How Is Pasta Made?

Little tubes and long strands can both be pasta on your plate. How is pasta made? People make these shapes, and this journey follows dried wheat pasta from a packet.

Wheat is a plant with grains at the top of its stalk. A farmer grows wheat in a field. When the grains are ripe, the farmer gathers them with a harvesting machine.

A miller grinds the wheat grains into flour, tiny pieces of grain. For this pasta, the miller makes a grainy kind of flour. These small pieces can mix with water.

The pasta maker mixes flour with water. Together they become dough, a thick mixture that holds together. Water helps the loose flour join up so the pasta maker can shape it.

The pasta maker keeps mixing and pressing the dough. This spreads the water through the flour. The mixture holds together, ready for shaping.

The pasta maker uses a machine to push dough through small round holes. Out come long, thin strands. The holes give the strands their shape.

What might happen if the pasta maker uses a different opening? A different opening can make a different shape. A ring-shaped opening makes a tube with a hollow middle.

The pasta maker uses a cutter to divide the tube into short pieces. Each piece still has a hole through its middle. Strands and tubes can start with the same flour and water.

The pasta maker dries the shaped pasta with warm air. Water leaves the pasta, and the pieces become hard. Drying helps pasta keep for longer before cooking.

Workers pack the dry pasta into bags or boxes to keep it clean. A driver takes the packets to a shop. A family can buy a packet to cook at home.

A grown-up cooks the dry pasta in hot water. The pasta takes in water and becomes softer. The grown-up handles the hot pan and water while you stay safely back.

The grown-up serves the pasta and lets it cool enough to eat. The softer tubes still have hollow middles. The softer strands are still long and thin.

Wheat, flour, dough, shaped pasta, dry pasta, then cooked pasta. The farmer grows wheat, the miller grinds flour, and the pasta maker mixes dough. People make this pasta by shaping the dough and drying it before a grown-up cooks it.

Now you know the little journey tucked inside your next bowl of pasta.