Italian Food History

The most popular of traditional italian food within our peninsula and abroad is probably pasta.

The history of this food is goes back to the origins of Mediterranean civilization and the cultivation of wheat.

To make the grains more digestible, they were grounded, mixed with water, shaped in thin sheets and then cooked on hot stones.

Probably were the arabs who imported in southern Italy the use of a dried pasta similar to the one we use today.

The traditional italian food of southern Italy is dried pasta made with 100 percent hard wheat (grano duro) flour.

This special kind of grain is rich in proteins and low in starch which allows the pasta to retain its shape when cooked al dente.

Grano duro (durum wheat) is grown in hot and dry climates like in the south and isles of Italy.

Dried pasta is easily preserved, even when cooked keeps a firm texture and doesn’t soak up the sauces.

The grano tenero, the more current kind of wheat, is cultivated in northern Italy. This wheat is more starchy and to add proteins and firmness is mixed with eggs and worked with a rolling pin to make pasta fresca.

Pasta fresca only lasts few days, is more porous and absorbs the sauces easily.

The two kind of pasta are different and not interchangeble but both have their place in Italian food culture.

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