About Vetta

Vetta Pasta is made using authentic Italian Pasta making techniques and Australia' finest quality Durum wheat. Sourced from northen New South Wales, this wheat is alsopurchased by many Italian companies. Australian Owned and Australia Made, Vetta Pasta is an exellent source of complex carbohydrates, is low-GI, and low in fat and sodium. Most importantly the product holds its shapes when cooked, delivering an ideal al dente texture.

How Vetta Pasta is Made

The basic ingredient of any pasta is wheat. Vetta pasta is made using 100% Durum Wheat. The endosperm of the wheat grain is milled to produce a product known as semolina. This semolina creates the unique “golden” colour of which Vetta pasta is a classic example.

Water is added to the durum wheat semolina and mixed to form a dough. The dough is driven through a vacuum system at temperature and fed through a die. The particular die used gives the pasta the shape required. The shapes are formed under pressure and rotating knives are used to cut the shapes to the required length.

Once the shapes are formed they are fed through a series of drying stages to reduce the moisture content of the pasta. The first stage of drying is known as “pre drying. The pasta shapes are strengthened at this stage, which prevents them from becoming distorted throughout the handling process. The second stage of drying reduces the moisture content to the ultimate level by the time it reaches the third stage. This is the “cooling” stage, which brings the pasta to a point where it can be packed and stored successfully for 24 months.

Why Durum Wheat?

Durum is the hardest of all wheats. Its density, combined with its high protein content and gluten strength, make durum the wheat of choice for producing premium pasta products. Pasta made from durum is firm with consistent cooking quality. Durum kernels are amber-coloured and larger than those of other wheat classes. Also unique to durum is its yellow endosperm, which gives pasta its golden hue. When durum is milled, the endosperm is ground into a granular product called semolina. A mixture of water and semolina forms a stiff dough. Pasta dough is then forced through dies, or metal discs with holes, to create hundreds of different shapes.

History, tradition and quality requirements make durum wheat ideally suited for the production of pasta. In the early 1950s Italy, France, and Greece legally established that pasta could only be made with durum wheat and that the use of other undeclared cereals in pasta production constituted fraud.

Although durum was first trialled in Australia early last century (by pioneering wheat breeder William Farrer), it wasn’t until the early 1950s that there was much demand… and then only, ironically, for making tinned spaghetti. In fact, most early pasta in Australia was made from the more readily available bread wheat. The difference between bread wheat and durum is that, bread wheat will overcook and go gluggy if used for pasta, whilst durum can take excess cooking and still keep together.

The durum grain is milled through a lengthy, 18-stage process, until it produces a fine grade semolina – essentially an unrefined, granular substance a little like polenta in consistency. Semolina contains the endosperm of the grain, still in a granular form (Wheat flour is refined semolina). The granular consistency is needed in making a good pasta dough. The important thing about durum is that pasta made with this marvellous wheat is not sticky. When cooked, the water remains relatively clear, not cloudy, a sign that the starches are being retained.
The best Australian Durum Wheat (some even say World’s Best) is grown in the “Golden Triangle” area of northern NSW – between Moree, Narrabri, and Inverell. Rinoldi source all of their requirements from these growers each year, and ironically the balance is mainly exported to Italy.

Low GI

Today's savvy supermarket shoppers look for the GI Symbol. They know that they need to put those smart low GI carbs into the trolley to manage their blood glucose levels, reduce their risk of diabetes and heart disease, and maintain a healthy weight. Founded by the Glycemic Index Foundation, a collaboration between the University of Sydney, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation of Australia, and Diabetes Australia, the GI Symbol Program leads the way in helping everybody make healthier food choices every day for every meal for their long term health and well being. When consumers pick a food product that carries the GI Symbol, they know that the GI value stated near the nutrition information panel is accurate and that they have made a healthy choice for that food category from breads, breakfast cereals and pasta to fruit, or yoghurt. This is because to earn the GI Symbol, a food not only has to be low GI, it must also meet a strict nutrition criteria for energy (calories/kilojoules), fat, saturated fat, sodium, and where appropriate, fibre and calcium.

VSCA Registrated Products