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 Although pasta first appeared in the Middle East, it has gained particular popularity in Italy. Pasta was widely known in ancient Rome; it was included in the diet of Roman legionnaires. Since then, pasta has been considered the national food of Italians. Why?
Obviously, favorable climatic conditions and rich gastronomic traditions have been happily combined in this country. Henceforth, only wheat of strong and hard varieties is suitable for cooking pasta, only its gluten has sufficient mechanical strength so as not to collapse upon drying. And such varieties of wheat have long been learned to grow in Italy.
Almost the entire range of modern pasta was created here. Italian chefs invented a thin vermicelli called angel hair; world famous spaghetti, as well as many other varieties of pasta, which differ in shape and thickness. These are thick and short rigotonis, long thin-walled citti, the thinnest tortilloni and cannelloni many meters long.
The Italians began to make various types of noodles, figuratively carving thin sheets of wheat dough. The names of many of them come from the shape of the products - krestoni, stellini (stars), farfalline (butterflies) and fusini (tubules).
At the beginning of the 17th century, pasta with various fillings appeared in Italy: ravioli - small dried dumplings with vegetable or meat filling, cappellini - rounded, tortellini - with sweet or fruit filling. In total, about 600 types of dough products are made in Italy, which are called here by a common word - pasta.
In Russia, pasta appeared only in the second half of the 18th century. They were brought here by Italians who worked as cooks for Russian aristocrats.
For a long time, pasta was made by hand. Only at the end of the 19th century, an automatic machine was invented for their manufacture. It was then that they became a truly massive dish.
Nowadays, pasta is usually divided into three main categories: sticks - spaghetti, actually pasta and noodles - flat plates or strips of various shapes. Modern pasta can be fried as well as boiled.
Pasta and other baked goods recipes
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