Kingsbury County independent. (DeSmet, Kingsbury County, S.D.) 1894-1929, 1904-06-17
AMERICAN M~AcARoNi.
Spaghetti Made IN United States ane
Shipped to Italy for Sale.

Shipped to Italy for Sale.
New York Tribune: 1t Will be a Sc
we're stab to the pride of Italy TO learn
that the Americans are now manufac-
turing macaroni. and are actually send
ing some abroad. Factories for the
making OF macaroni are running in
Philadelphia, and the owners are stead
lily ~encroaching on the business of the
importers until it seems only a question
of time when the macaroni used in this
country Will be made entirely OF Amer
lean wheat, in American factories by
American workmen. II is all a question
of wheat. At n time II was thought
impossible to make good macaroni from
any wheat other than that grown at
Odessa and Taranog, but now Italy n
Genoa have to share the profits OF the
business with the macaroni k OF
Marseilles, in France. With America
cutting into the race for wealth by the
macaroni route, the national industry
of Italy will be still further encroached
upon.
The process of manufacturing maca-
roni in the Quaker city Is the same as
that in Europe. Only the hard wheat,
which contains a large percentage or
gluten, Is used. The wheat is first
ground into a coarse meal, from which
the bran is removed. Great care has to
be exercised during the grinding TO
keep the temperature OF the room at
the right point, both neat and humid
ity being employed to insure the re-
suit being satisfactory. The substance
formed by the grinding process, called
semola, is then worked up into a dough
with water, and TOR macaroni and yer-
micelli is forced through gauges, with
or without mandrels, as in wire and
pipe drawing; or, If pastes are required,
1t is rolled out in very thin sheets,
from which are stamped out the vari-
Gus forms Of stars, rings, etc. There
IS little difference between macaroni
and the fine, threadlike yermicelli and
the infinite variety OF curious and ele-
giant little forms which, under the
name OF Italian pastes, are used for
soups.
Macaroni cannot be made every day
In the year, or month, or week. Ii must
be a dry day, or the substance from
which 1t is made will not bind proper
~. Good macaroni breaks with a brit
tie sound like glass. When boiled 1t
sweIIs with an even swell and does not
come apart. The inferior kind will often
break OF its own weight, and will burst
in the boiling. A visit. to a macaroni
factory is of interest as disclosing an
industry entirely novel to American
eyes. The rooms through which the
factory proper is reached are hung
from floors to ceiling with festoons OF
the macaroni drying. 1t is everywhere,
strung over parallel poles, hanging
from every piece on the wall where a
peg can be placed, stretched In door
ways so hat 1t has to be brushed
aside to allow the visitor to pass
through, and frequently strung out to
dry m the roof and in the yard for
want OF room elsewhere.
The process OF it's manufacture Is
worth watching. IN q huge bowl in the
center of the room, a bowl large enough
for half q dozen men to cc.J up in, the
dough is placed, q big stone coming
down on this and fattening it to the
consistency, when it is cut into
strips like piecrust, doubled over, and
the big stone brushes it again until the
proper elasticity is produced. Then 1t
is turned into the gauges and forced
through the holes in the bottom, plung-
ers coming down on it during the proc
ess, and so giving ii the hollow form
familiar 10 lovers OF the delicacy. 1t
reaches its final stage, ready for the
drying, in the form Of a hairpin, and in
his shape Is hung up. If it is good
macaroni IT will not break while dry
but will hang in the hairpin form
suspended by the bent part until it Is
dry.
All varieties Of macaroni are made in
the same way, and, whether it is sold
as vermicelli, spaghetti or just plain
macaroni, 1t is manufactured from the
same wheat, deprived Of its starchiness
and allowed to retain only it's glutinous
properties. In this form ii has been
called zone of the seven d~elicacies of
the world" and In the estimation of the
Italians at least, doubtless deserves
that description.