Spaghetti literally means "strings", and this spaghetti is long and curved in the middle. The best sauces for spaghetti are oil based, which coat the noodles evenly and keep the strands from clumping together.Just outside Naples and the Amalfi coast, Gragnano is reputed as the birthplace of dried pasta. There, a consortium of small producers, the Cooperativa di Pasta Gragnano, produces the region's most traditional cuts, strictly adhering the artisan production techniques of yesteryear. Using only bronze dies and slow-drying techniques, the Cooperativa crafts pasta of unbelievably rough texture and palate-bursting flavor. Today, they are at the forefront of a local effort to preserve the artisan traditions behind the legendary Gragnano name. Says Cooperativa president, Antonio Marchetti, in the Washington Post, "Real pasta can be forgotten if we are not careful."
