Each variety of pasta has its own characteristics and proper procedures for ensuring the perfect pick. Weather, specifically the amount of rainfall right before harvest, guarantees a plump, firm and full pasta crop.
Grow Your Own Pasta Today
To grow your own pasta, you need a dried sprig of spaghetti, or whatever pasta you have laying around, and a can of tomato sauce. Place the dried pasta in the can of tomato sauce in the direct sunlight. Wait 2 weeks and you should have a viable pasta plant that you can transfer to your garden. Once planted in the ground, pasta plants need hot dry weather, so make sure not to water too often. About 3-4 months after planting, you should begin to see pasta knots (or buds, depending on the varietal) forming. One month after you see the knots/buds, the pasta should be ready for harvest.
Other Pasta Growing Tips & Secrets
The spaghetti family, including angel hair, linguini, and fettuccine all grow on vines in clusters or 'knots' of pasta. When the knot becomes full, it starts to untie itself. The pasta must be picked before it becomes completely untied and falls to the ground. Carefully inspect the pasta knots, and when they start to break free just reach in the foliage and pluck them off the vine. Then all the pasta must be dried. The perfect climate for gentle air drying is in the Mediterranean, but any fertile sea air will do. Remember, dry your pasta on cotton or cloth only - no paper as this clings to the pastas as it dries. Once harvested and dried, the pasta is then ready to be separated and prepared for market or just enjoyed with your favorite sauce or as the locals call it, gravy.
Penne and bowtie are a flowering plant and grow towards the sun. Good pasta can be eaten right off the plant but the easiest way to harvest these bush growing pastas is to set a thin gathering basket at the foot of the plant and just grab the trunk and give it a good shake. The ripe pastas will release and fall to the ground while the greener crop will remain and can be revisited in a couple days to try again. So either long pasta or shells, remember fresh pasta is best served with only the freshest sauces.
