Extrusion of foods
Practical Action
Type of pasta
Description
Bucatini
Hollow spaghetti
Casarecce
Short curled up pasta
Chitarre
Square spaghetti
Fettuccine
Long flat pasta
Fusilli
Short twists
Lasagne
Sheet pasta
Linguine
Long thin oval pasta
Macaroni
Short hollow smooth pasta
Pappardelle
Long wide flat pasta
Penne rigati
Short hollow ridged pasta, angled cut
Reginette
Long flat wavy edged pasta
Rigatoni
Short hollow ridged pasta, straight cut
Rotelle
Wagon wheel shape pasta, with ridged rings and spokes
Spaghetti
Long round
Tagliolini
Long thin flat pasta
Table 1. Types of pasta (Product information from Fresh Pasta Machines at
www.freshpastamachines.co.uk/pasta_machines.html)
Different sizes of equipment are available, from small manual machines that are used in micro-scale
production and food service outlets, to larger electric machines. The equipment has a mixing
chamber, extruder barrel and a die for the desired pasta shape. There is debate over the best
material for dies, with some equipment manufacturers using stainless steel or plastic, and others
preferring bronze dies, which they claim imparts a rough surface to the pasta that holds sauce better
than pasta made by other methods. Shapes are cut to the appropriate length as they emerge from the
die, except rigatoni, which is extruded in long lengths and then cut to the correct size (straight for
rigatoni or angled for penne rigati). Pasta is cooked immediately in food service outlets, or dried by
processors for retail sale. It can also be frozen for up to six months.
Hot extrusion
Extruder-cookers may be single- or twin-screw machines. Twin-screw machines have approximately
twice the capital and maintenance costs of single screw machines and are unlikely to be affordable
by most small-scale processors. Single-screw extruders (Figure 2) are therefore described in this
section. Processors, who wish to make extruded products such as or chocolate-filled snackfoods,
gums and jellies, marshmallows, cornflakes, or instant rice or noodles, should discuss their
requirements with manufacturers of twin-screw extruder-cookers.
Figure 2: Single-screw extruder
(Reifenhäuser Group at
www.reifenhauser.com/en/extruder/p
0056_ein_module.asp)
1 Drive unit, 2 Barrel inlet, 3
Temperature control, 4 Feed hopper
and dosing unit, 5 Vacuum venting,
6 Barrel, 7 Screw.
2