Threads of God – The World’s Rarest Pasta Is Also One of the Most Difficult to Make

oddity central ^ | 1/22/2021

[mylife]

The small town of Nuoro, on Italy’s Sardinia island, is home to what many are calling the world’s rarest pasta, an intricate, hand-made treat that only a handful of people can make.

Known as su filindeu (in Sardinia’s Sardo dialect), or Fili di Dio (in Italian), and translated as threads of God, this traditional pasta had been linked to La Festa di San Francesco, an ancient religious ritual celebrated every year, in May. For the past two hundred years, the only way to try threads of god pasta was to complete a 33km pilgrimage on foot or horseback from Nuoro to the village of Lula. But because this sacred dish is in serious danger of becoming extinct, the only three women in the world who know how to make it, have been trying to save it by making it more accessible.

67-year-old named Paola Abraini picked up the skills to make threads of god pasta from her mother, who also learned them from her mother, and so on for many generations. However, only one of her two daughters knows the basic technique, but lacks the passion and the patience necessary to carry on the family tradition. The only other two women who she managed to pass on her knowledge to – Abraini’s niece and her sister-in-law – don’t have any daughters to pass the secrets to, so su filindeu is in grave danger of vanishing.

[Alas Babylon!]

It is also the closest of all the Romance languages to vulgar Latin.

I lived two years in Italy, and my Italian language teacher was from Sardinia, and taught me some words.

Of course, that was 30 years ago and I’ve forgotten far too much of it. Especially since no one speaks Italian in Alabama.

[freepersup]

Filindeu means “God’s yarns.” It is a ritual pasta typical of Nuoro and the technique for preparing it has been preserved by just one woman in all of Sardinia. The dough is made with durum wheat semolina, water, and a pinch of salt, and must be kneaded for a long time, until its texture becomes very soft. Elasticity is fundamental, and is obtained by moisturising the dough with separately prepared salted water. The exact moment when this should be done cannot be exactly defined: The person kneading the dough must determine it by feel. Small portions of dough are then cut and stretched eight times with the fingers until they turn into very thin yarns, which are later laid in three layers on a wooden tray called fundu, which in the past used to be made of asphodel. Once the layers of pasta are done, they are put out in the sun to dry, turning into a textile-like flake. Now the filindeu is ready to be broken into pieces and put in boiling sheep broth

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=su+filindeu&qpvt=su+filindeu&form=IQFRML&pc=U531&first=1&tsc=ImageBasicHover

[mylife]

Thanks for the info!

[reed13k]

They say it’s about 1/2 as thin as angel hair - so cut and stretch angel hair one more time then do the 3 layers of drying as discussed and you pretty much have what they are talking about.

I’m guessing that she feels the hand kneading is required - which it is to get the gluten to where it will allow the stretching so thinly - but that can be done mechanically instead....

The soup or whatever on the page looks really good though.

[real saxophonist]

Growing up in south Georgia, it was always funny in Spanish class to hear everybody speaking Spanish with a Southern accent.

[V V Camp Enari 67-68]

It looks almost like dumplings!

[BluH2o]

We have a Olive Garden close by where we live in western Colorado. Every now & then we would have dinner there and it was always excellent. I lived back east in CT for several years where some of the best Italian restaurants in the nation are located … so I know good Italian. The only downside was some of the customers. One evening a group came in ... the men, all fat, wearing tank tops with protruding guts hanging out, shorts and flip-flops. The women ungroomed greasy hair & as unattractive as the men. Fortunately we were finishing up as they were seated close by and easily in our viewing range. Commented to my wife on the way out that we were fortunate to not have to look at these individuals thru our entire dinner. We haven't been back except to pick up take out meals.

[Jamestown1630]

There’s a video at the link mylife posted; it’s in Italian, but with subtitles (after the Jamie Oliver one)

[Lurker]

Simple does not mean easy.

L

[a fool in paradise]

Is Oregano the ancient art of pasta folding?

[bgill]

[a fool in paradise]

Ancient family secret

[SaxxonWoods]

My family’s village in Abruzzo has been on the tax rolls for over 1,000 years. The ruins of the original village, just down the hill, has been dated to 500 A.D. The old dialect there, still spoken by many, is a collection of Italian, Latin, and words that apparently were generated locally and don’t exist anywhere else. A friend from the village wrote a book about it, very interesting.

[Verginius Rufus]

I wonder if any of the local dialect words go back to the pre-Roman language of the area. European countries sometimes have a wealth of dialects, Italy especially. Villages a few miles apart may have different dialects.

[Reily]

Modern Italian is primarily the Tuscan dialect. I think it was Mussolini who decided to base modern Italian around Tuscan. In southern Italy the Italian has a lot of Greek words in it that go back to the day - Pre-Roman days where the area was Magna Graecia - an area of Greek colonies.

[SunkenCiv]

:^)

[Verginius Rufus]

Actually I had heard that the reason that Tuscan became the basis for the standard language is Dante and the prestige he lent to his native dialect with The Divine Comedy. Mussolini is too recent.

There are actually a few villages in southern Italy where the local dialect is a form of Greek. Parts of southern Italy remained under Byzantine rule until 1071.

There are also a few places where the local dialect is Albanian or Croatian (descended from refugees from the Turkish conquest of the Balkans), and a few places along the Slovenian border where the locals speak Slovenian. And of course in the South Tyrol the locals speak German.

[cport]

Those sound like they might be deplorables. Maybe even Trump voters. Not everyone one in Western CO has your East coast “couth”

[BluH2o]

Where we live it’s very outdoorsy … skiing, hiking, biking, most people are fit and take pride in staying in good physical condition. This group stood out because frankly they were gross …

[Hardastarboard]

Unless you’re talking women. LOL