PRODUCTION
Layout, process innovation and product innovation to ensure quality and compliance with the renewed and extensive needs of those who want to bring the best to the table every day.
A VOCATION FOR QUALITY
At Granoro we produce quality Italian pasta in over 150 different formats and a wide range of products related to the traditional Italian “first course”: sauces, condiments, boiled legumes and Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Producing traditional and high-quality Italian pasta is the principle and the “basic vocation” that has characterised the life-long work of the founder Attilio Mastromauro and which his family continues today with the same commitment.
GRANORO PRODUCTION IN NUMBERS
70 THOUSAND
SQUARE METERS OF FACTORY SPACE
11
PRODUCTION
LINES
4500
QUINTALS OF PASTA PRODUCED PER DAY
100,000 QUINTALS
THE STORAGE CAPACITY OF THE SELF-SUPPORTING AUTOMATIC WAREHOUSE ONLY
THE SELECTION OF RAW MATERIALS
For high-quality pasta, the selection of raw materials is important. The quality of Granoro pasta is obtained using only quality durum wheat semolina obtained from the heart of the wheat grain, with a uniform yellow colour and no bran parts, with a high protein content and in particular with a high-quality, tenacious and elastic gluten.
The raw material, the semolina, is purchased from the mills on the basis of strict quality standards and is carefully checked in the acceptance phase by our in-house laboratory.
GLUTEN
Granoro pasta has a high amount of proteins and in particular of gliadins and glutenins which, due to the mechanical action of the kneading and in the presence of water, combine and form a viscoelastic protein complex called gluten.
Gluten is a mesh of proteins that has the function of retaining the starch granules during the cooking phase, preventing them from being dispersed into the aqueous environment. In this way, pasta is not sticky on the surface, but consistent and elastic and does not become a sticky mass on the plate once cooked.
The quantity and quality of these proteins therefore directly influence the final quality of the product. Gliadins give elasticity and extensibility to gluten, while the glutenins give tenacity and consistency, characteristics that we recognise in a good quality pasta.
Among the advantages deriving from the ability of gluten to retain hydrated starch granules, there is also the increase in the weight yield of the dry product, after cooking.
THE DOUGH
Granoro pasta is produced via a manufacturing process that is very attentive to the phase of mixing the semolina with water, in order not to damage the gluten and to keep it intact. In this phase, the hydration and mechanical action that takes place in the kneading tanks are decisive for the formation and development of gluten which, with its mesh-like structure, incorporates the starch granules that have been hydrated by the water into its meshes. Starch is a very important complex sugar for our body, in particular for the functioning of the muscles of our body, including the brain, and for this reason, it is important for it to be harnessed by the gluten molecules, otherwise it would be dispersed into the water during cooking.
THE PHASE OF MICROSCOPE COOKING
During the cooking of the pasta, the starch absorbs water and swells, so the higher the quality and quantity of gluten in the semolina used, the more this protein network will be able to retain the starch granules, preventing them from becoming dispersed into the water. The water will thus be clear and without residue, and the pasta will not have surface stickiness. All this is also of great advantage to digestibility and to yield.
If the protein network is compact and tenacious, the starch granules will be retained inside and will not be dispersed into the water.
If the protein network breaks down due to a low quality and quantity of the proteins that make up gluten, the starch will be dispersed into the water.
DRAWING AND DRAW-PLATES
The draw-plates are the accessories that give shape to the mixture of water and semolina and are used to create the pasta shapes.
In addition to giving shape, they affect the characteristics of the pasta that is obtained, the thickness of each shape and the development and consistency of gluten, the most important of the durum wheat semolina proteins, decisive for providing the pasta with that elasticity and tenacity after cooking that we commonly define as “pasta al dente“.
UNIFORM COOKING
In the process of the production of Granoro pasta, the choice of the drawing is crucial in giving the different formats the right porosity and adequate thickness.
In fact, all the formats are designed in such a way as to cook uniformly and to have a relatively short cooking time.
In order to assess the degree of cooking of the pasta, it is possible to squeeze a strand of spaghetti between two glasses and observe an eventual uncooked strand present inside.
Good-quality pasta at the right cooking time must not be uncooked inside.
The thicker a format, the longer it will take to cook. Consequently, it is preferable not to let the thicknesses become excessive so as not to have a difference in cooking between the outside and the inside, with the result that the outside might become flakey. The flaking of the external surface causes stickiness on the surface which also leads to a lower degree of digestibility of the pasta.
DRYING
Drying is one of the most decisive processes in obtaining a good quality of pasta.
Pasta after drawing has a high water content which after the drying process must reach 12.5%, which is the maximum humidity prescribed by current legislation (Presidential Decree 187 of February 9th, 2001).
In order to produce pasta of a good quality, drying in our pasta factory is carried out in such a way as to obtain homogeneous and uniform evaporation of the water.
GRANORO NEVER USES VERY HIGH TEMPERATURES
High-temperature drying gives the pasta only an apparent quality. The high and very high temperatures, in fact, gelatinize the pasta grains, damaging their colour, some nutritional elements (for example, lysine decreases by 40%) and digestibility.
For a very explicit choice in this direction, we use medium and not high temperatures, so that all the nutritional and even organoleptic characteristics of durum wheat semolina, such as flavour and colour, are not altered, but are enhanced and preserved in each grain of pasta at the end of the production process.
PASTA WITH AN EXCELLENT YIELD
After drying, the “queen” is ready: We present the pasta!
Thus, it is ready to be packaged and distributed all over the world.
The quality of the raw materials and the special manufacturing process studied by the founder Attilio Mastromauro, give Granoro pasta the right porosity which guarantees a high capacity for the absorption of water during cooking.
EXCELLENT YIELD AFTER COOKING
Granoro pasta has an excellent yield after cooking.
From 100g of uncooked pasta, after cooking, depending on the size, from 200g to 250g of cooked product are obtained. This is thanks to the porosity and the ability to absorb water that the pasta has during cooking, while preserving its consistency and its hold.
