When will space saving deflated pasta arrive in the market?

Elbow macaroni is regular macaroni, as far as I know. I have never heard of deflating pasta, though.

All pasta is smaller when uncooked and expands when boiled. I’m not sure what you’re talking about.

@janbb @Jeruba I found it on the international news a month or two ago. They are reducing shipping and packaging costs by removing the space in pasta that has air in it. Was from Italy pasta exporters around the next year. Is supposed to remove the wasted space in pasta that has air holes in it. To save money and maximizing space.

I can’t find a link.

@RedDeerGuy1 Oh interesting. Will watch for further developments.

That sounds bizarre. Will it change how we cook it? I mean, they could make all those curly noodles flat, and that would be one thing, but deflating macaroni? Well, as usual, I won’t be an early adopter.

@Jeruba It reflates when cooked.

@RedDeerGuy1, well, I don’t know. Macaroni wasn’t inflated in the first place, but extruded as a long tube that gets cut up. If you flatten it while it’s wet, it’ll just stick together, won’t it? And once it’s dry it will just crumble. I’d like to see the story on that.

published May 2021

https://www.sciencealert.com/watch-flat-pack-noodles-twist-into-shape-like-moving-organisms-for-greener-pasta-dishes

@smudges That Is it. Thanks for giving us a link.

^^ I just had to look it up – it sounded insane! LOL

If you want deflated pasta, buy spaghetti.

@smudges, cool. Thanks. So they are not flattening rounded tubes of pasta. They’re forming flat units that assemble themselves into tubes while cooking, kind of like those moving boxes that come flat and you give them a smack or a shake and they fall into shape as a container. That’s pretty amazing! I bet it was fun to invent these.

I can also picture people standing around a pot and tossing in a few pieces at a time just to watch them curl up into macaroni tubes. (I wonder what happens when pieces get crossed up and try to curl into each other.)

The article itself misstates what they do. The pieces are not “unfurling” when they roll up. Unfurling means opening up, unrolling, like a sail or a flag. These bits of pasta are furling.

@RedDeerGuy1, thanks for yet another oddly intriguing question.

^^You’re right, they’re furling! LOL I thought it was interesting how they do it – make ridges on one side. Someone’s going to get rich on that idea.

I wish someone could deflate me.

Here’s the solution to a NYT acrostic I solved today (from January 2010):

“None other than Leonardo da Vinci had attempted to industrialize pasta making…. He preferred to be thought of as a cook rather than a painter or… a military engineer…. Early in his career… he managed a restaurant part-time.”

— (Oretta Zanini) De Vita, Encyclopedia of Pasta

^^ HA! Who knew?!