Italian durum wheat
Italy is the only country in the world where it has regulated the production of pasta by giving the specifics of raw materials and production.
The secret of the worldwide success of made in Italy pasta is due precisely to this law (Law 580/67), the only legislation in the world that guarantees consumers by establishing the quality specifications and characteristics of the wheat to be used for its production.
If even one of these specificities is not respected, the wheat is not suitable for pasta making and the pasta cannot be made in Italy and marketed in the Italian territory.
Italian pasta made in Italy is the only one in the world that by law must be made only of durum wheat or ancient grains such as senatore cappelli or spelled.
Durum wheat in name and in fact but above all that grown in Italy according to our centenary tradition.
Its grains have a glassy and non-floury structure, and from their grinding a coarser and more angular semolina with a characteristic amber yellow color is obtained.
Mixed with water it creates a less soft and malleable dough but harder and more consistent compared to that of soft wheat.
Perfect dough for a more digestible quality pasta with less gluten and more proteins.
Italian durum wheat and its qualities
Among the other parameters established by the law of 67 are the amount of protein which is the secret of the al dente resistance of the pasta.
The law sets for Italian pasta in a minimum of proteins of at least 10.50%, but to respond to an average Italian consumer and to the traditional taste of Italians that has been handed down from our ancestors, now the quality made in Italy pasta the wheat must have a protein percentage not less than 12-13%.
The amount of protein contained in wheat is defined above all by the environment in which the plant grows and reaches maturity: the place and method of cultivation, in fact, account for 60% of the character of the wheat.
If humidity, insolation or fertilization are not sufficient, the wheat risks not reaching the adequate quality and therefore having a low protein value.
This is why the best pasta is combined with the best durum wheat.
The quality of the pasta is given above all by the raw material which is the wheat and this is why Italian durum wheat always guarantees high quality pasta.