Pasta on the Prairies
Many people associate pasta with Italy, but the best pasta has its roots in Western Canada. The Prairies are a leading producer of durum, which is ground to make semolina flour that is the main ingredient of quality pasta.
Western Canadian durum is consumed by pasta lovers around the world. Even pasta-mad Italy imports durum from Western Canada. Prairie durum gives new meaning to the term "spaghetti western".
Download our entire pasta cookbook. (PDF)
Pasta is good for you. It's high in essential B vitamins, and in minerals like iron and phosphorus. It is also fortified with folic acid. The Canada Food Guide recommends that adults, depending on age and gender, eat six to eight servings of grain each day. Kids and teens need three to six servings every day.
Pasta Quiz
"Are you crazy for carbs? Carbohydrates are possibly the best source of energy for athletes. Make them part of your daily fitness regimen. But what kind of pasta do you like best and what does that say about you. Click here to take our fun survey and see what your pasta choice says about you.
Canadian wheat is prized around the world and grown on the Prairies by farmers that care to grow the very best.
Choose your favourite between each pair:
What kind of pasta is on your plate?
Use this charming infographic to learn about all the different types of pasta available.
What kind of pasta is on your plate? by Charming Italy
Fresh vs Dried
There are two common types of pasta, fresh and dried. One is not considered better than the other; there are just two different types that are used in different ways.
Fresh is more common for flat strands like tagliatelli and lasagne or filled with meat, cheese or vegetables. Homemade fresh pasta uses eggs and all-purpose flour. When looking for the right sauce for your fresh pasta, consider that this type will absorb more sauce.
Dried pasta is more commonly mass-produced and made from semolina flour which comes from durum wheat. Semolina flour has a richer, golden colour prized by pasta connoisseurs. A tomato-based sauce is one of the most common sauces for dried pasta but the combinations are endless. Dried pasta 'carries' the sauce rather than absorbing it.
Whatever your preference is, try it with some of these standards:
- Tomato Sauce
- Marinara Sauce
- Bolognese Sauce
- Pesto Sauce
- Alfredo Sauce
World Pasta Day
World Pasta Day is celebrated each year on Oct. 25. When you eat pasta, there's a good chance you're eating durum wheat grown on a western Canadian farm. That's because more durum wheat is exported from the Prairies than from any other location on Earth! This collection of photos, gathered together for the World Pasta Conference in Brazil in 2010, shows durum wheat on a journey from Prairie...to port...to plate.