Twenty-six participants from 14 pasta manufacturing companies in United States and Guatemala completed the Pasta Production and Technology Short Course April 12-14 at Northern Crops Institute Fargo, N.D. The course showcased high-quality durum wheat produced in this region.
“This course is a never-fail offering for NCI,” said interim director John Crabtree, who coordinates the educational courses. “We have presented it for 27 years. The fact that it usually fills to capacity is testimony to the quality of faculty and facilities that the participants experience.”
Crabtree says the institute has expanded hands-on experiences offered in the pasta laboratory, which provides a better learning experience than lectures alone. “When they can physically test the flour and semolina, handle the freshly extruded pasta, and taste the finished product, that is the most convincing part of the whole process,” Crabtree said.
Course faculty and technicians for the pasta course are Rachel Brudvik, Northern Crops Institute food technologist; Gabriele Cannata, De Mari Pasta Dies USA; Michael Ehr, Buhler Inc.; Alexis Freier and Radwan Ibrahim, Dakota Growers Pasta Co.; Thunyaporn Jeradechachai, Northern Crops Institute crop quality specialist; Frank Manthey, NDSU professor of plant sciences; Rilie Morgan, Northern Crops Institute processing specialist; Brian Sorenson, Dakota Specialty Milling; and Mehmet Tulbek, Northern Crops Institute technical director.
The class also toured the Philadelphia Macaroni Co. in Grand Forks, N.D.
A second pasta short course, Pasta: Raw Materials and Processing Technology, will be offered August 8-12.
Pasta short course topics include durum varieties, quality evaluation, durum milling and semolina quality, wheat quality tests, functional and alternative pasta ingredients, semolina physical and rheological tests, commercial pasta production, impact of protein and starch on pasta quality, pasta die design, die management and measurement, pasta drying technology, equipment options for pasta extrusion, pasta color and cooking evaluation, quality assurance, specialty pasta technology, whole and multi-grains in pasta, and causes and solutions of pasta defects.
The institute supports regional agriculture and value-added processing by conducting educational and technical programs that expand and maintain domestic and international markets for northern-grown crops.