Never Buy a Box of Pasta Unless This Is the First Ingredient
There was a five-year stretch of my life when I refused to eat pasta. It wasn’t entirely the pasta’s fault. After a childhood of consuming countless bowls of spaghetti (my brother’s favorite food) followed by years of ramen, mac and cheese, and questionable noodle casseroles in college, I just couldn’t do it anymore.
“the coarser texture of the semolina also translates into a slightly rougher surface on the dried pasta, which is exactly what you want so your sauce has something to cling to.”
My pasta sabbatical ended when a craving for pesto hit too hard to resist. Knowing I couldn’t rely on the dried pastas I grew up with, I went to the grocery store and found the highest-quality option on the shelf. The experience was transformative. The pasta was delicious in all the ways my pastas of the past weren’t, and it all came down to one ingredient: durum wheat semolina.
Never Buy a Box of Pasta Unless This Is the First Ingredient
When it comes to buying food, ingredients matter. That’s why the ingredient list is one of the first things I look at on food packaging, especially when it comes to prepared grain products like pasta. For reference, most pasta is made with durum wheat, a species of “hard” wheat that can either be milled into durum wheat semolina or durum wheat flour.
The difference between the two comes down to how finely the durum wheat grain is processed. Durum wheat semolina is coarse and grainy and “is milled specifically for pasta making,” says Antonio Rummo, president of Rummo USA. While it often appears on the label as “durum wheat semolina,” it can also show up as “durum semolina.”
Durum wheat flour, on the other hand, says chef Federico Polizzi, brand ambassador for Colavita, “is milled much further until it becomes a fine, soft powder, similar to the all-purpose flour you’d use for baking a cake.” The consistency and structure make it better-suited for making fresh pasta, pizza dough, and bread.
Why the Texture of the Flour Matters
The pasta I chose was better than what I’d had as a kid because, unlike the mushy stuff of my past, it was made with durum wheat semolina. My findings, says Polizzi, made sense because “the coarsely ground grain is incredibly rich in protein, which allows it to develop a very strong gluten network.”
Gluten, it turns out, “is the secret to achieving that perfect, firm al dente bite that doesn’t turn to mush when you boil it.” Polizzi adds that “the coarser texture of the semolina also translates into a slightly rougher surface on the dried pasta, which is exactly what you want so your sauce has something to cling to.” Basically, durum wheat semolina is what separates decent pasta from excellent pasta.
The bottom line? Don’t settle for so-so pasta. Instead, read the ingredient list and confirm that durum (wheat) semolina is first. “Great pasta holds its shape and offers a firm, resilient bite,” says Rummo. You can only get that with coarsely ground semolina.
“At the end of the day, pasta is a beautifully simple food made from just wheat and water. Fewer ingredients, the quality of the raw materials, and the patience put into the craft make all the difference,” Rummo adds. So if you’re able, it’s worth it to spend a little extra for the pasta experience you deserve.
