Fit Fare

When I decided to undertake this project – comparing pastas – I didn’t realize what an undertaking it would be. There are so many different types, brands and styles of pasta out there and the first step was deciding what variety to focus on – I decided to do spaghettis, and I opened that up to include thinner and thicker varieties. I didn’t discriminate against organic or whole wheat varieties either.

Ultimately, I went with three pastas that I knew I liked – Barilla, Trader Joe’s Organic and Hodgson Mill – and two I wasn’t sure about. I’ve been rather daring, trying a variety of new pastas lately and had thought I had found some better than Barilla…but in the end when I compared them head to head, I found that it was still tops in my book.

Both the Hodgson Mill and Trader Joe’s only list one ingredient: their respective flours. The other pastas include a variety of ingredients that I am unsure of such as riboflavin.

I found the Ronzoni Healthy Harvest to have an unfavorable taste, but more importantly the appearance was … bothersome. Whoever thought it would be a good idea to produce a brown speckled pasta was on crack, or something near to it.

Without further adieu, here’s the results:

BRAND: Barilla
PRICE: $0.99
CATCHY SLOGAN: “Italy’s #1 Brand of Pasta”
EST.: 1877
APPEARANCE: rich yellowish color, firm texture
TASTE: I could eat this pasta plain. The firm, ever-so-slightly sweet and incredibly flavorful pasta is fantastic.
RATING: * * * * *

BRAND: Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Whole Grain
PRICE: $2.39
CATCHY SLOGAN: “Our Superior Taste Begins With #1 USDA Premium Wheat”
EST.: 1882
APPEARANCE: Rich tan-ish color, firm
TASTE: This firm and flavorful pasta is lighter than the Barilla but still very good. Although it is whole wheat, that doesn’t overwhelm the flavor.
RATING: * * * * 1/2

BRAND: Trader Joe’s Organic Pasta
PRICE: $0.99
CATCHY SLOGAN: “Imported From Italy”
EST.: unknown
APPEARANCE: Rich yellowish color
TASTE: This pasta needs sauce, as it’s not as flavorful as the Hodgson Mill’s or the Barilla, but it does have enough flavor to support even light sauces.
RATING: * * * *

BRAND: Mueller’s
PRICE: $0.99
CATCHY SLOGAN: “America’s Favorite Pasta”
EST.: 1867
APPEARANCE: Cream colored
TASTE: This might be America’s favorite, but it’s certainly not mine. This is the kind of pasta I grew up on, before Barilla began importing to the US – bland, flavorless and verging on watery. And it’s not too firm
RATING: * 1/2

BRAND: Ronzoni Healthy Harvest
PRICE: $1.99
CATCHY SLOGAN: “Whole Wheat Blend Pasta”
EST.: 1881
APPEARANCE: Cream with brown speckles
TASTE: Don’t get me wrong, this is as smooth a pasta as any other but it has a taste that I can only describe as gritty. Blech. It’s almost like they went out of their way to make sure that everyone knows without a doubt that this is WHEAT pasta. The only positive? It’s firm.
RATING: *