Artisanal pasta
Artisanal pasta, a real pleasure, the peak of all types of pasta, an irreplaceable base for excellent first courses. Italian artisanal production remains very strong today, just think of the artisanal pasta of Gragnano, always made following traditional methods, using bronze dies and the best durum wheat semolina of the peninsula.
In Italy we find numerous efficient realities capable of expressing the highest taste, in Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Abruzzo as well as in Puglia. Each region keeps alive the tradition of its distinctive culinary elements. However, the Gragnano products found in large-scale distribution differ from many other types of Italian pasta in flavor, ability to hold cooking, and porosity.
The best Italian chefs recommend paying attention to the label “artisanal” found on many types of packages, because it is not certain that inside the factories the ingredients are handled directly and that the finished product is dried at low temperatures (35 degrees) instead of with industrial dryers. But go to Gragnano, ask for the Gentile pasta factory and you will find people still able to manually produce 140 kilos of fusilli per day (!).
