Voiello - Spaghetti (500g)

In 1879, Raffaele Voiello opened a pasta factory in Torre Annunziata, a town on the slopes of Vesuvius that was at that time considered the capital of pasta production in the world. The mineral-rich water from the mountain, combined with the dry heat that rolls off the Tyrrhenian coast in summer, created ideal drying conditions that no other location could fully replicate. Voiello was there at the beginning of that tradition and has remained one of its most serious practitioners.

Their spaghetti uses high-protein durum wheat semolina, including Senatore Cappelli wheat in the blend - an ancient Italian durum variety that was bred before the industrialisation of agriculture changed what farmers were growing and why. Low-yield, unhurried, but exceptionally high in protein and natural flavour. It produces pasta that tastes of something rather than just of texture.

The pasta is extruded through bronze dies, which rough up the surface at a microscopic level. That roughness is the difference between pasta that sauce slides off and pasta that holds it. Voiello's spaghetti has it - visible in the slightly matt, golden-yellow finish of each strand, distinct from the slick, pale look of mass-produced pasta.

Slow-drying at low temperatures follows, a process that takes hours longer than industrial alternatives but preserves the proteins and starches in a way that makes the pasta cook more predictably, hold al dente more firmly, and release more starch into the cooking water - which is what makes pasta water such a useful tool when finishing a sauce.

These are spaghetti worth eating simply, with good olive oil and a little cheese. The pasta itself has enough flavour to carry a minimal preparation.

Best for: Spaghetti alle vongole, carbonara, amatriciana, aglio e olio, puttanesca, and any sauce where the quality of the pasta is part of the dish.