Survey on overcooking resistance of Italian and Tunisian spaghetti

Texture properties of cooked pasta are generally recognized as the most important parameters in evaluating its overall quality. Published data concerning overcooking performances, however, are very scarce. To this end, a pasta shear test was performed at suggested cooking time and at 5, 10 and 20 min of overcooking. The most important spaghetti brands from Italy and Tunisia, the largest world pasta producers and consumers, were tested. The maximum cutting force at cooking times varies from 0.122 to 0.271 N/mm2 and the total work to cut from 0.113 to 0.291 mJ/mm2. Very important for consumers and foodservices are the differences for overcooking resistance among the brands. In fact, the maximum cutting force can reach up to 0.042 N/mm2 and the total work to cut up to 0.048 mJ/mm2, also with an overcooking time of 20 min. Generally, the highest values were shown by some Italian spaghetti, although Tunisian spaghetti and some low-price Italian products have the lowest values. For a simple evaluation of overcooking resistance, a new index was also proposed.