Product review: San Remo pulse pasta

I came across San Remo pulse pasta at the Gluten Free Expo a few weeks ago. Even though I very rarely eat pasta (in fact I never buy or cook it because I prefer using vegetables as the vehicle for sauces), these caught my eye because they are not just an empty source of refined carbohydrate, but actually pack some nutrition. Because they are only or mostly made from pulses, they are higher in protein, lower in carbs and higher in fibre than regular pasta.

They come in three shapes: spaghetti, penne and fusilli. The spaghetti and penne are made out of equal parts of pea, chickpea, borlotti bean and lentil flour. The recommended serve is 125g (half a pack), which I think was a bit too much. Our serves were about 80-85g. The macros per serve for these are:

• Protein: 28.8g
• Fat 3.8g 3.0g
  • saturated 0.5g
• Carbohydrates 57.5g
  • sugars 3.8g

The fusilli is made of chickpea flour (75%) and potato starch. The recommended serve is also 125 g and these are the macros per serve:

• Protein: 22.5g
• Fat 4.4g
  • saturated 0.6g
• Carbohydrates 71.3g
  • sugars 2.8g

I tried the pasta with three recipes that remind me of my childhood: tallarín saltado de pollo criollo, tallarines blancos con atún and tallarines verdes.

I was very pleased with the flavour and texture of the three shapes. They reminded me of whole wheat pasta in both fronts but felt a lot better digestion-wise. I found the flavour did not overpower the main ingredients in either of the dishes.

San Remo pulse pasta is available in major supermarkets. I recommend you give it a go whether or not you’re sensitive to gluten, the nutritional value is worth it.

Visit the following link for more information about San Remo gluten free pasta, including the pulse varieties.

---

If you need nutrition advice, click here to check out our range of available services.