Pasta

About Marcello’s Pasta

Pasta, the Italian product par excellence, evokes the image of family, tradition, a well-known flavour, but which always surprises, something that is good for its taste and genuine for health. So, a big task is up to the producers of pasta: creating a food which, by simply savouring it, may be able to let these memories and feelings relive.

Marcello’s Pasta has no Glisofate or GMO

Glyphosate in your pasta? Italians are up in arms about glyphosate in their pasta and you should be, too. After a 2016 Italian ban on the use of glyphosate as a desiccant, to dry wheat and other crops just before harvest, Italians are avoiding pasta made with glyphosate tainted Canadian wheat. Citing Italians’ concern about food-safety standards, Italy has since February required country-of-origin labeling on all wheat and rice products sold there. Canada’s wheat exports to Italy have since slowed to a trickle. Concerns are that the so-called “safe levels” are based on out-dated studies and there is compelling evidence of cause for concern. If you think that’s worrying, consider that in the U.S. glyphosate is used to desiccate wheat, oats and other grains, peas, chick peas, beans, lentils, and sugar cane… among other crops.

Marcello’s Pasta has 13% Protein for better results

What is protein in flour?

Protein content and quality of baking flours are vital functional, nutritional and economical parameters for millers and bakers. They determine whether a given flour is suitable for either:

Yeast-leavened bakery products that require higher levels of protein in flour (pan bread, buns, hearth breads)
Chemically-leavened products that need lower protein levels (cookies, cakes and biscuits)1

The protein content of wheat flour varies widely from 6–18% depending on the type or class of wheat milled, growing conditions, and fertilizer inputs, particularly nitrogen.2 Quality of flour proteins is determined by the levels and distribution of individual protein fractions, mainly gluten, gliadin and glutenin which vary among types of wheat and their growing conditions as well as processing methods mainly milling.

Protein in flour is very important for bakers and millers. The following are some reasons:

Functional performance: Protein content can impact many functional properties of the flour and doughs/batters such as water absorption, cohesiveness, viscoelasticity, dough strength, texture, loaf volume, and crumb grain.2,6
Economics: The higher the protein content, the higher the value (price) of the flour.
Processing and handling: Doughs from high-protein flours are physically stronger and more stable than those made with lower protein content, which make them more resistant to punishment in high-speed lines. High-protein flours also require more water and longer mixing times to achieve optimum dough development and consistency.

SPIGHE MOLISANE – ARTISANAL PASTA

The pasta factory ‘Pastificio Spighe Molisane’, thanks to a completely artisan manufacturing process, realized this goal. It was born thanks to Michele Petraglione and Vincenza Miele’s action, based on a simple premise: love of the land and preservation of traditions. They decided to create a unique craft product, characterized by the highest quality, which led to the creation of ‘Spighe Molisane’ past – the quality and fantasy in the kitchen.

Raw materials

Durum wheat, spring water and fresh mountain air are combined together by expert hands to produce this pasta. Having a low calcium content; the water is distributed evenly, allowing the formation of gluten, causing the pasta to remain al dente and not stick together on the plate. The clear and fresh air of our mountains, linked to the ancient scent of a still uncontaminated land, gives wheat and, therefore, to the finished product, the unmistakable flavour of homemade pasta, as the one prepared in the past. The water comes from the cool mountains of this land. It is clear and crystalline.

Manufacturing

Durum wheat semolina, extracted from the heart of wheat grain, presents itself in all its splendour, with its golden-yellow colour. It is expertly kneaded by skilled makers of pasta, who control step by step the manufacturing stage. Its characteristic colour derives from the brightness of the sun absorbed by wheat and is given to semolina.

The fresh product is produced and instantly packaged in a sterile environment, while the dry product is dried at very low temperatures and for long periods of time, so that pasta keeps intact all its organoleptic and nutritional properties. Specific standards of drying: an average temperature of 45°, a gradual drying stage – in special drying chambers, where pasta is stretched on special looms – which lasts at least 2-3 days, in order to preserve starch in the product, an essential element for protecting our intestine.

All these qualities are found in the flavour of these products, which is immediately perceived by careful consumers, at first tasting; and also in the cooking time of pasta: much higher than the average of the pastas on the market.