Local wheat on the pasta menu
Italy is well known for its delicious pasta made from durum wheat, but soon Kiwis could be tucking into artisan pastas, pizza and bread made from wheat grown right here.
Durum wheat, also known as pasta wheat, is high in protein content which makes it easier to stretch. Now, the Ministry for Primary Industries (MPI) is helping to evaluate the business case for locally grown durum wheat.
MPI will contribute $100,000 through the Sustainable Food and Fibre Futures fund to a $151,000 project led by the Foundation for Arable Research, to assess the opportunity for farmers to supply the growing demand for high-end durum wheat flour.
Despite farmers growing highquality wheat, most the wheat used in baking and pasta is imported from Australia, where it can be grown more cheaply and on a larger scale.
Foundation for Arable Research general business and operations manager Ivan Lawrie said high-end fresh pasta manufacturers currently use imported flour or semolina. A previous attempt to grow durum wheat in South Canterbury 20 years ago failed because of the wetter Canterbury summers.
The project builds on the findings of an earlier project funded by MPI, which looked at alternative crops that could be profitable for Wairarapa as a response to the pea weevil incursion. That project demonstrated that the warm, dry Wairarapa summers and some of the soils were ideal for growing durum wheat.
Lawrie said there was already a ‘‘big buzz’’ about it.
‘‘We sent samples of milled flour to bakers and pasta-makers throughout the country and everybody is really keen to use local ingredients rather than importing from Australia or Italy. However, the price point for this kind of product is not yet fully understood.’’
Alba Micheli, one of the owners of Christchurch startup Feed the Soul, which makes artisan pasta, said she used the wheat exclusively and had gone out of her way to find it before she started the business. The timing was serendipitous as the trials were underway, she said.
She was happy with the quality of the wheat, describing it as ‘‘excellent’’.
Micheli wanted to see more people take an interest in where their food came from, a typical philosophy among Italians.
Lawrie said the project would also conduct consumer research and product testing with chefs, bakers and pasta manufacturers and look at alternative commercialisation models for marketing the flour to the food sector.
Covid-19 had resulted in a greater demand for locally grown produce and a greater awareness of where food originated, he said.
‘‘We’re aiming for a premium product that is fully traceable back to the growers, which, of course, will cost a bit more than the cheap packets of pasta you buy from the supermarket.’’
The foundation believed there was probably a section of the population who would be prepared to pay more to support local producers.
A Nielsen survey last year showed that pasta consumption in New Zealand is on the rise, with fresh pasta consumption growing by 14.8 per cent between 2019 and last year and consumption of some premium brands growing more than 20 per cent.
If the project was successful, it could lead the way for other specialty grains to be grown here, with different regions creating branded products with a ‘‘distinct provenance’’, Lawrie said.
MPI director of investment programmes Steve Penno said the foundation had demonstrated that the country could grow topquality durum wheat in Wairarapa and hoped to see a strong business case developed that would give the green light to farmers to start planting the wheat.