We Know the Pasta Di Gragnano and Its Qualities

Gragnano Pasta is a durum wheat semolina food that is produced exclusively in the homonymous municipality known as the "City of Pasta". It is a small town in which less than thirty thousand inhabitants live but which everyone knows precisely because of the particular production of pasta with inimitable qualities.

Gragnano Pasta is protected by the Consortium born in 2003 and is recognized at European level as a Protected Geographical Indication product.

The numerous awards for Gragnano Pasta come from its particular organoleptic and gustatory characteristics but also for its special porosity which is obtained with the traditional bronze drawing and with a long drying process.

For this reason, it is the ideal pasta to accompany smooth and liquid sauces or more dense and juicy condiments. Also from a nutritional point of view Pasta di Gragnano offers the highest quality being a genuine source of carbohydrates and fibre but also of vitamins and minerals.

The production of Gragnano pasta is not complex but requires specific climatic and environmental conditions to ensure that the result is rough and porous as tradition dictates. The dough involves the use of local spring water and Italian durum wheat semolina flour, Triticum durum, to be exact.

These particular ingredients are established by the PGI certification which also requires manufacturers to use machines for rigorous bronze drawing and drying for at least sixty hours.

The history of Gragnano pasta begins towards the end of the sixteenth century with the birth of the first pasta factories. In truth, the Pasta di Gragnano has a real birth date which would be that of 12 July 1845, the day on which Ferdinand II of Bourbon, king of the Kingdom of Naples, granted the Gragnanesi a high privilege. During a royal lunch, in fact, he elected the pasta manufacturers of Gragnano official suppliers of pasta for the court. It is from that moment that Gragnano became fully the City of Macaroni even if the history branches further into a dense web of traditions and popular stories.

In fact, evidence has been found that place the birth of Gragnano pasta even in Roman times, when excellent quality wheat was ground in the area where the charming village was built thanks to the impetuous waters of the Vernotico that operated the blades and gave life to the flour it fed Pompeii, Stabiae and Herculaneum.

But the history of Gragnano pasta is also made of tradition, ingenuity and virtue because the poor classes of the '500 "had to" invent pasta to make up for famine and hunger. With the serious famine that hit the Kingdom during the seventeenth century, in fact, pasta became a fundamental and nutritious food for those who no longer had anything to eat. At that time it was called "white gold" and it is then that the process of the die with which the porous consistency is obtained began to be handed down.

Today in Gragnano there are still dozens of pasta factories that have merged into the Consortium "Gragnano Città della Pasta" created to defend and revive the tradition of the city of macaroni. There are really many brands that produce this pasta renowned and sought after all over the world, today all the best delicatessens and restaurants in the world use this product, and many e-commerce stores also sell Gragnano pasta so that it is possible to stock up from anywhere in the world of this extraordinary product, the symbol of gastronomic Italy.

What makes it unique in the world is not only its particular history which, over the centuries has allowed this community to alleviate the pangs of hunger and then to create a real local economic business. In fact, it is also the particular position of Gragnano that influences the final result due to the climate and the particular conditions of humidity, heat and wind.

Gragnano rises, in fact, on the slopes of the Lattari Mountains, on a relief overlooking the Gulf of Naples entirely. Here the climate is cool due to the altitude but also brackish and slightly humid due to the breezes coming from the nearby sea.

Gragnano Pasta is an excellent food from a nutritional point of view for many reasons. First of all, it has been shown that it is a real cure-all for a good mood. In fact, it contains thiamine and niacin, two B vitamins that are important for the nervous system. In addition, the high content of starch (glucose) helps the body to produce greater quantities of serotonin, the neurotransmitter of well-being and happiness. There is also to consider that due to the reduced glycemic index it is a pasta suitable for everyone, even those on a diet. Finally, the durum wheat semolina with which it is produced is an incredible source of vegetable protein, making it ideal for all palates.

It goes well with liquid and dense sauces and goes well with meat or fish seasonings. It is a valuable product that deserves to cheer up the tables and that, at least once in a lifetime, should definitely be tasted.