Macaroni

Macaroni (originally lumps of paste and cheese squeezed up into balls; from Ital. macare, 'to bruise or crush'), a peculiar manufacture of wheat which for a long time was confined to Italy, and, in fact, almost to Genoa; it is now, however, made all over Italy and at Marseilles and other places in the south of France. Strictly speaking, the name macaroni applies only to wheaten paste in the form of pipes, varying in diameter from an ordinary quill up to those now made of the diameter of an inch; but there is no real difference between it and the fine threadlike vermicelli, and the infinite variety of curious and elegant little forms which, under the name of Italian pastes, are used for soups. Only certain kinds of wheat are applicable to this manufacture, and these are the hard sorts which contain a large percentage of gluten. The wheat is first ground into a coarse meal, from which the bran is removed. This 'semola' is worked up into a dough with water; and for macaroni and vermicelli it is forced through gauges, with or without mandrels, as in wire and pipe drawing; or for pastes it is rolled out into very thin sheets, from which are stamped out the various forms of stars, rings, &c. Macaroni forms a large article of home consumption, and is exported to all parts of the world.