Selecting the wheat
Selecting excellent primary materials is the first step, the most important one in fact, in creating unique pasta.
Alfabeto n° 173
Alfabeto (alphabet) belongs to the minute pasta family to be cooked in broth.
This pasta was undoubtedly invented to stimulate the imagination of children who commonly eat this pasta in baby food and vegetable soups and give them their first introduction to the idea of reading.
It is especially good for preparing clear soups such as broths or consommé, enhanced with croutons or vegetables cut in julienne strips.
This pasta can be used in thick creamy or velvety soups.
Available in 500g packs
- Cooking time: 5 min
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Our method
Attention, care, experience, quality at every stage: from our mill to your table.
The milling
We have been millers for almost two centuries: way back in 1831, Don Nicola De Cecco was already producing “the best flour in the county” in his mill. To this day, we grind all the wheat in our own mill next to the pasta factory, floating with intense and delicious aromas.
The dough
Cold water and dough at a temperature of less than 15 degrees: two details allowing us to produce pasta that fully respects the primary material.
Drawing
While it is the drawing process that gives the pasta its shape, it is the rough die that make our pasta uniquely porous, so it captures all the sauce. Hence, this is one of the special procedures we have chosen to preserve and protect. With great pride.
Drying
Another of the secrets behind our pasta is slow drying at low temperature. It is our way of keeping the sensory properties of the wheat intact.
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Penne Mezzane Lisce n° 140
Penne Mezzane Lisce belong to the family of Penne Lisce, but differ in diameter as they are slightly smaller.
The lack of ridges is compensated for by a surprising softness which makes it exceptionally delicate on the palate. It is a delicate and sophisticated pasta which brings out the best in aromas, flavours and fragrance.
In Italian, the term "Penne" refers to the goose feather which was used historically to write with and was cut on a diagonal to achieve a really thin tip. The shape, obtained from a pasta tube, can be smooth or ridged, of varying length and has the typical diagonal cut of a quill.
Penne are one of the few types of pasta for which there is an exact date when it was created. Indeed, in 1865, a pasta-maker from San Martino d'Albaro (Genoa), Giovanni Battista Capurro, requested and obtained a patent for a diagonal cutting machine. The patent was important because it meant the fresh pasta could be cut like a quill without crushing it and in different lengths from 3 to 5 centimetres (mezze "half" penne or penne). The document preserved in the Central Archive of the State of Rome reads: "Up until now, a diagonal cut could only be made by hand with a pair of scissors which, in addition to being slow and time-consuming, also resulted in an irregular cut which flattened the pasta".
Penne Mezzane Lisce are excellent for preparing pasta dishes with meat ragù made from beef or pork. They also adapt perfectly to sauces made from vegetables such as aubergines, peppers, courgettes and artichokes or to more extravagant recipes with salmon or vodka.
Available in 500g or 3 Kg packs.
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