Pasta and noodles

The cultivation of millet dates back to 10,000 BCE in the Yangtze and Yellow River basins, where two species—fowl millet (Setaria italica) and common millet (Panicum miliaceum)—have been found in pottery. The first pasta dishes, meanwhile, date back to two millennia before our era and were made in China. This pasta, which archaeologists found in the ruins of the city of Lajia, was made from the flour of two types of millet. Noodles existed in China and Asia long before pasta appeared in the Mediterranean world, and legend has it that Marco Polo brought pasta to Italy from China in the 13th century.

Pasta is therefore a very ancient food, and since ancient times, it has evolved independently in the Chinese valleys of the Far East on the one hand, and in the Mediterranean regions of the Italian peninsula on the other. It has spanned a vast period of history, as remains estimated to be 4,000 years old were found at the bottom of a pot at a Chinese archaeological site. Etymological sources indicate that the term “pâte” comes from the Latin pasta, derived from the Latinization of the Greek pastà, meaning “barley porridge.” The term was borrowed before 1767 from the German Nudel (dough) in the singular, itself of uncertain origin. It is attested in German around 1550 and was borrowed into English in 1779 to form “noodle.” The French term was spelled “noudle” or “nudeln” around 1765.

In the 16th century, the importation of pasta into France began to grow following the marriage of Catherine de’ Medici to Henry II of France. In the 19th century, the Limagne region produced abundant quantities of durum wheat, which was better suited to its soil but less suitable for bread-making. Two Swiss soldiers who had been stationed in Auvergne during the Napoleonic Wars had noticed the quality of Limagne’s durum wheat. They settled in the region and laid the foundation for this industry, facilitated by the railroad starting in 1855. In 1933, Italy enacted a law regulating the trade and production of pasta, and in 1934, in France, a law mandated that pasta be made from durum wheat semolina. In 2009, the National Pasta Association (NPA), an American organization, and the International Pasta Organization (IPO) launched World Pasta Day, which holds its annual national meeting on October 25.

This process sheet covers a broad range of topics related to the structure of pasta and noodles, with the requirements that, after cooking, they exhibit a characteristic amber-yellow color and remain firm without crumbling or sticking together.