Pasta fregola sarda – a lesser known pasta

How to make pasta fregola sarda: When we first opened The Big Dream Factory for business, it was journey into the ancient art of pasta making and we are by no means the experts. Along the way we have found and made many different types of pasta not normally seen at the supermarkets across America.

Many of our pasta shapes are readily found in Italy but what would you know … not so pasta fregola sarda!

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Anna who has arrived from Italy, is putting us through out pasta paces and is introducing us to the more obscure pasta. We are so excited to be able to bring you pasta fregola sarda because not only is it little known in America, it is little known in Italy too.

What is fregola sarda?

So what is pasta fregola sarda? Despite its appearance, ‘fregula‘ (which is it’s original name) is not a grain, but an ancient form of pasta from the island of Sardinia, where it has been popular since Ligurian navigators imported it from North Africa in the Middle Ages. It has been suggested that the word ‘fregula‘ (or fregola) derives from the Latin word ‘fricare‘, meaning ‘to chop up‘, ‘little fragment‘,  ‘crumb‘.

The durum semolina is traditionally formed by hand using the same method for making couscous. However, unlike couscous, the fregola is toasted. As it browns, it dries giving the fregola the appearance of tiny grains, it also imparts a wonderful nutty, wheaty flavour.

Fregola remains a staple in the Sardinian kitchen and is commercially produced. Here at The Big Dream Factory we make them completely from scratch. Since we have experience in making our own couscous from scratch and by hand, we decided that it would be better for us to create fregula using one of our small pasta machines. VOILA!!