The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1891-05-03
GRANO DA
SEMOLINO.
How Maeap0ni Is Made by the Inhab-
itdntS Of Italy.
Hard Wheat, Called semola, Used as Basis
in the Manufacture of vermicelli, Italian
Pastes, Taglioni Fanti Etc.

Pastes, Taglioni, Fanti, Etc.
Arthur Verderame, Consular Agent at
Lleata, or Alicata, seaport town of Sicily,
has made report to this Government of a
very prominent branch of manufacture car
RED on throughout Italy and its dependen-
cies, its only fault lying in the fact that
under existing circumstances it is abso-
lutely impossible to give approximate statiS-
ties OF the extent of the industry. either in
weight OF manufacture or value in money !;
so he is doing the next best thing and is
giving the daily consumption per capita, and
leaving the matter of export out of the
question altogether. Speaking of the manu-
facture OF macaroni, he regards it as the
cnle1 industry of the South of Italy ard
Sicily, giving employment to large class of
laborers. He places no reliance on Stats
tics obtained from the authorities, for the
reasons, first, that The quantities exported
can never be precisely valued, because cap
taIns OF vessels sailing for foreign ports
take on board, for their own account, largo
quantities of macaroni, which are declared
at the Custom-house for ships use, but in
reality for sale abroad; and second, the
amount used In home conSum pton Is still
more difficult to be ascertaned, for the
simple reason that not only in the smallest
country places, but even many private
families, provide themselves daily with this
article for their own consumption.
From Information gathered from all
sources, he concludes that the consumption
OF maearoni in Sicily may be rated at half
pound per capita daily. As it is staple
food, cheap and wholesome and as it can
be cooked in great variety of ways, it is
consumed by rich and poor, and large guam
titles are being continually sent out along
the Mediterranean coast, to South America
and, I'D TACT, wherever there are Italians.
The Italian Government, in order to foster
the industry, makes rebate of three
fourths OF the duty collected on the foreign
grain consumed In making the macaronl eX-
ported but, even with this inducement, there
are many complaints being made of the de-
cTeaSlng export to the United States, where
Italian manufacturers are rapidly losing
ground on account Of the home production.
THE MANUFACTURE OF MACARoNI
Requires neither great means nor great
skill. The largest quantity is produced by
hand-preSseS, worked by two men, one for
turning the wheel ard the other for cutting
the macarOni, and they can produce about
325 pounds every twelve hours, at profit of
3 to francs. This product, however, is still
imperfect, and is intended for sale in its
moist state within few hours after it is
produced. The good quality of macaroni,
intended for export trade, depends wholly
upon the water and -four used, and the skill
made use of in curing it. Any water con-
tanning calcaTeOuS substances must be
carefully avoided. The purest water is
good, but when it contains a little carbonate
it is still better. The flour must be of very
hard. clean wheat. 1t is kneaded thoroughly
with a little water-in summer fresh and in
the winter little hot until it is reduced TO
a tough paste. Then-and without any loss
Of time, for in hot climates the paste soon
turns SQUIRT is pressed slowly through the
holes of tue frame into macarOli, and this,
when yard in length, is cut out apd put
hanging on reeds by the middle, exposed TO
the open air. In this state they are sold by
the small factories for prompt consumption.
For expert purposes, when IT 10 necessary
to keep it fresh for lonG dine, great SIKH
and time Is required. as IL must De tn0r-
omsnly cured. fnis can only be done by
large factories. provided with means Tor
keeping the production in store from ten to
thirty DAYS according to the weather. For
this purpose after having been exposed to
the open air, as already stated, 1t Is taken
back TO a moist room, called dollhouse,
from which the air is carefully excluded,
and there it is kept until the dampneSs has
rendered the macaronl to be straight again.
They are then removed to other rooms aud
are more or less ventilated, according to
wind, moisture and heat. until totally
dry, In Licata there are eighteen hand
presses which work exclusively for the
town consumption, and one large factory
does the work for export purposes. Is Is
fitted up with the latest improvements and
does it's work by steam power. The daily
production is from 10 to 20cwtS., bat as this
is not sufficient to meet the home demand
the owners are enlarglng their plant The
workmen receive two francs per 100 kilo-
grams of macar0ni product and the fore
man, who also attends to the drying of the
macaroni. receives five francs per day. The
price Of -four, free Of expenses on the rail-
way track is thirty-one francs per bag of
100 Kilograms, and the macaroni is sold at
tbirty-seven francs per 100 Kilograms, leav-
ing six francs, from which deduct from two
to three francs and the remainder is the
profit AS many consumers prefer to have
the macaroni slightly tinged with yellow,
some manufacturers make
USE OF SAFFRON
To tinge the water, but this is expensive, and
as a rule, chrome-yellow, called by some
maccar0ni color, is used.
Thomas Steele, acting Consular Agent at
Marsala writes that the macareni made in
his district is made entirely for home con-
sumption, and is made of the best wheat
flour. Women do most of the work of mix
ing, and men do the pressing. Women re-
ceiye from 10 to 20 cents per day, ana men
from 80 to 40 cents. Besides the native
grown wheat, they import grain from Malta
and TDniS by sea, and from Trapanl by rail,
much Of the latter coming from Black Sea
ports. During the year 1899, 1893 quarters
of wheat valued at S13, 500, were imported
by sea from Malta and 'Tunis, SiX-SeventhS
coming from Malta. The quantity received
from Irapani cannot be arrived at. During
the year 1889 no macaroni was exported
from MarSala by sea, and none whatever
has been sent to the United States since
August, 1883. when 200 Kilograms were ex-
ported, valued at S24 %.
United States Consul Wallace S. Jones,
whose consulate is at Messina, gives some
interesting information regarding the maca-
roni industry in his district. Several kinds
of wheat are used in its manufacture, viz.
Sicilian wheat quoted at from $3.50 TO 81
francs per 100 Kilograms; Tlmilfa wheat,
quoted at from $3.50 to % francs per 100
Kilograms; and the imported varieties,
Bombay and Taganrog, quoted at $3.50
francs per 100 Kilograms. All of the wheat
which comes from the Black Sea goes by
the name OF Faganrog." The best wheat
used is the Francesca or Sicilian wheat. 1t
Is very hard, and the harder the wheat the
greater the quantity of "semOla." or, in
other words. the fine, hard parts of the
wheat rounded by attrition in the mill, ana
the. better the quality of macaroni. 1t
contains 20 per cent Of heterogeneous matter,
and does not suffer from the spring dr0ughts.
1t was largely exported to France prior to
the abrogation Of the treaty of commerce
between that country and Italy in 1888. 1t
is manufactured by mixing 100 Kilograms OF
semola and 10 Kilograms of water into
dough. and passing the same through per-
forated plates of different patterns.
In Messna there is but one steam maca-
roni establishment. and 1t has a capacity of
sixty quintals per twelve hours. In this
establishment, after the wheat has been
washed, ground aud sifted, the sempla is
put in an iron vat and stirred as the wafer
is added by thin iron fingers attached to an
axis that runs through the vat, which re-
wolves BIZ steam power. The dough Is then
placed OH round iron table that reyolves