Do All Whole-Wheat Pastas Taste Like Paste? No, Try Barilla Plus

Pasta, for me as an Italian-American, is something I treasure more than milk (indeed I’m lactose intolerant, so I’ve never liked milk.

But pasta is forbidden on my new no salt, no sugar, no fat, low-carb diet. The nutritionist I consulted after my angioplasty in August did give me one out of that horrible situation, whole-wheat pasta. I’ve tried some in the past but always found them pasty or chalky tasting, in sharp taste conflict with a rich tomato sauce.

But the nutritionist, who basically has put me on a bread and water diet without the bread since my angioplasty, suggested trying Barilla Plus which labels itself a multigrain pasta. Barilla Plus won my home taste test.

We recently did a taste test in our house, making some Barilla Plus penne and some private label whole wheat penne. The store brand wasn’t as bad as some whole wheats I’ve had, but Barilla has less grainy after-taste. I next tried its angel hair, a spaghetti thinner than the thinnest spaghetti, and found it tasted almost like regular pasta when eaten with my home-made tomato sauce.

I enjoyed it so much, I ate five ounces (dry weight, it grows to about 20 ounces cooked), or 515 calories of it for dinner one night. That meal was rare on my new diet, it actually made me feel full when I was done rather than still hungry.
John