Sharpham Park, who manufacture all kinds of foodie products made from spelt including shortbread biscuits, bran flakes and Speltotto (their take on risotto) amongst others (click through to see my reviews), recently sent us through a selection of their Artisan Pasta products to try out. They're really beautifully presented and would be a great addition to a homemade Christmas hamper. (Sorry, I said the C-word again, didn't I?!)
We had three bags of interestingly shaped and coloured pasta to try out - Spelt Rigatoni Tricolore, Campanelle and Conchiglie Tricolore, which is the one the Madhouse Mini-testers chose to try out first. The lovely green and pink colours come from natural ingredients - beetroot and baby leaf spinach. There's not an e-number in sight. In fact, the ingredients list is incredibly short : stoneground white spelt flour (95%), pasteurised free range egg, beetroot and baby leaf spinach. That's it.
The label informs us that the pasta is crafted using bronze dies and is slowly air dried in the traditional way. This gives it a rough texture which is great for mopping up pasta sauce. The shell shapes do also keep hold of a lot of the water they cooked in though so make sure you drain them thoroughly by putting them in a sieve and stirring well with a wooden spoon so they tumble and release the water.
The packaging suggests a cooking time of 7 minutes. The pasta remains quite firm and holds it shape and colour really well. Tastewise, we found it slightly bland but accompanied with a rich sauce, it is lovely.
You should use about 75g of pasta per person so the 300g bag was perfect for a family meal for the five of us or for four adults. (For those with big appetites, you'd get three big platefuls.)
There is a total lack of nutritional information on the packaging but it's all available online : 352 calories, 12g of protein, 71g of carbs (of which 3.2g of sugar), 2.8g of fat (of which 0.7g saturates) and 3.5g of fibre for 100g.
If you want an impressive looking pasta to wow your dinner party guests (or your kids !), it's ideal.
star rating : 4/5
RRP : £3.99 for 300g
for more information : http://www.sharphampark.com/buy-our-products-online/artisan-pastas
Disclosure : I received a selection of Sharpham Park Spelt Artisan Pasta in order to write an honest review.
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I've had spelt in bread but not had pasta. Thanks for the review.
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