Turkish cuisine is as unique as the country’s geographical position. With Kebab, pilaf, bulgur, starters of different kinds called “meze” dishes, Turkish cooking reflects the traditions of North Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans and the Mediterranean region.
But diverse as regional specialities between the Aegean Sea and Anatolia may be, there is one aspect on which the whole of Turkey agrees: eating is one of the central activities of life, and best when celebrated in congenial company. Evening dinner is almost in the nature of an event. Instead of one main course, the table usually displays a wide variety of small dishes with all manner of different salads, meats, fish, vegetables, olives and pulse — all deliciously marinated, filled or grilled.
Foods produced from wheat also play an important role. A meal without ekmek is unthinkable, and pasta increasingly is becoming a regular feature of everyday cookery.
In Turkey, however, pasta is not regarded as a meal in its own right; it is a side-dish, to be enhanced solely with a little salt, butter, yogurt or olive oil. Under no circumstances would it occur to Turkish housewives or cooks to coat pasta with thick, creamy sauces. If sauces are used at all, they generally consist of yogurt or sugo.
As far as the shape of pasta is concerned, Turkish buyers have a taste all their own, as spaghetti is at the bottom of the popularity scale. Consumers are more likely to opt for fusilli, penne or macaroni. In 2022, the per capita consumption of pasta was around 8.7 kilos.
A dynamically growing market
For the Turkish food industry, pasta production is a unique success story. In recent decades, massive investments have been made in production plants — and in its plans for expansion, the pasta industry is by no means thinking only of its own self-sufficiency.
“Pasta made in Turkey” has become an export hit worldwide. More than 1.5 million tonnes of pasta are exported annually to more than 160 countries, which places Turkey second after Italy. Nearly 70% of its exports go to Africa, followed by Venezuela, Japan and Iraq, among others.
According to a forecast by Statista Market Insights, sales by the Turkish pasta market will amount to $2.41 billion in 2023. Over the next five years, the annual growth rate (CAGR) will reach 12.7%.
Soft wheat pasta for export
For serving this dynamic growth market, raw material procurement is a matter of central importance. The country’s home demand is met solely with durum wheat (Triticum durum). A large portion of this comes from Anatolia, a traditional growing region known for its excellent durum qualities.
For export purposes, cheaper soft wheat commonly is used, which is imported mainly from Russia, Ukraine or the CIS states. The background to this practice is chiefly economic: since many of the importing countries are extremely price sensitive, they tend to give preference to foods in the low-budget segment. Moreover, the advantages of durum wheat are not appreciated everywhere. In some regions, pasta made from soft wheat is accepted as normal.
For the pasta industry, however, the partial or sole use of bread wheat creates several problems. Whereas Triticum durum has optimum attributes for pasta production, pasta made from soft wheat has poorer cooking tolerance and lacks the desired “al dente” bite. The higher the percentage of bread wheat, the greater the loss of quality.
Credit: ©SOSLAND PUBLISHING CO.Enzymatic flour improvers
So when using soft wheat flour, Turkish pasta manufacturers face the challenge of compensating for the weaker gliadin and glutenin fractions in order to ensure adequate product quality in the lower price segment.
An innovative and economical approach to a solution lies in enhancing the flour with enzymes. Functional enzyme systems improve both the texture and the cooking properties of pasta and enable manufacturers to compensate for quality fluctuations in inhomogeneous wheat batches. At the same time, it becomes possible to reduce dependence on volatile raw material prices, unforeseeable shortages or unstable supply chains — and also to cut production costs.
Even pure durum wheat can benefit from a suitable raw material upgrade. But the weaker the raw material is and the higher the proportion of soft wheat, the more important it is to raise the quality with enzymes and additives.
Numerous test series have demonstrated that the quality of soft wheat pasta is improved greatly through production with enzymes. Pastazym is MC Mühlenchemie’s multifunctional enzyme solution — one that is highly effective even at low usage levels. Depending on the raw material, 10 to 30 g to 100 kg of flour is sufficient to increase firmness and cooking tolerance, reduce stickiness, inhibit starch leakage and improve resistance of the dry goods to breakage. Since pasta made from bread wheat usually has a slightly grey color, it is advisable to simulate the rich yellow color of classic durum wheat pasta by adding a colorant.
Pasta: Problems and solutions
Which enzymes and additives are the best choice in a particular case? The following overview of the most common faults in products and the challenges that occur in the production process may serve as an initial guide to the highly diverse effects of enzymes and additives.
Problem: Insufficient firmness; high stickiness.
Possible cause: Gluten content of the flour/semolina too low; inelastic gluten.
Solution: A stronger and well-structured protein network reduces pasta stickiness by preventing starch leakage, since it allows for better incorporation of starch into the protein network. To achieve this, strengthen the protein network by using an enzyme compound from the new generation of the Pastazym range. This will boost the flour’s performance and enhance the texture and cooking properties of the cooked pasta.
Problem: Insufficient cooking tolerance; high cooking loss; cloudy cooking water.
Possible cause: Weak dough structure; loss of starch during cooking.
Solution: Increase the cooking stability of the pasta with enzyme compounds to raise the pasting temperature of the starch and reduce its losses during cooking. Specific flour treatment, for example with Pastazym Duo Pure, can prevent intensive swelling of the starch grains even with extremely long cooking times.
Problem: Cracks in the dried product; broken pieces.
Possible cause: Low protein content; weak gluten quality; unsuitable drying method.
Solution: Incorrect drying processes that occur when the moisture levels in different drying zones of the pasta fall outside the tolerance range specified by the drying curve may lead to cracks and brittleness. Further reasons may lie in exceeding the lifespan of the die inserts or poor maintenance management of the production lines (resulting in frequent machine downtimes). Besides technical causes, a low protein content and a weak gluten structure may be responsible for cracks in the pasta. Improve the cross-linking of the starch and protein fractions by adding Pastazym, thus increasing the resistance of the dried products to mechanical stress.
Problem: Shade of yellow too pale.
Possible cause: The proportion of natural beta carotenoids in the flour/semolina is too low.
Solution: Add colorants or vitamins to achieve a rich yellow color. The MCcolour range offers a wide choice of coordinated colors. The individual combination will depend on the specific food regulations in force and the requirements of a particular application.
Problem: Specks/brown spots in the dried pasta. Pasta looks dark and brownish.
Possible cause: The bran content of the flour/semolina is too high. this is reflected in a high ash content of the flour/semolina (due, for example, to sieve breakage or improper conditioning in the milling process, or to a high extraction rate during the grain grinding process).
Solution: Adjust the milling process; reduce the extraction rate at the mill; use selected enzymes to brighten the fresh and cooked pasta. Recommended product: Pastazym Super Flex.
Sven Mattutat is a product manager with MC Mühlenchemie. He may be reached at [email protected] for more information on this topic.
