1 hour ago, Sid Post said:
Regarding Barilla, I find it to be better than Skinner and American Beauty but, that is like saying I prefer it to the pasty glue we had in grade school! With a ~20 cent premium over the common mass market pasta brands I guess my expectations are a bit high. To be honest, in back to back personal tests of Barilla and Great Value (Walmart store brand) I find so little difference I'd call them the same personally. Taste and texture to me of these two is basically the same and Great Value is about 40 cents cheaper on a 1lb box.
Barilla Collezione is definitely better than standard Barilla. It only comes in 8 shapes some of which don't interest me, and one of the shapes that does interest me (casarecce), my supermarket doesn't have. I'll probably get around to trying the rigatoni, penne, and spaghetti, but it will probably be a while because I'm well stocked with other brands right now.
Speaking of Walmart, Sam's Choice Italia pasta from there isn't bad. Not many choices for shapes, but it's bronze cut, imported from Italy, and very inexpensive.
Huh, I just checked Walmart's website, and it looks like Sam's Choice Italia pasta may not be available. Hope it hasn't been discontinued. I have one package of spaghetti and one package of penne left. I've had their trompetti and fusilli, too. Not a great fan of the trompetti shape, but I think the Sam's Choice was all I had locally for that.