Canestrato-style basket cheese
A scalded cheese moulded in baskets and re-cooked in its forms in hot whey, made alongside a ricotta from the same milk, then acidified, brined and aged for months.
Dried noodles
dried pasta · dry noodles · dried pasta and noodles
Shaped dough dried thoroughly into a portable staple that keeps far longer than fresh dough, in Mediterranean and Asian food systems.
Dough made to keep
Fresh dough spoils quickly. Shaping it and then drying it thoroughly turns it into a staple that can be carried and stored, which is the preservation purpose behind dried pasta and noodles.
The catalogue treats the two as one drying principle with regional forms: Mediterranean pasta and Asian noodles.
Sources for this section
Sicily in 1154
The catalogue uses Al-Idrisi's account of Sicilian pasta production and export in 1154 as a medieval anchor. The account shows dried pasta made and traded at scale in that period.
It does not establish a single origin for dried pasta worldwide, and the catalogue is careful not to claim one.
Sources for this section
Drying to hardness
The dough must be dried thoroughly. A partly dried strand keeps for a shorter time than a fully dry one, and the sources tie the keeping to the dryness reached rather than to a fixed period.
The catalogue gives no drying times, temperatures or humidity. Storage should keep the dry product away from moisture.
Sources for this section
What the record does not settle
The catalogue does not state dough formulas, shapes or a shelf life for dried pasta and noodles. Asian noodle types differ in their ingredients, and this page does not describe them.
Sources for this section
History
Dried pasta and noodles are a preservation form of shaped dough, made so thoroughly dry that they keep much longer than fresh dough. Mediterranean and Asian food systems both developed them.
Ingredients
Scaling: source batch only
Wheat flour doughDough shaped into strands or other forms.
Amount not stated
Method
- Shape the dough into strands or other forms.
- Dry the shaped dough thoroughly until it is hard.
- Store the dry product away from moisture.
Places
Sicily
Historical attestation · Region evidenceAl-Idrisi's account of Sicilian pasta production and export in 1154; the catalogue does not establish a single origin.
Related
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Appam and hoppers
Appam, or hoppers, are South Indian and Sri Lankan rice pancakes made from a fermented coconut-and-rice batter and cooked in a curved pan to a crisp lacy rim and a soft, spongy centre.
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Ayran
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Bakestone (Norway, Viking Age to Middle Ages)
A thin stone griddle used over an open hearth. Norwegian archaeology documents the established tradition from the early Middle Ages; a Viking-period origin is only a cautious suggestion linked to Shetland.
Barley and oat porridge (Viking Age)
Crushed or milled barley cooked in water until the starch softens and the mixture thickens, the plainest way a northern household turned stored grain into a meal, here with apple and hazelnut.
Black carrot
Black carrot is the anthocyanin-pigmented Eastern carrot (Daucus carota var. atrorubens), the purple root that preceded orange types and still colours kanji and şalgam.
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Sources
Museo Italiano della PastaHistory
Cronologia (Museo Italiano della Pasta, Pasta Museum history)Al-Idrisi's account of Sicilian pasta production and export in 1154
Cited in: Dough made to keep; Sicily in 1154; Drying to hardness; What the record does not settle