How to Read a Pasta Label: Semolina, Egg Pasta, Bronze-Cut, IGP

Italy has a law for pasta: Presidential Decree 187 of 2001. It decides what may be called durum wheat pasta, egg pasta or fresh pasta, and how much water and protein it may have. These 15 terms explain that law and three protected pastas: Pasta di Gragnano, Pâtes d'Alsace and Maccheroncini di Campofilone.

The legal name

In Italy dry pasta is made from durum wheat. The sales name tells you exactly which meal went in.

Dry durum wheat pasta (Pasta di semola di grano duro): Durum wheat semolina pasta: only semolina and water, shaped and dried. At most 12.5 % moisture and at least 10.5 g protein per 100 g of dry matter.
Semolina (Semola (semolina)): The coarse yellow meal of durum wheat. In Italian law «farina» is soft wheat flour, which Italian dry pasta may contain only up to 3 %.
Pasta di semolato: Made from semolato di grano duro and water. It may have more ash than semolina pasta and at least 11.5 g protein per 100 g of dry matter.
Whole wheat flour (Pasta di semola integrale): Wholemeal durum wheat pasta: whole semolina and water only, with the most ash and at least 11.5 g protein per 100 g of dry matter.
🌾 Common wheat (Soft wheat in pasta): Italy forbids making dry pasta from soft wheat. Imported pasta with soft wheat must say so in its name, for example «pasta di farina di grano tenero».

Egg, special and fresh pasta

Egg pasta (Pasta all'uovo): Egg pasta: semolina and at least four whole hen's eggs, at least 200 g of egg per kilo of semolina. It must have at least 12.5 g protein per 100 g of dry matter.
Pasta speciale: Semolina pasta with another food, such as spinach. It is sold as «pasta di semola di grano duro» plus the name of that ingredient.
Fresh pasta (Pasta fresca): Packed fresh pasta has at least 24 % moisture, is heated at least as much as pasteurisation and is kept at no more than 4 °C. Fresh pasta may contain soft wheat flour.
Loose fresh pasta: Fresh pasta sold loose at the counter is kept at 4 °C or colder and may be sold for no more than 5 days after it was made.
Pasta stabilizzata: Shelf-stable fresh-style pasta: at least 20 % moisture, heat-treated so that it can travel and keep at room temperature.

Words on the front

Bronze die (Trafilata al bronzo (bronze-cut)): Pushed through a bronze die, which gives a rough, matte surface. The Italian pasta law does not define this phrase: it is the producer's own claim.
Protein: The law sets minimum protein, on dry matter: 10.5 % for semolina pasta, 11.5 % for semolato and wholemeal, 12.5 % for egg pasta. The nutrition table shows protein per 100 g as sold.

Protected names

An EU protected geographical indication (IGP or PGI) ties a pasta to its town or region.

Pasta di Gragnano (Pasta di Gragnano IGP): Made only in Gragnano near Naples from semolina with at least 13 % protein and local water. Every stage happens in the town, and the pasta is packed there within 24 hours.
Pâtes d'Alsace: Dry egg pasta made in Alsace with 320 g of fresh egg, about seven eggs, per kilo of durum wheat semolina.
Maccheroncini di Campofilone: Very thin dry egg pasta from Campofilone in the Marche: strands 0.8–1.2 mm wide.

Sources

Themes

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