Whole-wheat pasta

Whole-wheat pasta is pasta made from whole-grain wheat — the bran, germ and endosperm of the kernel milled together — rather than the refined, sieved semolina of ordinary white pasta (its parent). The retained bran and germ give it a tan-to-brown colour, a coarser surface, a firmer and slightly chewier bite, and a distinctly nuttier, earthier, more wheaty flavour. Its real distinction is nutritional: keeping the whole grain roughly doubles the fibre of cooked white pasta and adds modestly more protein, along with more of the minerals and B vitamins that concentrate in the bran and germ. Cooked, it is used exactly like white pasta but stands up to bold, rustic sauces.