HOW TO BUY PASTA LIKE AN ITALIAN || Why Italians don't get overweight eating pasta (Think Protein).
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 มิ.ย. 2024
- How to choose your pasta.
After watching this video you will be able to choose the best quality pasta and leave the bad one behind.
Enzo takes us through how to buy a packet of pasta, the important things an Italian housewives looks for and why you need to read the packet to make sure you are not just eating eating Carbs. Eating and buying the right pasta makes pasta a healthy cheap gourmet dish. Please share this video to those who want to buy quality pasta and create the best simple delicious healthy meals.
Grazie Enzo. What a wonderful lesson on dry pasta! I knew there were differences but did not understand how to sort them out. Lots of package reading on my next shopping trip.
Thank you, I'm glad the video was useful.
Fascinating information and something I will certainly apply. Many thanks!
So glad it was helpful, thank you for commenting.
Great old photographs and lots of information, thank you
Grazie a te Delfo.
Great information about pasta, thanks
Thank you,
Thank you!! So super helpful!!
Thank you for watching my video!
Thank you. I had no idea about the protein aspect. I have had 3 of the pasta’s you have shown but I know what to look for now.
I'm really happy to know this video was useful
Thank you very informative.We will definitely be changing the pasta we buy
Glad this info was useful and hope you get a better healthier pasta experience.
I subscribed - this information is an eye opener for me. Grazie mille.
Thank you so much for subscribing and joining our community. We are so happy you found the info useful.
Thanks for this interesting video I will start looking for the protein content when I buy pasta now.
So happy the video was helpful.
Great information. Thank you Enzo and Celia. ♥️🇮🇹
Thank you for your lovely comment and support ♥️
Very informative, thank you for sharing
I am so happy you found it useful
So informative!! Now i will buy pasta with greater confidence...plus you expanded my vocabulary!!! Grazie mille.
Grazie a te!
Thank you for the lecture on dry pasta and the advantages of one dry pasta product over another. We checked the dry pasta in our pantry and none of them had a protein content near 14 grams. We will certainly make better selections on our future dry pasta purchases. I also would like to add that I am very pleased with the widening of your video topics to include more subtle tips to better understand the culture of your area of the world.
Thank you for your interesting feedback. We will certainly take it into account
Happy to say mine were 14 and 15. My napolini was 12 😆
I like this video. Your correct about pasta in the UK. Just last week I purchased pasta at the supermarket chain Waitrose owned by John Lewis. 100 grams had only 4% protein & around 26 grams of carbohydrates. I lived Napoli & one thing I noticed with Italians that their portion sizes are fairly small.
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I thought that 7% was the minimum possible but 4% is unbelievable! When I'm in Uk I discovered that De Cecco and Rummo are not too difficult to find.
Thank you so much. This was really helpful. Aloha and blessings
We are so glad this video has been helpful. Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Thank you Enzo, that was fantastic! I didn’t know about the protein content, and I checked all my packets. Some are 14g some are 12g. I shan’t buy anything less than 14g in future. I’m lucky enough to live in Lari, where the famous Martelli pasta factory is located. I don’t eat it very often, as it is expensive, but it makes great presents for the family when I go back to the UK! My son can’t get enough of it, he says it’s the best pasta he’s ever tasted! Anyway, I’ve got yet another bottle of your marvellous limoncello on the go. Now, THAT’S the best I’ve ever tasted!
so happy and you made me smile.
I checked all mine too!
Pasta 101, never thought I'd be a graduate of such a course. Thanks for this information.
thank you for your endorsement . We are so glad it is useful
Enzo, this was helpful and informative.
Thank you so much.
Thank you Enzo , For clarify at the end about the color of the pasta when I lived in Italy I was told go for the lighter color by Italian friends, but now I can see the point you make about what kind of flour was used . I will use the color as my first step and then will incorporate to my selection process all your tips.
Thank you for leaving a comment. I hope I can make in the future another video to further clarify some points.
Very informative! I'm going to my cupboard to check the pasta's protein and drying time🤔Thank you !
Glad it was helpful, we need to spread the word that pasta doesn't need to be all carbs. It is worthing paying a few cents more.
Thanks for your reply. La Molisana brand is not in shops but available on a UK website so I am going to buy lots of lisce! £1.99 for 500g. Very reasonable
I'm an italian dry pasta addict from Germany. I used to buy either cheap store brand pasta or Barilla when it was on sale. Although I eat Spaghetti almost every day I was not aware of the differences in quality and assumed all pasta to be the same just different price points due to marketing. Boy was I wrong, recently I've tried many different pasta brands, from small artesinal to higher quality industrial pasta. I can't afford expensive artisanal pasta every day, so I was looking for a good industrial brand. I have not tried all the brands you have shown in your video, some people say La Molisana is better than RUMMO but for me RUMMO is the sweet spot in terms of value for money, much better than De Cecco in my opinion. Thank you for making this video. You covered all the important aspects of pasta making, I really enjoyed your presentation. It was interesting to see that most producers seem to offer pasta made of Italian wheat for the domestic market. The only 100% Italian wheat pasta I could find in Germany so far was RUMMO Organic veriety but I'm sure there are many others.
Thank you for your very interesting comment. Italian wheat pasta is more and more in demand in Italy for many reasons. Among the brands you mentioned, Rummo is in my opinion is best, followed by La Molisana, then De Cecco, and Garofalo is also good. A good indicator is always the protein content: the higher, the better. In Italy one finds out that even supermarket pasta brands can offer, at an affordable price, good quality pasta. I always check the small print.
Very interesting and informative, especially the protein guidance, I feel more comfortable when next shopping for my pasta. Would you please do the same for the best sauces to accompany the pasta. Thanks.
Thank you for the kind words. I find them very encouraging. About sauces I normally make my own following my mother's and grandmother's recipes and often post them on my channel.
Fascinating. Thanks from Australia. I’m allergic to wheat, sadly. But I’ll look out for quality pasta for my family.
Thank you for watching our video and your kind words. Sorry to hear of your wheat allergy. I mentioned in the video a few good brands available abroad and I hope I gave enough indications to find good quality pasta.
thank you for this video! in my experience in the USA, the barilla "al bronzo" pasta is priced very similar to the normal barilla pasta, and to other lower quality pastas. in the grocery stores near me, the barilla "al bronzo" is usually the cheapest option for good quality pasta. i was surprised at how favorably it compares to other, more respected italian brands like de cecco or rummo.
Thank you for watching the video. Barilla Bronzo appeared in Italian shops not long ago, I suppose as a way to face competition from brands like Rummo, De Cecco or Molisana. It is actually rather good as you said.
Ty for the knowledge I see orbs around you🇮🇹👀
Thank You greetings from Lithuania!!! I only buy La Molisana and Delverde.
Thank you for watching my video. How lovely to be greeted from Lithuania! La Molisana and Del Verde are very good brands. Saluti.
Ciao! I am coming to Lucca in May of 2024. I will be the 9 days to see if I'd like to live there. I would love to buy you both a caffe so we could sit and visit. I've been watching your videos and love them especially the interview Paola. Thank you for this channel and 'A Presto!'
PS: been talking Italian lessons for the last 6 weeks.
Thank you. We love it when people say ciao to us in the street.
Fantastica!
Coming to Lucca in September and looking forward to shopping for pasta! Do you offer classes in Lucca-love your channel🇮🇹
Thank you for your lovely words. I'm afraid at the moment we don't do lessons but who knows in the future. September is a lovely month in Lucca.
Thank you for the recommendation of Armando, I was wondering about it, my local market was selling it for only $1 a pound!
That is a really good price. Buy a stock!
@@PiazzaTalkLucca You were right about the protein, they have some that are not bronze drawn which only have 7g protein per 56g pasta, but the bronze drawn varieties have 8g.
Thank you so much for this video Enzo. I've started reading my packets now, but for some reason here in Canada, De Cecco and La Mosilana are lower than 14% protein. I thought they would be the same content regardless of location
Years ago I found big packets of De Cecco (1 Kg) in Italy with, if I remember, protein 13 or 13 1/2 %(which is still accettable) but I think now they have the high amount as the market demands good quality pasta. In the USA they write grams for serving and as a serving is 2 oz the amount is 7 or 8 grams , which corresponds to around 14% adding even more confusion.
@@PiazzaTalkLucca Lol :) thank you Enzo
It's our pleasure
I've hit the subscribe button. Grazie!!!
Thank you
Amazing info-we don’t know any of this here in the US. People avoid pasta-eat it rarely as it is thought of of as “carbs”
The perception of carbs in Italy is very different. People eat pasta but the average Italian is not overweight. People are aware of the different qualities of pasta.
appreciate your lowkey video style
Thank you, I sometimes wonder if I am too serious but as I am Neapolitan, pasta is a serious business!
@@PiazzaTalkLucca oh I need to clarify since slang is different everywhere in the world - lowkey meaning subtle. it's possible to be serious and lowkey, sometimes those are the best because they have the most substance. highkey = in your face, loud, flashy, etc. highkey videos are usually that way to make up for a lack of substance.
I prefer lowkey videos
Thank you , so much
i am from turkey and i mostly buy either garofolo or metro market's brand which is bronze cut and long dried and is literally cheaper than barilla
Lovely to have a comment from Turkey. Thank you for watching our video. Garofalo is a very good brand, definitely better than Barilla.
Enzo- love the information! Let’s chat- we lived in Arizona 30+ years!😉
Thank you for your lovely comment, we would love to learn more about wheat production in Arizona
I have been eating Montebello pasta which uses bronze dyes and is slow drying and light color and Organic, BUT the protein content is 6 grams for a 56 gram serving and 16% carbohydrates. From the comments below I see that it's two systems of measurement. Apples and oranges as we say! Still 6 grams does not seem high enough from what you explained, correct?
Thank you for this great video and suggestions on great brands.
Thank you for your comment and kind words. In the USA pasta manufactures still use two systems of measurement at the same time: 6 gr in 56 gr means 11.3 % so it's a bit low. I was in the UK recently and checked the labels out of curiosity. I found pasta with only 7% protein. I was quite shocked.
@@PiazzaTalkLucca Thanks. I'll change brands.
Thank you a lot for your expert opinion!! So over 14g of protein per 100g. Check. Raff top, Check. Lighter color are better in generall, but depends on the flour. Check. Longer drying time by low temperaturs are preferable.
So what do you think of the so called egg pasta we often have in Switzerland?
Thank you. Everything correct as you said. About egg pasta the protein content should be 14% or higher as the eggs have 12 to 14 % protein content. I don't know which brands are sold in Switzerland.
@@PiazzaTalkLucca We usually buy the custom brand from the discouters. The spaghetti is always spaghetti Napoli (12g protein), so not good :-) We have tried other coincidently. Actually we like the Napoli brand the best, better than Barilla for example. But we will try the ligher colored one with 14% protein! You speak of a video how to cook pasta. I didn't find it anywhere on your channel.
Boiled hot saltwater. Enough cooking water so it doesn't stick. After taking them out, no cold water. We directly use often some nice Swiss cooking butter. If stickness is needed we use no butter...
Your method of cooking pasta is correct. I have several video where I cook pasta. If you type the word pasta in the search box after community, then enter, you will get a list of video where I cook pasta. I also made one, as an experiment, on how to cook pasta and save energy. th-cam.com/video/PqbfcI1F27M/w-d-xo.html
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Grazie!
Hi, I’m from New Jersey, America. Is it true that long ago DiVella pastas used to be top-knotch and of very high quality? I’ve heard that its greatness dwindled and has lessened by leaps and bounds. Why do you think that is? Is it a change in ingredients and the way they dry their pastas? Anyway, I get De Cecco because I don’t have La Molisana at my nearest grocery store and I get the Mutti tomato sauce. Thank you for your video it was very well put together.
Thank you for your interesting comment and your kind words. There are sever factors affecting the quality of the pasta, the provenance of the wheat is one of them. Pasta makers are always looking for good quality durum wheat and they end up sourcing it from many countries so different wheats can make a difference. DiVella in particular I read on line, sources their wheat from many areas. About the drying time the longer the better and the wheat is better if grown in a hot area. When I travel abroad I always find De Cecco, maybe they have a good commercial network. Mutti tinned tomatoes are also very good.
The best brands we can get in Indonesia are: DeCecco, La Molisana, DiMartino, Delverde, Garofalo, and Granoro Dedicato.. some mediocre brands like Barilla are also available here.. but our favourite is still L. DeRosa..
L De Rosa is particularly good. It's not easy to find outside Italy and I'm very happy you can buy it in Indonesia.
We had it sent all the way from Cita di Castello. Such good brand will never reach Indonesia. If it gets into Indonesian market, the price will surely be rocketed to as high as €10/500gr. 😂
That price is unbelievable!
La Molisana is available online in UK i have never seen it in shops or specialist Italian food shops.
I buy La Molisana in Canada but the pasta that I have is only 12% protein. It is 100% durum semolina and made with a bronze die. So check your labels.
Any thoughts on Casa Milo brand? I just saw it for the first time. From Puglia. Protein is 8 grams so 14% when converted. Looks good but haven’t tried yet.
Unfortunately this brand is not available where I live in Italy and I've never tried it but I've heard that it's a small company producing quality pasta.
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Grazie ❤️
Thank you for this very informative video Enzo.
I did bring a few packages of good quality dried pasta back to California from Lucca.
Would you believe a one pound box (about 450g) of DeCecco pasta here now costs about $4 (just under €4)?!
Thank you so much for your comment. We are shocked by the price of a packet of De Cecco , are there other high quality pasta brands at a better price or do you get special offers?
@@PiazzaTalkLucca
I was shocked too! Before we left for Lucca in February the price was $2 for the same box of DeCecco. Now the lower protein regular blue box of Barilla costs $2 (on sale from $2.49). So inflation is real here.
Barilla does make a ‘protein +’ line of pasta which is sold in our supermarket. The fine print says it is made from golden wheat plus protein from lentils, chickpeas and peas. It’s currently $3 on sale from the regular price of $4.50 for a 14.5 oz box, and it has 10g of protein in a 2oz (56g) serving of pasta which is almost 18%, so very high. Not sure how it would taste or what the texture would be like. Will I try it? Probably not!
Our supermarket also sells a 16 oz box of Barilla ‘whole grain’ ($2 on sale from $2.50 with 8g protein per serving) and a 12 oz box of Barilla ‘veggie’ ($2 on sale from $2.50, also 8g/serving) with zuchinni purée and spinach purée listed in the ingredients, as well as a 12 oz box of ‘gluten free’ - made with corn and rice - which to me sounds pretty terrible ($3 on sale from $3.69).
Finally Barilla has a 16 oz box ‘collezione’ artisanal collection in limited shapes for $3 on sale from $3.50. This box seems closest to the DeCecco in quality as it specifies bronze plates, long drying, special cold mountain water, and has 8g protein (14%) per serving.
Of course we can mail order good quality Italian made pasta such as Runmo or Garafalo ($5 for a 1 pound bag). I did find Armando brand farfalle at a specialty on-line shop for $2.99/pound. Lots of choice but prices not like in Italy!
In any case thank you again for this video. I knew about the bronze dies but I didn’t know the protein content and the slow drying was so important so I will now always look for those when I make my choice of what to buy…at the end of the day if I pay $1 or $2 more for a good quality of pasta it is worth it!!
I'm very saddened that pasta has become so expensive in the USA, let us hope the price will come down again soon.
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Thank you
In America we don't have the percentage of protein on the label. We have the amount of protein per 56 grams. Usually 7 grams. I am thinking in Britain it might be labeled this way as well.
You're absolutely right. On the labels in US they say 7/8 grams per serving ( 2 oz = 56 grams) equal to 12,5 / 14.2 %. Manufacturers should be more transparent and not mixing two different measurement systems. In the UK they are supposes to be more or less metric but during my last visit I found out on a pasta label that now they take into consideration cooked pasta... Even more confusing.
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Do you know of a good olive oil vendor that ships to the US for a reasonable cost?
Thank you for your comment. I found your question very interesting so I made a quick research and found out that many international couriers refuse to ship individual liquid or food items as they can get blocked at customs, whose duties can also be quite hefty between commercial blocks (In the European Union we have a free market and no duties between states) so my suggestion is to find a good website in the USA which sells olive oil and then researching the estate that produces it. If the sites are in Italian the pages can be easily translated if you use chrome browser. It can be fun.
14%? I have just bought some artisanal spaghetti: Giuseppe Cocco. It is expensive at £4.30 per 500g; in contrast, ordinary supermarket spaghetti costs less than £1. What surprises me is its protein content is a quoted mere thirteen percent.
Artisan pasta is also expensive in Italy. I've heard of the brand you mentioned but I have never seen it in the shops where I live in Italy. I'm quite surprised that the protein content is only 13%. The factory is in Fara San Martino, a place where many high-quality pasta factories are located including De Cecco. I should find out more.
@@PiazzaTalkLucca Durum wheat price increases with the protein content. Despite its somewhat relatively low 13% protein content the high price of Giuseppe Cocco's pasta might be partly due to the quality of its processing; just my conjecture.
I think you are right and I will look for this brand.
Unfortunately, the De Cecco products in the US are quite different - there are additives and the protein content is much lower.
As far I I know the protein content is for serving (2 oz)in the US so if they say 8 gr it means 14 gr per 100 gr so 14%. About additives do they need to use them?
@@PiazzaTalkLucca OH wow! Thank you i have been wondering why all my fancy brands say 8.
Great video but title for the third chapter is spelled wrong. It's die not dye. A dye of course is a permanent coloring agent. The ironic thing is that there are "dyed" pastas such as black pasta colored with squid or cuttlefish ink in Italy.
My English wife was relieved to find the chapter had been added by TH-cam. We'll try to see if it can be corrected. Well spotted!
Ciao, I'm in the USA, New York. At the grocery store we have many types of dry pasta however the DeCecco pasta has 8grams of protein, Barilla 7grams of protein, Ronzoni 7grams of protein, Barilla al bronzo 8grams of protein and Rummo had 8grams of protein. This is why the USA has a problem with people being overweight. I cannot find any brand of dry pasta with proteins in the the double digit.
Thank you. I should double-check the labels and the minuscule print! It is very confusing as with imported food they often mix two systems, imperial and metric. I think they might mean 7 or 8 grams per serving, which in the USA is 2 oz = 56 grams so 8 gr should correspond to 14.3 % while 7 gr to 12.5 % if I'm right. Here in Europe we are metric and 14 gr is measured every 100 gr. so it is a bit easier.
@@PiazzaTalkLucca Haha, yes it is per serving using the imperial system and you are 100% correct. I'm 1st generation American born. My father is from Siracusa, Sicilia and my mother is from Catanzaro Calabria. If I told my father about this metric/imperial conversion correspondence he would give me schiaffo in faccia, 😁. Grazie amico mio!
The good thing is you can enjoy your pasta knowing it is healthy very important to us as Southern Italians.
Amazing thanks. I have been eating pasta for 40 years and I knew nothing about protein level and slow drying. I prefer penne lisce but it's difficult to get. In UK. I buy rummo and the brand starting with V. And de cecco garofalo..
Thank you so much for your kind words. Another good brand which I have only found once in the UK, is La Molisana. Penne lisce is also quite difficult to find in Italy but there is a commercial reason for that, which I disagree with and I hope to discuss in another video on pasta.
I'm in America amd I checked my pasta. The most on DeCecco was 8 g of protein. Others were 6-7. Hmmmm. I wonder if they make different pasta for the U.S.
Fortunately is the same pasta and the 8g is good. The reason why they say 8 gr. is because they mean per serving. In Europe they do it per 100 gr so for instance 14 g out of 100 g is 14% . I've found out that a serving in the US is 56 grams (2 oz) but sometimes they do not say it on the packet. 8 grams out of 56 grams means that the percentage is 14.3 % , 7 gr correspond to 12.5 %., 6 grams, well, I would stay away from that brand. The confusion arises when they try to mix two different systems of measurement.
@@PiazzaTalkLucca This is what this Americano was missing. I was about to dispose of all my pasta!🤣 Thank you very much!!!😍 Ciao!
Thank goodness you didn't!
Voiello is Barilla.
You're right Voiello is now owned by The Barilla groups but Voiello is a premium brand. They use the wheat called grano aureo different from the wheat used for Barilla pasta. Also Garofalo belongs to a big group but they still keep the factory and the administration in the Napoli area. It is the fate of small producers but at least their tradition can survive in the contemporary economical environment.
For the many of us who are gluten intolerant.. durum wheat is our enemy. I find it strange that Italians bang on about only eating loval Italian products. But the wheat comes from Russia USA and loaded with chemicals.. the most unhealthy thing you couldn't eat. If I can find homemilled organic farro or spelt flour I make my own pasta and bread with that
Thank you for your comment. Farro is generally organic even if it is not officially certified as it is resistent to pests. Nevertheless it contains gluten unlike some other cereals. Wheat from hot places do not require post harvest treatment like glyphosate. If you watch the video to the end you will see that I mention that some pasta manufacturers buy wheat from hot places like Australia and Arizona. Italian wheat is even more controlled and I showed in my video a producer, Armando, who says on their packet that they check that no residual pesticide and glyphosate are in the pasta. One should always read what they say on their packet especially the small print.