Spaghetti () is a long, thin, solid, cylindrical

pasta Pasta (, ; ) is a type of food typically made from an unleavened dough of wheat flour mixed with water or eggs, and formed into sheets or other shapes, then cooked by boiling or baking. Rice flour, or legumes such as beans or lentils, ar ...

.spaghetti
Dictionary.com. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. (accessed: 3 June 2008). It is a staple food of traditional

Italian cuisine Italian cuisine (, ) is a Mediterranean cuisine David 1988, Introduction, pp.101–103 consisting of the ingredients, recipes and cooking techniques developed across the Italian Peninsula and later spread around the world together with wave ...

. Like other pasta, spaghetti is made of milled

wheat Wheat is a grass widely cultivated for its seed, a cereal grain that is a worldwide staple food. The many species of wheat together make up the genus ''Triticum'' ; the most widely grown is common wheat (''T. aestivum''). The archaeologi ...

and

water Water (chemical formula ) is an Inorganic compound, inorganic, transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance, which is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known living ...

and sometimes enriched with vitamins and minerals. Italian spaghetti is typically made from

durum Durum wheat (), also called pasta wheat or macaroni wheat (''Triticum durum'' or ''Triticum turgidum'' subsp. ''durum''), is a tetraploid species of wheat. It is the second most cultivated species of wheat after common wheat, although it represe ...

wheat

semolina Semolina is coarsely milled durum wheat mainly used in making couscous, and sweet puddings. The term semolina is also used to designate coarse millings of other varieties of wheat, and sometimes other grains (such as rice or corn) as well. Ety ...

. Retrieved on 22 December 2014. Usually the pasta is white because refined flour is used, but whole wheat flour may be added. ''Spaghettoni'' is a thicker form of spaghetti, while ''spaghettini'' is a thinner form. '' Capellini'' is a very thin spaghetti, sometimes known colloquially as "angel hair pasta". Originally, spaghetti was notably long, but shorter lengths gained in popularity during the latter half of the 20th century and now it is most commonly available in 25-30cm lengths. A variety of pasta dishes are based on it and it is frequently served with

tomato sauce Tomato sauce (also known as ''salsa roja'' in Spanish or ''salsa di pomodoro'' in Italian) can refer to many different sauces made primarily from tomatoes, usually to be served as part of a dish, rather than as a condiment. Tomato sauces are c ...

, meat or vegetables.

Etymology

''Spaghetti'' is the plural form of the Italian word ''spaghetto'', which is a diminutive of ''spago'', meaning "thin string" or "twine".

History

The first written record of pasta comes from the

Talmud The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the ce ...

in the 5th century AD and refers to dried pasta that could be cooked through boiling, which was conveniently portable. Some historians think that

Arabs The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

introduced pasta to Europe during a conquest of Sicily. In the West, it may have first been worked into long, thin forms in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

around the 12th century, as the

Tabula Rogeriana The ''Nuzhat al-mushtāq fī ikhtirāq al-āfāq'' ( ar, نزهة المشتاق في اختراق الآفاق, lit. "The Book of Pleasant Journeys into Faraway Lands"), commonly known in the West as the ''Tabula Rogeriana'' (lit. "''The Book of ...

Muhammad al-Idrisi Abu Abdullah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani as-Sabti, or simply al-Idrisi ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد الإدريسي القرطبي الحسني السبتي; la, Dreses; 1100 – 1165), was a Muslim geographer, cartogra ...

attested, reporting some traditions about the Sicilian kingdom. The popularity of spaghetti spread throughout Italy after the establishment of spaghetti factories in the 19th century, enabling the mass production of spaghetti for the Italian market. In the United States around the end of the 19th century, spaghetti was offered in restaurants as ''Spaghetti Italienne'' (which likely consisted of noodles cooked past '' al dente'', and a mild tomato sauce flavored with easily found spices and vegetables such as cloves,

bay leaves The bay leaf is an aromatic leaf commonly used in cooking. It can be used whole, either dried or fresh, in which case it is removed from the dish before consumption, or less commonly used in ground form. It may come from several species of tr ...

, and garlic) and it was not until decades later that it came to be commonly prepared with oregano or

basil Basil (, ; ''Ocimum basilicum'' , also called great basil, is a culinary herb of the family Lamiaceae (mints). It is a tender plant, and is used in cuisines worldwide. In Western cuisine, the generic term "basil" refers to the variety also k ...

Ingredients

Spaghetti is made from ground grain (flour) and water. Whole-wheat and multigrain spaghetti are also available.

Production

Fresh spaghetti

At its simplest, imitation spaghetti can be formed using no more than a rolling pin and a knife. A home pasta machine simplifies the rolling and makes the cutting more uniform. But of course cutting sheets produces pasta with a rectangular rather than a cylindrical cross-section and the result is a variant of

fettuccine Fettuccine (; lit. 'little ribbons'; sing. ''fettuccina'') is a type of pasta popular in Roman and Tuscan cuisine. It is descended from the extremely thin capelli d'angelo of the Renaissance but is a flat, thick pasta traditionally made of egg ...

. Some pasta machines have a spaghetti attachment with circular holes that extrude spaghetti or shaped rollers that form cylindrical noodles. Spaghetti can be made by hand by manually rolling a ball of dough on a surface to make a long sausage shape. The ends of the sausage are pulled apart to make a long thin sausage. The ends are brought together and the loop pulled to make two long sausages. The process is repeated until the pasta is sufficiently thin. The pasta knobs at each end are cut off leaving many strands which may be hung up to dry. Fresh spaghetti would normally be cooked within hours of being formed. Commercial versions of fresh spaghetti are manufactured.

Dried spaghetti

The bulk of dried spaghetti is produced in factories using auger extruders. While essentially simple, the process requires attention to detail to ensure that the mixing and kneading of the ingredients produces a homogeneous mix, without air bubbles. The forming dies have to be water cooled to prevent spoiling of the pasta by overheating. Drying of the newly formed spaghetti has to be carefully controlled to prevent strands sticking together, and to leave it with sufficient moisture so that it is not too brittle. Packaging for protection and display has developed from paper wrapping to plastic bags and boxes. File:Hydraulic Spaghetti Press with Automatic Spreader built by Consolidated Macaroni Machine Corporation 001.jpg, A hydraulic press with an automatic spreader by the Consolidated Macaroni Machine Corporation, Brooklyn, New York. This machine was the first to spread long cut alimentary paste products onto a drying stick. File:Industrial spaghetti dryer built by Consolidated Macaroni Machine Corporation 01.jpg, An industrial dryer for spaghetti or other long goods pasta products, also by the Consolidated Macaroni Machine Corporation File:Spaghetti spiral, 2008.jpg, Dried spaghetti File:Spaghetti measure macro.jpg, Dried spaghetti measured with a "spaghetti measure". One portion of dried pasta weighs , twice the amount of one serving on the package (12 mm circle or 60 g.). The measure can portion out 1, 2, 3, or 4 servings based on the diameter of the circle.

Preparation

Fresh or dry spaghetti is cooked in a large pot of salted, boiling water and then drained in a

colander A colander (or cullender) is a kitchen utensil used to strain foods such as pasta or to rinse vegetables. The perforated nature of the colander allows liquid to drain through while retaining the solids inside. It is sometimes also called a past ...

( it, scolapasta). In Italy, spaghetti is generally cooked '' al dente'' (Italian for "to the tooth"), fully cooked but still firm to the bite. It may also be cooked to a softer consistency. ''Spaghettoni'' is a thicker spaghetti which takes more time to cook. ''Spaghettini'' is a thinner form which takes less time to cook. '' Capellini'' is a very thin form of spaghetti (it is also called "angel hair spaghetti" or "angel hair pasta") which cooks very quickly. Utensils used in spaghetti preparation include the spaghetti scoop and spaghetti tongs. File:Spaghetti-cooking.jpg, Spaghetti being placed into a pot of boiling water for cooking File:Spaghetti draining.jpg, Draining the water from boiled spaghetti File:Spaghettiheber-02.jpg, A spaghetti scoop File:Spaghettizaang.jpg, Spaghetti tongs

Serving

Italian cuisine

An emblem of

, spaghetti is frequently served with

, which may contain various herbs (especially oregano and

), olive oil, meat, or

vegetables Vegetables are parts of plants that are consumed by humans or other animals as food. The original meaning is still commonly used and is applied to plants collectively to refer to all edible plant matter, including the flowers, fruits, stems ...

. Other spaghetti preparations include

amatriciana Sugo all'amatriciana (), or alla matriciana (in ''Romanesco'' dialect),Ravaro (2005), p. 395 also known as salsa all'amatriciana, is a traditional Italian pasta sauce based on guanciale (cured pork cheek), pecorino romano cheese, tomato, and, in ...

carbonara Carbonara () is an Italian pasta dish from Rome made with eggs, hard cheese, cured pork and black pepper. The dish arrived at its modern form, with its current name, in the middle of the 20th century. The cheese is usually Pecorino Romano, ...

. Grated

hard cheese There are many different types of cheese. Cheeses can be grouped or classified according to criteria such as length of fermentation, texture, methods of production, fat content, animal milk, and country or region of origin. The method most co ...

s, such as

Pecorino Romano Pecorino Romano () is a hard, salty Italian cheese, often used for grating, made with sheep's milk. The name "pecorino" simply means "ovine" or "of sheep" in Italian; the name of the cheese, although protected, is a simple description rather t ...

Parmesan Parmesan ( it, Parmigiano Reggiano; ) is an Italian hard, granular cheese produced from cows’ milk and aged at least 12 months. It is named after two of the areas which produce it, the provinces of Parma and Reggio Emilia (''Parmigiano'' ...

and

Grana Padano Grana Padano is a cheese originating in the Po river Valley in northern Italy that is similar to Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. There are less strict regulations governing its production compared to Parmigiano Reggiano. This hard, crumbly- textur ...

, are often sprinkled on top.

International cuisine

In some countries, spaghetti is sold in cans/tins with sauce. In the United States, it is sometimes served with

chili con carne Chili con carne (also spelled chilli con carne or chile con carne and shortened to chili or chilli; ), meaning " chili with meat", is a spicy stew containing chili peppers (sometimes in the form of chili powder), meat (usually beef), tomatoes ...

. Unlike in Italy, in other countries spaghetti is often served with Bolognese sauce. In the Philippines, a popular variant is the

Filipino spaghetti Filipino spaghetti is a Filipino adaptation of Italian spaghetti with Bolognese sauce. It has a distinctively sweet sauce, usually made from tomato sauce sweetened with brown sugar and banana ketchup. It is typically topped with sliced hot do ...

, which is distinctively sweet with the tomato sauce sweetened with

banana ketchup Banana ketchup (or banana sauce) is a popular Philippine fruit ketchup condiment made from banana, sugar, vinegar, and spices. Its natural color is brownish-yellow but it is often dyed red to resemble tomato ketchup. Banana ketchup was first p ...

or sugar. It typically uses a large amount of ''

giniling Picadillo (, "mince") is a traditional dish in many Latin American countries and the Philippines. It is made with ground meat (most commonly beef), tomatoes (tomato sauce may be used as a substitute), and also raisins, olives, and other ingredien ...

'' (

ground meat Ground meat, called mince or minced meat outside North America, is meat finely chopped by a meat grinder or a chopping knife. A common type of ground meat is ground beef, but many other types of meats are prepared in a similar fashion, incl ...

), sliced

hotdog A hot dog (uncommonly spelled hotdog) is a food consisting of a grilled or steamed sausage served in the slit of a partially sliced bun. The term hot dog can refer to the sausage itself. The sausage used is a wiener (Vienna sausage) or a fra ...

s, and cheese. The dish dates back to the period between the 1940s to the 1960s. During the American Commonwealth Period, a shortage of tomato supplies in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

forced the development of the banana ketchup. Spaghetti was introduced by the Americans and was tweaked to suit the local Filipino predilection for sweet dishes. ''Sapaketti phat khi mao'' (Spaghetti fried drunken noodle style) is a popular dish in

Thai cuisine Thai cuisine ( th, อาหารไทย, , ) is the national cuisine of Thailand. Thai cooking places emphasis on lightly prepared dishes with strong aromatic components and a spicy edge. Australian chef David Thompson, an expert on Thai ...

. Spaghetti is a main part of ''

laksa Laksa is a spicy noodle dish popular in Southeast Asia. Laksa consists of various types of noodles, most commonly thick rice noodles, with toppings such as chicken, prawn or fish. Most variations of laksa are prepared with a rich and spicy coco ...

Johor'', a specialty from

Johor Johor (; ), also spelled as Johore, is a state of Malaysia in the south of the Malay Peninsula. Johor has land borders with the Malaysian states of Pahang to the north and Malacca and Negeri Sembilan to the northwest. Johor shares maritime ...

, Malaysia.

Spaghetti dishes

* Spaghetti aglio e olio – ("spaghetti with garlic and oil" in Italian), a traditional Italian pasta dish coming from

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

. * Spaghetti alla puttanesca – (literally "spaghetti whore-style" in Italian), a tangy, somewhat salty Italian pasta dish invented in the mid-20th century. The ingredients are typical of Southern Italian cuisine: tomatoes, olive oil, olives, capers and garlic. *

Spaghetti alla Nerano Spaghetti alla Nerano is an Italian cuisine, Italian pasta dish invented in the Italian village of Nerano, on the Sorrento Peninsula, Sorrento peninsula. Its main ingredients are pasta, fried zucchini and Provolone, provolone del Monaco (or cacio ...

– from the village of Nerano, near

. With fried zucchinis and a local variant of

provolone Provolone (, ) is an Italian cheese. It is an aged ''pasta filata'' (stretched-curd) cheese originating in Campania near Vesuvius, where it is still produced in pear, sausage, or cone shapes long. Provolone-type cheeses are also produced in othe ...

. *

Spaghetti alle vongole ''Spaghetti alle vongole'' (), Italian for "spaghetti with clams", is a dish that is very popular throughout Italy, especially in Campania (where it is part of traditional Neapolitan cuisine). Types of clams Palourde, or carpet-shell clams, ...

– Italian for "spaghetti with

clam Clam is a common name for several kinds of bivalve molluscs. The word is often applied only to those that are edible and live as infauna, spending most of their lives halfway buried in the sand of the seafloor or riverbeds. Clams have two shel ...

s", it is very popular throughout Italy, especially its central regions, including Rome and further south in

Campania (man), it, Campana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demog ...

(where it is part of traditional

Neapolitan cuisine Neapolitan cuisine has ancient historical roots that date back to the Greco-Roman period, which was enriched over the centuries by the influence of the different cultures that controlled Naples and its kingdoms, such as that of Aragon and France ...

). * Spaghetti and meatballs – an

Italian-American Italian Americans ( it, italoamericani or ''italo-americani'', ) are Americans who have full or partial Italian ancestry. The largest concentrations of Italian Americans are in the urban Northeast and industrial Midwestern metropolitan areas, ...

dish that usually consists of spaghetti, tomato sauce and meatballs. * Spaghetti Bolognese – spaghetti with

Ragù In Italian cuisine, ragù () is a meat-based sauce that is commonly served with pasta. An Italian gastronomic society, Accademia Italiana della Cucina, documented several ragù recipes. The recipes' common characteristics are the presence of mea ...

(minced beef and tomato sauce). File:Spaghetti di Gragnano e colatura di alici.jpg, Spaghetti aglio e olio File:Pasta Puttanesca.jpg, Spaghetti alla puttanesca File:Spaghetti cacio e pepe.jpg, Spaghetti

cacio e pepe Cacio e pepe () is a pasta dish from the cuisine of the city of Rome.Boni (1930), p. 46 '' Cacio e pepe'' means "cheese and pepper" in several central Italian dialects. In keeping with its name, the dish contains grated Pecorino Romano chees ...

(cheese and pepper) at a restaurant in Rome File:Pollo funghi spaghetti - Paesano Restaurant.jpg, Spaghetti con pollo e funghi File:Spaghettata.JPG, Spaghetti pomodoro & basilico (tomato sauce and basil) File:Spaghetti alle vongole.jpg,

File:Spaghetti with Meatballs (cropped).jpg,

Spaghetti with meatballs Spaghetti and meatballs is an Italian-American dish consisting of spaghetti, tomato sauce and meatballs. Originally inspired by similar dishes from southern Italy, the modern version of spaghetti and meatballs was developed by Italian immigran ...

Consumption

By 1955, annual consumption of spaghetti in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

doubled from per person before

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

to . By that year, Italy produced 1,432,990 tons of spaghetti, of which 74,000 were

export An export in international trade is a good produced in one country that is sold into another country or a service provided in one country for a national or resident of another country. The seller of such goods or the service provider is an ...

ed, and had a production capacity of 3 million tons.

Nutrition

Pasta provides

carbohydrate In organic chemistry, a carbohydrate () is a biomolecule consisting of carbon (C), hydrogen (H) and oxygen (O) atoms, usually with a hydrogen–oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in water) and thus with the empirical formula (where ''m'' may or m ...

s, along with some

protein Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including catalysing metabolic reactions, DNA replication, res ...

iron Iron () is a chemical element with Symbol (chemistry), symbol Fe (from la, Wikt:ferrum, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 element, group 8 of the periodic table. It is, Abundanc ...

, dietary fiber,

potassium Potassium is the chemical element with the symbol K (from Neo-Latin ''kalium'') and atomic number19. Potassium is a silvery-white metal that is soft enough to be cut with a knife with little force. Potassium metal reacts rapidly with atmosph ...

and

B vitamins B vitamins are a class of water-soluble vitamins that play important roles in cell metabolism and synthesis of red blood cells. Though these vitamins share similar names (B1, B2, B3, etc.), they are chemically distinct compounds that often coexi ...

. Pasta prepared with

whole wheat A whole grain is a grain of any cereal and pseudocereal that contains the endosperm, germ, and bran, in contrast to refined grains, which retain only the endosperm. As part of a general healthy diet, consumption of whole grains is associated wi ...

grain provides more dietary fiber than that prepared with degermed flour.

Records

The world record for the largest bowl of spaghetti was set in March 2009 and reset in March 2010 when a Buca di Beppo restaurant in Garden Grove, California, filled a swimming pool with more than of pasta.

In popular culture

The term Spaghetti Western was used by American critics and those in other countries because most of the

Western movies The Western is a genre set in the American frontier and commonly associated with folk tales of the Western United States, particularly the Southwestern United States, as well as Northern Mexico and Western Canada. It is commonly referred ...

made in Europe were produced and directed by

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

. The BBC television program '' Panorama'' featured a hoax program about the spaghetti harvest in Switzerland on

April Fools' Day April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which may ...

, 1957.

References

Bibliography

External links

{{Authority control Types of pasta Pasta Italian cuisine Italian words and phrases