All grains, Russello and Timilia varieties - as well as Perciasacchi, Margaret - they are grown in Sicily and each variety is stored separately, to preserve its identity and characteristics
Cultivate and artisanally transform the Russello and Timilia it doesn't mean going against the industry. It just means choosing a longer but alternative path. Play on different courts. The two types of wheat produce less, require more attention and involve greater risks. When Giorgio Minardo begins to recover them, almost everyone told him it wasn't worth it: farmers considered them unprofitable, the mills did not want to process them separately and many pasta factories believed that they were not suitable for the production of pasta.
Stubborn like the wheat that works, Giorgio has built his network of growers over the years: one field at a time, one hectare at a time, one farmer at a time. And today you can count on beyond 100 hectares distributed among the provinces of Ragusa, Syracuse, Anna and in the Caltavuturo area (on Madonie), through sharing contracts that they put agricultural work is at the center. Costs, risks and results are shared, guaranteeing farmers fair remuneration, regardless of market speculation. Because paying for wheat less than its production cost means pushing those who grow to abandon the fields and impoverishing Sicily's cereal heritage.
The quality of our pasta comes from here. Just as a great wine requires excellent grapes, good pasta requires high quality grain. The legislation establishes that the semolina pasta must contain at least 10,5 grams of protein each 100 grams of product, but for us this represents only the minimum requirement, as our protein values go from a minimum 11,50% until 15%.
The transformation follows the same philosophy. The semolina is kneaded at room temperature. The pasta is bronze drawn and slowly dried, at low temperatures, and 24 until 72 hours. Not for tradition's sake, but because time is an integral part of quality.
If we choose the wheat carefully, it would not make sense to neglect water. For our doughs we use exclusively mineral water, with constant characteristics e controlled and almost absent nitrate values. A choice that arises from the desire to monitor every detail of production and offer a pasta that is as faithful as possible to the quality of the raw materials from which it comes to life.
Every harvest is different and we consider this diversity a value. Nature does not produce identical foods, but expressions of seasons, different territories and climatic conditions. This is why we don't chase approval, but we respect what each vintage is able to offer.
We have continued to follow the same principle for over twenty years: wheat comes before pasta. Because no technology can replace the quality of the raw material and no process can improve what comes from incorrect cultivation.
For us, sustainability means concretely intervening in every phase of production, avoiding unnecessary waste and giving value to what can be recovered.
Processing scraps, Production experiments and pasta that does not reach the required standards do not simply become waste. Thanks to a recovered machine, they are shredded and re-ground, returning to being raw material for the production of less demanding formats.
A specific way to reduce waste and transform what would normally be discarded into a new resource, respecting the raw materials, the environment and a more circular economy.