The new and ancient fermented pasta

Ancient man had developed the need for a starchy diet and fed on wheat by spontaneously harvesting seeds. He later realized that by roasting the seeds, they gained in flavor. Initially, he shredded them, soaked them and made a kind of polenta. The mixture of flour and water, left in the air, developed yeast; In this way he was able to obtain preparations with which he was able to make the first rudimentary shapes of pasta. The word "pasta" exists in Latin, but it seems that it appears for the first time in the Italian language, in a document of 1244, where a doctor from Bergamo, in a prescription, forbids one of his patients to consume "pasta lissa". Dry pasta, thread-shaped, long or short, which scholars report comes from the Arab world, is a completely different process from the fresh pasta sheet of the ancient world, the lagana. Dry pasta was called itriyya by the Arabs and would spread throughout the Mediterranean, following the domination of Sicily.

The term itriyya would have been translated by Westerners into tri and itria. The term Arabic, according to some scholars, seems not to come only from the Arabic language, because a similar word is found in the Latin and Greek languages. The geographer Edrisi, who lived in Sicily at the time of the Norman king Roger II, in 1154 tells us: ".. there is the village of Trabia,... and vast farms in which thread-like pasta is manufactured.."

A fundamental and certain step for the entire Western world, as well as an important reference on the origins of dry pasta. Now, scientists and researchers from Porto Conte Ricerche in Alghero, have developed studies for the creation of a "Pasta with fermented semolina", given as a real novelty in the fresh pasta sector. Fresh pasta is developed and studied by mixing semolina with another fermented semolina dough. Fermented semolina is obtained by inoculating it with selected microorganisms, yeasts and lactic acid bacteria, in a mixture of semolina and water. The dough must be refreshed daily by adding more semolina and water. The characteristic of this pasta is to have a sour taste and an excellent aromatic complexity due to the fermentation process. Intrigued by the project, I investigate and verify that fermented dough was used in ancient Egypt. A food knowledge that then spread to the classical world.

Different and general indications are found in medieval manuscripts. A fourteenth-century Southern Anonymous quotes: "Lasagna: to make lasagna, take some fermented dough and make it as thin as you can. Then divide it into square-shaped, three-finger-width parts. Then, take from the boiling salted water and cook the lasagna indicated. And when they're cooked, take some grated cheese." Even the most important chef of the time, Maestro Martino, proposed in his cookbook "Libro de arte coquinaria" the method for preparing lasagna: "Take a fermented dough, roll it thin, divide it into squares three fingers long. Boil in water and season, in alternate layers, with grated cheese and, if desired, powdered spices." The research of the scientists of Porto Conte Ricerche, is much more refined, and contemporary, and has managed to scientifically evaluate the preservation, goodness and healthiness of the product.

Dr. Pasquale Catzeddu, from Porto Conte Ricerche, points out: "The results of the project allow us to establish that fresh pasta produced with fermented semolina has a longer shelf life, from production to sale, than the fresh pasta to which we are accustomed; it is more digestible, has greater antioxidant capacity, and greater absorption of mineral salts; For the same amount of pasta consumed, it contains a lower amount of readily digestible sugars." Dr. Catzeddu continues: "the Glycemic Load is lower, because it has less starch available; The cooking resistance improves when the whole egg is added to the dough." New frontiers are opening up to the world of food, which is increasingly aware and attentive to what it puts on its plate.