Bound water is a quality discriminant of dried egg-pasta

Egg-pasta is a very popular food in Italy and its appreciation is growing in Europe and in the United States. In this work, the bound water has been demonstrated to be a quality discriminant parameter to distinguish the low-temperature dried egg-pasta with respect to the high-temperature dried egg-pasta. By the thermoanalytical profiles (TG and DTG), this systematic study scientifically proves the differences induced by the drying process on the egg-pasta samples: the low temperature dried egg-pasta (produced by the 'Entroterra' company, brand 'La Pasta di Camerino') shows the systematic lower amount of bound water when compared to other brand, high-temperature dried egg-pasta. The difference is constant either before or after the cooking process. Other physical parameters (thickness and width) confirmed the difference.