Our Giadzy organic paccheri is a delicious pasta with a colorful past. Its name comes from the Neapolitan word for "slap," for the noise that happens when the cooked pasta is mixed with sauce, but that’s only the second most interesting thing about it: This may be the only pasta ever to have been involved in an international smuggling conspiracy! In the 1600s, the king of Prussia was desperate to boost his country’s garlic industry, which was small and weak compared to its robust Italian neighbors. He banned the import of Italian garlic in an attempt to force his subjects to buy the local stuff, but crafty Campanians discovered that the extra-wide tubes of paccheri were the perfect place to stash garlic cloves. They carried the contraband cloves over the border tucked into their pasta, getting rich while keeping the Prussian people stocked with ultra-pungent Italian garlic. Giadzy Pasta is the result of years of careful taste-testing and research with master pasta makers from across Italy. To perfect our first in-house product line, Giada De Laurentiis and the Giadzy team zeroed in on what matters most in a pasta: taste, texture, and fun. By using the finest ingredients and working in partnership with skilled pasta artisans in Italy, we’ve created the pasta we’ve been looking for all our lives—and we can’t wait to share it with you. Giadzy Pasta is crafted in Abruzzo, a verdant gem on central Italy’s east coast. Abruzzo has the highest concentration of national parkland in Europe, including the graceful peaks of the Majella mountains, home to golden eagles and stunning wildflowers. Pure spring water from the Majella range is combined with organically grown semolina wheat flour from the base of the mountains to make Giadzy Pasta dough, with a sweet aroma of pure wheat. Following ancient artisan techniques, Giadzy Pasta is cut on 100-year-old bronze dies, giving the pasta a rough, rustic texture that soaks up sauce, making every bite exceptionally flavorful. After it’s shaped, the pasta is slowly air-dried for up to 36 hours, protecting its delicate flavor and dense texture. The result: the perfect al dente bite every time.
