Pasta

Pasta is a dough, most often of wheat and water and sometimes egg, pressed or rolled into shapes and usually dried; gluten-free kinds are made from rice, corn or legumes. In Italy, standard dried pasta is made from durum wheat semolina and water, and any other ingredient must be named on the label.

How to choose Pasta

  • Semolina or egg. Under the US standard for noodle products, egg noodles must hold at least 5.5 percent egg solids by weight of their total solids.
  • Shape and thickness. US rules draw the lines: spaghetti is over 0.06 and up to 0.11 inch across, vermicelli is thinner, and macaroni tubes run up to 0.27 inch.
  • Soft wheat. Standard dried pasta sold in Italy may contain no more than 3 percent soft wheat flour, so one that lists soft wheat flour high up does not meet that standard.

About Pasta

Dried pasta is dough pushed through a shaped plate called a die, or rolled into sheets and cut, then dried until hard. The die shapes the pasta, and drying brings it below 12.5 percent moisture so it keeps.

Italian law sets the recipe for standard dried pasta at durum wheat semolina and water, with soft wheat flour held to 3 percent. Durum is a hard wheat, and its coarse semolina gives pasta a firm bite after boiling.

Keep pasta in a cool, dry cupboard and away from the stove, since heat and damp both shorten its life. Cook it in well-salted boiling water, save a cup of the starchy water, and finish the pasta in its sauce.

At a glance

Made from
Durum semolina and water; sometimes egg, other grains or legumes
Main types
Long strands, short cuts, tubes, soup shapes, egg ribbons, noodles
Label terms
Bronze die, durum semolina, all'uovo (with egg)
Unopened
1 to 2 years in a cool cupboard

Pasta questions

Is bronze-cut pasta worth it?

It cooks and feels different, though the sauce claim is unproven. Pasta pressed through bronze dies, the shaped plates the dough is forced through, comes out rougher than pasta pressed through smooth Teflon dies. A Japanese study found bronze-die spaghetti cooked about a minute faster. Many cooks say the rough surface holds sauce better, but that study notes the claim has not been tested.

How long does cooked pasta keep?

Cooked pasta keeps 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator, according to the USDA. Uncooked dried pasta lasts far longer: 1 to 2 years in the cupboard, in an airtight container once the box is open. Dried egg noodles keep about 2 years.

Sources: US Code of Federal Regulations, macaroni and noodle products; Italian Presidential Decree 187 on flour and pasta; USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service.

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