Why Durum Wheat?
Durum is the hardest of all wheats. Its density, combined with its high protein content and gluten strength, make durum the wheat of choice for producing premium pasta products. Pasta made from durum is firm with consistent cooking quality. Durum kernels are amber-coloured and larger than those of other wheat classes. Also unique to durum is its yellow endosperm, which gives pasta its golden hue. When durum is milled, the endosperm is ground into a granular product called semolina. A mixture of water and semolina forms a stiff dough. Pasta dough is then forced through dies, or metal discs with holes, to create hundreds of different shapes. History, tradition and quality requirements make durum wheat ideally suited for the production of pasta. In the early 1950s Italy, France, and Greece legally established that pasta could only be made with durum wheat and that the use of other undeclared cereals in pasta production constituted fraud. Although durum was first trialled in Australia earl
