Giuseppe Cocco (6 pack) Penne Rigati Artisan Pasta hand-made slow dried in 500g bags from Italy

Description

Pasta Giuseppe Cocco is the most traditional Italian pasta made in Fara San Martino, Abruzzo. In 1916, at the age of 14, Domenico Cocco started to work in a pasta factory. Over the years his job turned into a passion and he soon learned the techniques and tricks of this art from the "Mastri Pastai" (pasta masters). He devoted his life to this fascinating job, guarded all its secrets and handed them down to his son Giuseppe. The old "Mastri Pastai" maintained that four ingredients are needed to make good pasta: mountain wheat, spring water, clean air for pasta drying and the processing technique. In 1944 Giuseppe Cocco started to work with his father. Together they had to go through the ordeal of finding the pasta machines parts, covered by the debris of the heavy bombings that destroyed Fara San Martino. The machines were reconstructed and put back into operation. Those machines, memories and tricks are still used by Cavalier Giuseppe Cocco to produce traditional pasta, as good as back then, in Fara San Martino. The "Mastro Pastaio" pours the durum wheat semolina into the kneader and slowly adds the crystal clear spring water, thus obtaining a homogenous and thick mix. The mix goes through the bronze cutting die, which gives pasta the necessary roughness, that will then enhance the taste of the sauces. The winder, dating from 1910, rolls out the dough and its wooden rollers, like rolling pins, roll it out to the requested thickness, thus creating the nests. The pasta is given its final shape and the most complex and delicate phase starts: the drying at natural temperature. The pasta quality, nutritional features and resistance to cooking depend on accurate and careful drying. These fully manual and traditional methods require more time and space; hence the small production quantity. However the traditional pasta taste and flavor are guaranteed.