It's a simple dish that consumers enjoy most weeks at home, now with variations such as gluten-free options, pasta can be consumed by anyone. Many consumers relied on pasta heavily during the pandemic as it was a quick and easy way to feed the family whilst juggling working from home, homeschooling and everything else that was thrown at us.
Atlante prides itself on working with the right producers, such that it is possible to provide a wide variety of pasta shapes to consumers. Getting the right products on the shelves for consumers to buy is extremely important.
The Marca Bologna event took place on the 18 and 19 January with the Atlante team in full presence meeting with customers and suppliers but also launching some exciting new products. As a result, Marca Bologna highlighted how important and interesting Atlante's producer partners are.
"One of the most enjoyable and interesting parts to working at Atlante srl has been going to producers 🏭 to see the industrial processes and machinery ⚙️ that sit behind the food products that we buy each week". States Phil Durham, UK Commercial Director at Atlante UK. "Ambient, or dried, pasta has been one of my favourites".
🔹Step 1: Mill durum wheat 🌾 to make durum wheat semolina flour.
- The term “durum” is from the Latin “durum” meaning hard; as it has a high degree of resistance to the milling process.
- Durum wheat is high in protein and gluten giving the pasta texture, flavour and structure.
- Durum wheat is the 2nd most cultivated wheat 🌾 in the 🌎 but is only about 5-8% of total wheat production.
🔹 Step 2: Add water💧to make a dough.
🔹Step 3: Extrude the dough through the die.
- The dough is pushed through a die (or cutter template) at high pressure
- The dies are large circular, perforated, metal plates/ discs that shape the pasta; made from either bronze or Teflon.
- A bronze die 🟠 gives the pasta a rougher texture and is often considered to give a more premium product.
- The Teflon die ⚫️ gives the standard shop-bought pasta texture. These are more common and usually slightly cheaper as the Teflon die will last longer than the bronze die.
🔹Step 4: Dry the pasta 🥵
- The drying process is a science and is a mixture of temperature 🌡️, time ⏱️ and humidity ♨️
… in reality the scale at which the industrial manufacturers produce pasta is exceptionally complex.
The large 🇮🇹 industrial producers 🏭 of pasta are masters 🧑🎨👨🔬 of their trades.
#pasta #manufacturing #italianfood
Learn more about the ambient pasta shapes that we provide, by downloading our Guide to Ambient Pasta here: