Effect of cooking temperature on cooked pasta quality and sustainability

BACKGROUND: Everyday pasta cooking has a large environmental impact. The aims of this work were to assess the effect of cooking temperatures (T-C) that were lower than the water boiling point (T-BW) on the main chemico-physical quality parameters of two pasta shapes (i.e., ziti and spaghetti) cooked at the conventional and minimum water-to-pasta ratios, as well as their optimum cooking time (OCT), cooking energy consumption, and carbon footprint, by using a novel eco-sustainable pasta cooker. RESULTS: Once the effect of T-C on OCT had been modeled in accordance with the Bigelow model, it was possible to estimate that the energy saved to heat the cooking water from ambient temperature to a lower temperature than T-BW was smaller than the extra energy needed to complete the pasta cooking phase. After several cooking trials, the water uptake, cooking loss, textural properties, and thickness of the central nerve (as observed with a scanning electronic microscope) of cooked pasta were found to be independent of T-C in the range of 85-98 degrees C. CONCLUSIONS: By using smaller amounts of water (similar to 3 L kg(-1)) and cooking at 85 degrees C with the eco-sustainable pasta cooker, the energy consumption reduced from the default value of 2.8 kWh kg(-1) to similar to 0.45 kWh kg(-1) and GHG emissions to about one sixth of those resulting from the use of the average European home appliances. (c) 2021 Society of Chemical Industry

Automated summary

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of cooking pasta at lower temperatures than the water boiling point on quality parameters and energy consumption. Results indicated that cooking pasta at 85-98 degrees Celsius does not significantly affect texture, but can greatly reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions.