Rigorosa and Afeltra, two brands, two stories but one thing in common, the quality of pasta. Actually, the top quality pasta because that’s what those two names define: without any doubt the best pasta you can find.
Where can you buy it? At EatalyNY store, on 5th Avenue and 23rd Street, or in the best delis and specialty stores around the world.
Where can you buy it? At EatalyNY store, on 5th Avenue and 23rd Street, or in the best delis and specialty stores around the world.
Today we are discussing why the pasta produced by such brands is synonym with excellency and has still yet to be matched by other brands.
If you’re not familiar with Rigorosa and Afeltra, let me tell you something about it.
Both brands are based in Gragnano, a small city close to Naples, Italy.
Gragnano, is internationally famous for the quality of its pasta, made of middling hard grain flour, produced in its many and ancients Pasta laboratories.
The ancient tradition of making pasta in Gragnano started in the 5th century when it was discovered that the geographical position favoured its production.
Positioned on top of a valley abundant with mountain spring water, powerinf the watermills and giving to the pasta its unique taste.
Moreover, the warm weather combined with cool sea breezes helped the drying process that, back in the days, used to be carried out in the town’s streets.
Constant temperature and humid conditions were necessary to give the pasta the flavor and also provided the perfect conditions for proper storage.
It was not until the 17th century that the first pasta factory appeared in Gragnano: Pastificio Afeltra.
Why so special?
Last month I went to Gragnano for an internship at “Pastificio Afeltra”. Here I asked to Giovanna Inghilterra, the managing director, why Rigorosa and Afeltra pasta are so special and demanded all over the world.
“There are several factors that can influence the quality of pasta”, said Dr. Inghilterra, “the time and temperature of the drying process, the quality of durum wheat and finally the bronze extrusion process”. Rigorosa and Afeltra use Gargnano's traditional process of making pasta consisting of only using only 100% organic top quality durum wheat, extruding the pasta through bronze tubes and let it dry for at least 28 hours at very low temperatures.
That's what separate them from the industrial brands you can find at the supermarket
that use generic wheat, extrude pasta shapes through stainless less machines and accelerate the drying process to 5 hours by adding chemical additives.
How it’s produced
The durum wheat is conveyed from the silos to the mixer and carefully protected against external elements.
There are two processing lines: one for long pasta and one for short pasta.
The incoming durum is mixed with warm water at 104°F (40°C) in a vacuum.
The quantity of semolina and water that the automatic doser allows into the kneading machine checked constantly in order to prevent imbalances and irregularities.
The mixture is then pushed into a “drawing machine” to give it required shape: “trafilatura”.
The pasta leaves the drawing machine at rate of 1000 pounds (500 kg) per hour and has a moisture content of approximately 35%.
In the first drying process, called “rinvenimento”, fresh pasta “walks” for 1 hour at 38-40C grades with 8 fan blowing warm air on it.
During the second drying process, called “essicamento definitivo”, fresh pasta enters the dryers: short pasta goes through the different stages on sheets, while long pasta is hung from canes.
During this process, which lasts 28 hours for short pasta and 35 hours for long pasta, the temperature is always below 122°F (50°C).
The finished product, which is ready for packaging, never has a moisture content that exceed 12%.
The dry pasta leaving the dryers has a natural shelf life of at least 2 years. To prevent any breakages, short pasta drops down into the storage silos along spiral slides, while long pasta is first laid out on a conveyor belt to be cut and then sent to the packaging machine.
For the sake of greater food safety, before they are boxed, all packages are scanned by a metal detector.
The unique shapes of Rigorosa and Afeltra.
“Candele”. The tradition says that in South of Italy on Sundays lunch the grandmothers would hit the youngest child of the family with one stick of pasta on top of the head. If the Candela breaks they will cook, if not, no lunch for the family. Needless to say it, the Candela always broke hence the grandma always cooked the lunch.
“Fusilli hand made”. That shape hand-made (just like knitting) and the task is usually performed in the factory by a group of 6-8 women.
“Vesuvio”. The name comes from its particular shape that resembles a volcano (the Vesuvio) but if you turn it upsidedown it looks like sea shell.
“Mafalde” this shape of the pasta was named by the Mastro-Pastaio (pasta makers) after the visit of Queen Mafalda in Naples, in 1922 in honor of her beautiful hairs.
I “Paccheri” so-called because of the noise they were making once the were hanged for the drying process when the wind was blowing.
Cooking intructions
You should use one liter (34 ounces) of water for every ¼ pound (100 grams) of pasta and a handful of sea salt. When the water is boiling add the pasta and stir occasionaly.
Once cooked, drain the pasta, mix it with your sauce of choice and serve.
Due to the artisanal qualities of the pasta, it is difficult to give an exact indication of the proper cooking time. Each shape has its own cooking time, the manufacturers give a time range on the package (for instance the Paccheri cooking time is between 23 to 25 minutes), if you want to cook it al dente (like Italians would do) you should pick the lowest time.
Nutritional Value
Average Value for 0.25 lb (100g) of pasta has 358 calories, 14 grams of protein, 72,5 grams of carbs (0.6 of which sugars), 1.5 grams of fat and 1.6 grams of fiber.
As you might have noticed the high value of Rigorosa and Afeltra lies in the high protein content, which comes from the quality of the durum used. Try to compare with other brands or even with whole wheat pasta and you’ll be surprised.
The taste of this pasta is so unbelievable that you shold to try it with just olive oil and some grated “Parmigiano Reggiano” (parmesan cheese) on top.
This way you’ll be able to enjoy its unique texture!
by Margherita Bisoglio
Nice article. These are both terrific pastas and worth the upcharge. It's a shame that people go cheap with pasta but that will probably never change. $5.00 for what will provide the base of the main course for 4 people? Add in a can of great tomatoes at about $5.00 and you're at a whopping $2.50 per person. C'mon people!
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