Borella - Penne Handwrapped (500g)

The penne is one of the most structurally efficient pasta shapes ever designed. A hollow tube cut on a diagonal, with ridges running along its length - the inside creates a channel for sauce to flow through, the ridges grip sauce on the outside, and the angled cut produces a pointed end that catches sauce in a way a straight-cut tube does not. It is a shape built for a specific job and it does that job exceptionally well.

Borella's hard wheat penne brings durum wheat semolina to this functional classic. The semolina gives the pasta a golden colour, a slightly nutty flavour, and a rougher surface texture that holds sauce more aggressively than a smooth egg pasta would. In a dish where the sauce is the main event - and penne dishes usually are - that surface grip matters.

The hard wheat version also handles baked pasta particularly well. Penne al forno needs pasta that can sit in liquid, absorb sauce, and survive oven heat without collapsing. Semolina penne is robust enough to hold up through extended cooking time without losing its shape. Pull it a minute before al dente when you're planning to bake - it finishes cooking in the oven and comes out with the right amount of bite.

Borella's low-temperature slow-drying preserves the structural integrity of the pasta and keeps the protein matrix intact. That is what gives the pasta its cooking resilience and that satisfying chew when it is done correctly.

Best for: Penne arrabbiata, penne alla vodka, pasta bakes, cream sauces, and any dish where the sauce is robust and the pasta needs to hold its own against it.