From how to cook it to when to eat it, right down to the packaging, there are many common misconceptions about pasta. With the help of science, we've chosen seven particularly interesting ones and debunked them for you.
That undercooked pasta is hard to digest is well established. But for too long this fact has justified the popular belief that "the more pasta is cooked, the more digestible it is" — a claim that is entirely without scientific basis. According to experts, it is al dente cooking that best aids digestion and helps lower the glycaemic index of a meal. What's more, pasta cooked al dente also increases the feeling of fullness, helping us to eat the right amounts. It encourages us to chew for longer, stimulating the production of juices containing ptyalin, an enzyme that acts on the complex starch chains, breaking them down into less complex structures that ease digestion throughout the entire process. Starch that has not been fully gelatinised slows down the absorption of glucose, producing, as mentioned, a lower glycaemic index. The time before the sensation of fullness sets in is also extended, thus protecting us from the risk of consuming a surplus of calories during the rest of the day (source: fondazioneumbertoveronesi.it).
But when can we say that pasta is (truly) cooked al dente? When it retains its firmness even once cooking is complete. If the pasta is of high quality, there is in fact no need to drain it early — before the time indicated by the manufacturer — in order to have it al dente. This practice only becomes necessary when the pasta is of low quality. But in that case what you have is not al dente pasta, but raw pasta. The optimum al dente texture can only be achieved with an excellent pasta, which allows for the perfect gelatinisation of the starch while still maintaining firmness and therefore "the bite". When, on the other hand, you are forced to drain the pasta earlier than the stated cooking time, it means you are cooking a low-quality product, whose firmness is not the result of the actual elasticity of the gluten but of the fact that its "core" remains raw. To measure this quality precisely, manufacturers use a dedicated instrument: the mechanical bite tester. At home, however, we can assess the quality of pasta by paying attention to the appearance of the water at the end of cooking: if it is clear, the pasta is of high quality; if it is cloudy, it means the gluten network has broken down, releasing starch, and therefore we have cooked a lower-quality pasta. Overcooking pasta also causes starch to be released into the water, as well as dispersing nutrients and producing a higher glycaemic index than al dente pasta. Finally, being "sticky", heavily overcooked pasta is swallowed after quick and approximate chewing, to the detriment of digestion.
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In a balanced diet, pasta should not be missing. Not even when we are on a diet, provided our plate is put together intelligently — that is, with the right ingredients and the right proportions. According to a study by Canada's St. Michael's Hospital, published in BMJ Open, pasta has a lower glycaemic index than other carbohydrates and causes smaller rises in blood sugar levels. Especially if it is wholegrain. The study, based on a systematic review and meta-analysis of thirty research projects involving around 2,500 people, found that eating an average of 3.3 portions of pasta per week, in place of other carbohydrates, does not cause weight gain or an increase in body fat — quite the contrary. According to the study's lead author, John Sievenpiper, "In fact the analysis showed a small weight loss, so contrary to concerns, pasta can be part of a healthy diet such as a low glycaemic index diet." The authors noted that the weight loss relates to the consumption of pasta alongside other low-glycaemic-index ingredients and would need to be verified within other healthy dietary patterns as well.
Several factors contribute to lowering the glycaemic index of pasta further: the quality of the pasta itself, the type of cooking, the sauces and the pairings. The whole grain that characterises wholegrain pasta produces a significantly lower glycaemic response than refined pasta, helping with weight control, moderating appetite and hunger, and increasing the feeling of fullness. Al dente cooking enhances the metabolic capacity to digest starches and keeps the glycaemic index of pasta low — which does not happen with prolonged cooking, which instead causes an increase in insulin that promotes weight gain. Finally, let us not forget the importance of not overdoing the fats and condiments, but instead adding a generous portion of protein (pulses included) alongside our plate of pasta, which will help control blood sugar levels, appetite and hunger. The quantity of pasta recommended by nutritionists is 80 grams for men and 70 grams for women.
One of the most widespread misconceptions about pasta is that you should avoid eating it in the evening, because going to sleep just a few hours after a meal would slow the metabolism down, preventing it from burning off the calories consumed and causing weight gain. Science has, however, shed light on this aspect too. A study presented by BBC News Health, aimed at discovering whether there are better or worse times of day to consume carbohydrates, compared the consumption of bread and pasta in the morning and in the evening. During the programme Trust Me I'm a Doctor, with the help of Dr Adam Collins of the University of Surrey, a small experiment was carried out with a number of healthy volunteers who were asked to eat carbohydrates at breakfast or dinner for a set period, in order to test whether a kind of adaptation of the body to their intake exists. For the first five days, the volunteers ate the majority of their carbohydrate intake at breakfast, leaving only a small portion for dinner time. After a five-day interval with no particular dietary requirements, the volunteers reversed the carbohydrate proportions: for five days they switched to low-carbohydrate breakfasts and high-carbohydrate dinners, thus inverting the study's original guidelines.
Dr Collins's team monitored participants' blood glucose levels throughout the entire period, expecting a foregone conclusion: that eating carbohydrates at breakfast would be preferable. The results, however, revealed an unexpected finding: when the researchers tested the volunteers after the first five days (carbohydrate-based breakfasts and low-carbohydrate dinners), they found that the average blood glucose response was 15.9 units. But when they carried out the same analyses after the five days of high-carbohydrate dinners and low-carbohydrate breakfasts, they were surprised to find that the average glucose response had fallen to 10.4 units. The researchers hypothesise that what matters is not what time of day carbohydrates are eaten, but how long the carbohydrate "fasting" period preceding the meal containing them is. When there is a substantial gap between one carbohydrate-rich meal and the next, the body proved better prepared to handle it. This occurs naturally in the morning because a night of fasting lies behind it, but it also happens in the evening if carbohydrate intake has been kept low during the earlier part of the day. The study also showed that after a few days of low-carbohydrate breakfasts and high-carbohydrate dinners, the body reaches a kind of conditioning that enables it to handle the heavy carbohydrate load in the evening more effectively.
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What happens in the pot when pasta is being cooked? Is adding a little oil to prevent it from sticking actually useful, or is this yet another urban legend? Chefs know the answer well: oil during cooking is pointless. The American Chemical Society, which knows a thing or two about chemical reactions, explains the reason in a video that reveals the secrets to achieving perfectly cooked, well-dressed pasta. While it may raise a smile that the advice comes from across the Atlantic, it is only natural that people everywhere in the world should want to explain as well as possible how to cook one of the most beloved foods: pasta.
According to the American Chemical Society, adding oil to the cooking water is pointless because the water itself washes it off the pasta, as if rinsing it away. Oil and water do not mix, after all, because oil is non-polar — that is, it carries no charge — whereas water is polar. When oil is added to the water, it rises to the surface and collects there, forming what are known as "eyes." The real secret to preventing pasta from sticking, therefore, remains keeping it moving, stirring it carefully in water that is kept at a constant boil.
Not to the last drop, and not directly into the sink. To allow the pasta to combine well with the sauce, it is better to drain it al dente using a colander with a handle and toss it in the pan with the sauce. If the pasta has retained a little cooking water, it will help to bind the sauce more effectively. Moreover, by avoiding the classic colander set over the sink, it is possible to save the precious cooking water to loosen other preparations in progress in the kitchen, or as a resource to be reused for other purposes, such as making a stock, preparing a dough, or steaming vegetables.
In reality, we should aim for exactly the opposite: building our pasta dish so that it functions as a complete meal. Here's why: protein is a fundamental part of the diet, and it is not uncommon for people to consume less than the amount recommended by the WHO — more than 0.83 grams of protein per day per kilogram of expected body weight is required (the body weight expected for a person of the same age, sex and height as ourselves). One way to ensure adequate protein intake is to include protein in the pasta dish, creating an excellent and balanced complete meal. This also has the advantage of a lower glycaemic index, since the presence of protein moderates the glycaemic load of the entire meal, allowing better control of blood sugar levels, the sense of satiety and hunger signals. How much protein should we include in our complete meal? Simple — a quantity that is visually equal to that of the pasta (or rice), so that together they occupy half of a balanced meal; the other half should consist of vegetables, preferably raw, and fruit, as clearly illustrated by the Harvard Medical School's Healthy Eating Plate.
Fortunately — for us and for the environment — this is not the case. Pasta packaging is not all the same, and at the point of purchase we can opt for a more eco-friendly, sortable and recyclable format. The key is knowing how to identify the most sustainable options. Single-material paper or card packaging, and all-plastic packaging, can be sorted and recycled without any issues. For paper packaging with a plastic window, separating the materials is desirable but not essential, since the separation is also carried out at the paper mill without compromising recycling (source: Comieco). Packaging that combines paper and plastic, however, may not be sortable — it is always best to check what the label says. Multi-layer materials with a predominance of paper can be placed in paper collection only if they have passed the recyclability test, which is indicated on the packaging with the wording "raccolta carta." In the absence of this wording, the packaging must be placed in general waste. Finally, a word of advice: on supermarket shelves it is possible to find pasta packets that suggest a certain environmental awareness, appealing to consumers through a carefully crafted "rustic" appearance of the packaging. It may happen, however, that those very packages are made from laminated, inseparable materials and are therefore not sortable. Far removed, then, from the concept of the circular economy that they visually evoke — an economy which requires, on the contrary, that packaging be intelligently sorted so as to give new life to the raw materials it is made from.