Manitaly: the first high protein flour from 100% wheat from Le Marche region
To Develop a completely new and 100% Italian flour, with superior characteristics to the manitoba one, and fully enhancing the true potential of our unique Le Marche region. “We need to remember what surrounds us and learn to give it the right value.”
This is Molino Paolo Mariani’s goal, a business reality from the Le Marche region with many ongoing projects, including the one launched in 2014: Manitaly, as the result of the intense research conducted by the Mill collaborating with the master baker Giuliano Pediconi.
The mission? To create a local high protein flour, yes, but mostly “to create a supply chain that is as active as possible. The baker was accustomed to receive the flour and to knead it without asking himself too many questions, while, instead, it is important that all the supply chain’s characters play an active role”.
Giuliano has very clear ideas about the direction the world of bakery must take: “If we don’t go back to respecting and paying attention to the raw material, we risk losing our way.
We are a small country, full of resources and biodiversity. Fortunately, we are not like the great cereal-producing nations that have huge territories with just few varieties cultivated. We cannot afford to forget the immense value of the biodiversity of our Italian territory”.
A project, the Manitaly one, which has represented a revolution in the cereal field:
“Manitoba wheat has always been imported from abroad, however, even if in Italy there were several perfect and suitable wheat varieties, but there weren’t sufficient studies necessary to obtain them with the appropriate cultivation techniques”.
The investments to be made were high, “America could produce larger quantities at low costs, which is the main reason why no one carried out the research here in Italy”. However, Molino Paolo Mariani started this new project from the oldest experimental agricultural station in the world, Rothamsted, founded in 1843 in Harpenden, England:
“We looked at these ancient studies from which we started our research, combining them with the most modern and scientific skills together with that memory of our farmers who deeply know the territory.
The result is a high protein flour obtained from 100% wheats from Le Marche region, through which we are not just promoting the territory, but also our local farmers: all fundamental elements to ensure a completely Italian and high-quality product”.
A sustainable flour, therefore, as well as good. Of course, sacrificing the economic side in favour of research is not always easy, but innovation has always played a central role for Molino Paolo Mariani, “For example, usually in the industrial realities, wheat is not left to rest for as long as it is necessary, in order to speed production times up as much as possible.
However, we know that wheat needs to be wet with the right amount of water in order to rest and soften at the right point, before the milling process.
For this reason, we have invested in silos dedicated exclusively to let the wheat rest after being wet, and then for each variety of wheat, based on its unique characteristics, we identify the perfect resting time that can vary from a few hours to as much as 72 hours for some specific varieties.
For example, our Manitaly blend rests for well over 48 hours before entering the milling process. ‘Good things take time!’ our grandfather Urbano used to say, and the long rest we give to our Manitaly, proves it, everyday”.
Gambero Rosso’s article, March 2022