DeCecco organic pasta

[Fat Guy]

I'm a long-time consumer of DeCecco pasta, not because I think it's the world's best pasta (brands like Setaro are markedly better) but because it's the best affordable pasta available at the market where I do my regular shopping.

A year or so ago a new species of DeCecco pasta in ugly green boxes started to appear -- an organic line. They make it in very few shapes and the supply, at least where I shop, is inconsistent. But it is so much better than regular DeCecco. To my novice pasta palate, it tastes like the expensive imports that cost $5.99 a bag.

I'm guessing the reason it's better is that the flour has not been tampered with by enriching it with niacin and all that (it likely has nothing to do with it being organic, which would probably not affect flavor or texture). Does anybody else have experiences and observations about this product?

[slkinsey]

I'll have to try it!

A few questions:

1. What kinds of prices are you seeing? FreshDirect has De Cecco organic spaghetti listed at $2.99 a pound (compared to $2.49 for the regular stuff). Both of these prices make Setaro from Buon Italia (around $6 for a 1 kilo package, meaning $2.72 a pound) competitive on a price basis -- and we both agree that Setaro is far superior.

2. What is the surface texture like? Is it any different from the surface on De Cecco's regular pasta?

[Fat Guy]

1. I'm paying $2.19 for a pound of spaghetti number 12. The Setaro price I see from Buon Italia is $7.65 a kilo. Is it cheaper if you actually go there? Not that it's a huge price difference anyway, but when combined with the convenience of being able to get my pasta where I normally shop this new organic stuff does the trick for me.

2. The surface texture looks slightly rougher but it's hard to tell, especially since I don't think I have a box of the exact same pasta number here to compare it to. I'll look, though.

[Chris Amirault]

I haven't had anything but the spaghetti, but it was a real disappointment. The flavor was there, but the pasta lacked the toothiness good dried pasta needs and DC regular usually has. It was sort of crumbly in your mouth throughout the early stages of the cooking process, and by the end it had no toothy texture at all.

Having said that, I got it remaindered at a job lot store, so maybe it was the batch or something.

[Fat Guy]

My experience has been very different but who knows? I may just be crazy -- I probably am.

I found a box of non-organic, similar but not the same DeCecco product on my shelf. This is the best I could do for a close-up. It appears to me that there's a slightly more rustic surface to the organic, but it's hard to tell without real magnification.

[Chris Amirault]

That's my sense too: out of the box the regular has a much smoother texture.

I'll try to cook up the other box sometime soon to find out who's nuts.

[mjc]

I made a box of the organic DeCecco penne the other day. I must say that I didn't notice it to be obviously any better or worse than the non-organic version that I usually make. But maybe I need to try again and pay closer attention.