Product Description

Pasta di Gragnano PGI is a dry pasta obtained from a mixture of durum wheat flour and water from the local aquifer of Gragnano, near Naples. The product is available in various typical shapes, created by Gragnano pasta-makers’ imagination, and it has a characteristic rough surface.

Production Area: Pasta di Gragnano PGI is entirely produced in the small city of Gragnano, near Naples, in the Region of Campania. It is the water that makes this dry pasta different: Pasta di Gragnano PGI is made with pure local source water from Lattari Mountains.

Appearance and Taste: It has a homogeneous pale yellow colour and its rough surface is obtained through the use of bronze dies. Cooked, Pasta di Gragnano PGI has a firm, elastic consistency, not sticky. It maintains its shape well, with a strong flavor of durum wheat and a light fragrance of ripe wheat.

Origins: The production of dry pasta in the area of Gragnano, a small city near Naples, began in the XVI century with the first family-run pasta factories. Due to the long tradition of pasta making, Gragnano started to be called “the city of Pasta”.  In the second half of 1800, about 75% of Gragnano population worked in pasta making factories and Via Roma, now a symbolic street for the history of Pasta di Gragnano PGI, was remodeled to facilitate its exposure to the sun, thus becoming a kind of natural dryer for the pasta.

Production: The production method for this dry pasta is divided into various stages: the mixing, which consists of mixing the durum wheat flour with water from the area of production, no more than 30% of the total mixture; the kneading, until the dough reaches the right consistency and elasticity; the drawing phase to reach the desired shape and the drying and cooling phase during which the pasta is dried gradually at a temperature of between 40°C/104°F and 80°C/176 °F for 6 to 60 hours, depending on the shape. The pasta is then ventilated with hot air, several times, and the product must be packaged in the place of production within 24 hours.

Gastronomy: Pasta di Gragnano PGI, thanks to the versatility of its shapes, is perfect for many recipes. Dry pasta has to be cooked in a large pan, waiting that the water is boiled, respecting the cooking timing written on the packaging: the result should be “al dente”, not too hard nor too soft.