Soak pasta: British scientists have figured out how to save on cooking pasta

Cooking pasta is a simple thing, but it requires some patience and energy costs: pasta from durum wheat requires boiling in a large amount of water for about 8-12 minutes.

Scientists from Nottingham Trent University have come up with a cooking method, thanks to which you can save time, electricity, and money, reports The Conversation. Cooking pasta is two processes that occur simultaneously: it is the rehydration and softening of dried pasta during cooking in boiling water, as well as their heating, allowing the proteins to expand in volume and become edible.

According to scientists, the biggest costs are maintaining the boiling of water, it takes about 60% of energy. This means that reducing the cooking time will greatly affect the overall cost. What can be done?

With the standard method of cooking, 100 g of pasta is immersed in 1 liter of boiling water for 8-12 minutes, depending on their thickness.  Since the first process, moistening pasta, does not require heating, then, instead of cooking pasta in water for 10 minutes, you can moisten dried pasta by simply placing them in cold water for two hours.

The second way to save money is to take less water: this way heating will take less time and require less energy. 500 ml – minimum: if there is less water, too much starch will accumulate in the pan, and this will lead to the paste sticking together. As for the temperature, according to experts, there is no need to heat the water to 100 ° C: boiling at 80 ° C is enough to make the protein easily digestible.

How to cook pasta in the most economical way: the version of British scientists

1. Leave the dried pasta to soak in cold water for two hours
2. Add them to a saucepan with 500 ml of water.
3. The water should boil at a temperature of about 80 ° C.
4. Cover the pot with a lid to speed up the cooking process
5. Cook the pasta for 1-2 minutes