Penne
By: Helen Pitlick

About

Penne (pronounced PEN-nay) are 2-inch tubes cut on the diagonal to resemble quills: penne means "quills" in Italian. Penne compliments almost any sauce and is frequently baked. Penne lisce is smooth and penne rigate has ridges and can hold more sauce.

Information
Other names: Penne Pasta
Translations: ペンネ, بيني, 펜네, Пенне, Пенне, 彭内, Пенне


Physical Description
Penne is hard,off white in colour and cylindrical in shape and hollow smooth in texture and have square-cut edges.
Colors: Off white, light brown if whole-wheat


Tasting Notes
Flavors: Salty
Mouthfeel: Crunchy
Food complements: Pesto sauce, Tomato sauce
Wine complements: Any wine
Beverage complements: Rum, Cola
Substitutes: Mostaccioli, Ziti


Selecting and Buying
Seasonality: january, february, march, april, may, june, july, august, september, opctober, november, december
Choosing: Choose the ones which are hard,off white in colour.
Buying: It is available in any super market all over the world.
Procuring: Penne is made from an unleavened dough of wheat or buckwheat, flour and water, sometimes with other ingredients such as eggs and vegetable extracts are also added to it. The dough is then passed through the machine which gives it a particular penne shape.


Preparation and Use
Bring a pot of water to a boil, add salt and cook penne until aldente: when breaking the pasta, it shouldn't be white. Most packages offer cooking instructions.


Conserving and Storing
It can be stored for months in the dry form in plastic or glass bottles, in a dry and cool place.


Social/Political
It is eaten through out the world .
History: While many different cultures ate some sort of noodle-like food, composed mostly of grain, the key characteristics of penne pasta are durum wheat semolina, with a high gluten content. It originated in Italy in 1874 .Furthermore, it is made with a technique that allows the resultant dough to be highly malleable, thus resulting in the many different shapes (i.e., ziti, spaghetti, ravioli,penne) that characterize "pasta." However, it lacks the distinguishing malleable nature of what is now referred to as pasta, couscous being more akin to droplets of dough. In China, noodles of millet or rice have been eaten for centuries, but lack the durum wheat semolina paste that denotes pasta.