Macaroni, Spaghetti and Noodles

Macaroni, Spaghetti and Noodles
Macaroni products, alimentary pastes, and pasta are more or less synonymous terms describing a broad category of food products which includes such as familiar items of commerce as spaghetti, macaroni, vermicelli, linguini and noodles. Most of these products can be described as hard, brittle pieces, formed in many different shapes by extruding, cutting, and drying tough dough made of semolina or farina mixed with water. There are many deviations from this simple definition however, and it is the versatility of form and composition which has made such as a simple product so widely accepted among nearly all elements of the population.

Macaroni products are very easy for the consumer to prepare for the table, but the finished dishes are capable of almost infinite variations, two features which contribute greatly to pasta’s popularity. The inherent blandness of macaroni products makes them compatible with many kinds of adjuncts enabling pasta to be used as the basis of hundreds of different dishes which appear to the ultimate consumer to be quite different, in that respect resembling rice, bread, tortilla and potatoes.

Spaghetti, macaroni, and hundreds of other forms of pasta are made entirely, or almost entirely of durum semolina. Small amounts of nutritional enrichments may be added, but these do not materially affect either the organoleptic qualities or processing properties of the material. Water is added as a processing aid in the extrusion step, but it is removed later by drying, except in the relatively small amount of pasta sold as fresh products.

Noodles, in their various forms, require the use of egg ingredients in specified amounts but, in most other respects, they closely resemble regular pasta. The consumer can also find specialty pastas containing ingredients such as spinach and tomatoes, but these varieties are certainly a minor factor in the market. In summation, it can be said that the characteristics of pasta as purchased by the consumer depend almost entirely on the qualities contributed by durum semolina as modified by the processing treatments it has undergone.
Macaroni, Spaghetti and Noodles