Pasta Processing

In the early twelfth century, the Arab geographer Al-Idrisi reported the existence of the production of a dried pasta in Sicily, which was distributed throughout the Mediterranean basin.

Despite its Sicilian origins, the pasta making industry expanded and flourished in Naples.

Before the return of Marco Polo from his great voyage, in 1296, the Mediterranean basin was the setting for a previous trade in obra de pasta, as pasta products were at that time known in Cagliari, Sardinia.

In the 1500s dry pasta manufacturers were founded all over the Italy. The dough was mixed by foot and compressed by 3-4 workers sitting on a long wooden pool. The dough was presses into bronze plate as vermicelli, trennette, lasagnette, farfalle, pennette, conchiglie and other pasta forms, still known today.

The short forms were kept in drawers while the long forms were dried in the open.

At that time, macaroni had become an Italian and Provencal staple, produced in Naples, Genoa and Marseilles. In 1586, a Bolognese inventor applied for a patent on a pasta maker as though he expected to profit from selling the gadget to home cooks.

By the 1600s, pasta had become common enough to serve as an ordinary dietary item for average Italians.

Mechanization of pasta manufacturing began during in the industrial revolution. The first mechanical devices for pasta processing were developed in the early 1700s.

It was the Englishmen who introduced pasta to America. In 1798, a Frenchmen opened the first American pasta factory in Philadelphia.

Around 1850, the first hand-operated pasta press was built. By 1860 more elaborated presses had been had been made. By increasing the popularity of pasta it required more efficient production process to be developed.

Mixers, kneaders, hydraulic piston type extrusion presses and drying cabinets were available for batch manufacturing of pasta in the early 1900s, when the first electric motors appeared. The introduction of the continuous press for the kneading process around the 1930s represented a decisive innovation for the development of the product.

In 1933, the first continuous single screw using low temperature drying profiles that mimicked open air drying conditions typical of the region around Naples, Italy. It replacing the batch system.

It required 18 to 20 hours to dry pasta when using a low temperature drying profile. High temperature drying (60 to 80 degree C) of pasta was introduced in 1974 and ultra high temperature (80 to 100 degree C) drying was introduced in the late 1980s.

Drying at high or ultrahigh temperatures has reduced drying time of long goods (e.g., spaghetti) to about 10 and 6 hours, respectively.
Pasta Processing