Art of making pasta old fashioned

Pastai Gragnanesi is the heirs of a centenary tradition, comingi nito fathers’ secrets Gragnaniensis makers of pasta.

In fact since 1980 it has been dedicated great attention to the recovery of art of making pasta old fashioned and with passion, following strictly the old rules and developping the secret knowledges, the tricks of the trade passed from generation to generation, to continuate the production only of Top Quality pasta.

Gragnano and the White Art

Pasta production – the White Art – that has made Gragnano famous in the world, goes back to XVI century’s end, with the first family – owned pasta factories.

Gragnano inhabitants knew very well wheat processing and they have made it an economic activity: not at random Gragnano owes its name to a “praedium granium”, agrarian property where gens Grania, of Roman origin, dedicated herself to wheat processing, and where later some rebels refuged and founded an urban settlement – “Granianum” – moving away from Stabia city.

It’s a long story, Gragnano pasta’s story, that still today keeps intact the taste of a centenary experience.

Check Gragnano’s pasta at lovingItalianfood’s virtual shop.

An unusual pasta factory: the Handmade Processing

At the end of ‘800 the old building of Gragnano contained all 100 pasta factories of the town. The factory of Pastai Gragnanesi has a vertical (not horizontal as the modern one) development too.

This architectural anomaly supports the entrenchment of our pasta in the pasta’s tradition of Gragnano, because it saves the old and tried processing’s methods, the manual skill and the old responsibilities division, to assure a best quality pasta.

For a good cooking of Gragnano pasta

• The necessary amount of water is estimated in proportion with pasta amount and format ( for paccheri, for example, it needs more scalding water rather than for pennette); the ideal proportion is 5 litres for 500 grams of pasta.
• The potful form is important to cook pasta  to a fine art because must contain all the pasta when we put it in the scalding water ( for spaghetti and long pasta is better an oval potful where put pasta in a horizontal position). during the cooking it does not need always to stir rough pasta again , because it is made with bronze drawing; you can do it eventually after the second boiling , using wooden spoons and carving forks without cutting edges.
• The pasta drining must be very delicate: remove pasta from the water when it is on the hard side with  carving forks, punched  wooden spoons or with a colander . To fortify the seasoning it is profitable to add a little bit of cooking water.

Finally, pasta  on the hard side preserves its nutritional values at best but it is also better to satisfy its tasting. 

Check out the different kind of Gragnano Pasta at lovingitalianfood.com

It all started in 1935 when a Mr Antonino Pollio, a farm labourer after a survey of the land was able to start the production of wine, oil and rosolio that was later discarded, through his dedication and understanding of the land and with all the cultivation techniques the land was able to revive and flourish and enable him to grow and produce the lemons for the Limoncello of Sorrento.

The tradition continued with Antonino the father who, in 1972, was classified 3rd in the national competition for the fight against the cochineal parasite, that fed on the sap of the fruit trees. Since then the family has cultivated the land to enable it to revive and flourish with todays results of producing lemons.

The deep faith of the Pollio family has created a strong bond with the religious world; in fact the first crop was offered to the Prior of the convent of Saint Francis which has always been a spiritual guide for the family. Uncle Peppino the older brother even had the image of Saint Francis stamped on the wine vats for good luck. The close knit Pollio family have passed down through the generations their love and respect for all that the land and nature has to offer.

Commercial farm. The farm today is run by Peppe Pollio, the only son who from the age of 15 was already showing an interest and accompanied his father. He eventually became an independent farmer so followed his passion combining nature and farming. During the 1990’s he decided to expand by bottling wine followed by olive oil this gradually increased to become the total production and in 1995 they were able to transform the lemons into the highly successful Limoncello.

The Pollio family with their love and respect for nature has enabled them to manage the Annuziata fund, a fund that in 2014 was the begining of a new project of organic farming. Aimed at the production of organic oil and limoncello with particular attention devoted to the care and quality of the soil,the priority being given to preserve the maximum genuiness of it’s products.

From 5 generation a great traditional Barolo

From 1912, a family story in Valsangone region following tradition and seeking for innovation.

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From the North part of Italy, on the slopes of the Alps in Piemonte region that has been the reign of Savoia dinasty for the last centuries Italian food tradition get influenced by near France tradition. The result is a rich mixture of different flavours that satures all your senses. Check it out at: http:\\en.lovingitalianfood.com