy.”
A good pasta experience should be about how you enjoy the food.
Regardless of the kind of pasta you buy, once you’ve made your meal it’s important to savour its flavours.
“A good pasta experience should be about how you enjoy the food,” Morris concludes.
“So even if you've bought a packet of pasta and cooked it quickly, the fact that you’ve sat down for a meal with loved ones is what matters.”
