Sweet Salty, July August 2015
An ancient company with a modern spirit. The historic brand establishes itself on the market with a wide range of innovative products designed to respond to current food trends. Not only easy-to-process flours and semi-finished products for every need, but also nutritionally balanced and free of contaminants.
We asked Mario Cucchia, managing director of Molini Spigadoro since 2005, to tell us what traits paint the company as a leading player in the Italian milling scenario, aimed at professional operators in the artisan pastry, bakery and pizzeria channels. A protagonist because of the historicity of the brand-nearly 100 years old-but above all because of its ability to keep up with the times. Talking to the manager, it becomes clear that the efforts made in recent years have been geared toward mapping out a very precise design: to base the milling enterprise on the principle of a strictly controlled supply chain to guarantee products that are nutritionally healthy – that is, endowed with natural biological properties and free of contaminants – and at the same time technologically evolved, that is, designed to meet the most varied processing needs of an artisanal laboratory. “We are heirs to an important past,” Cucchia points out, “which we honor every day by carrying out work marked by product and process innovation to meet the modern food needs of the Horeca sector.
What consumer needs have you intercepted?
Consumers today are more attentive to the nutritional value of products, from the origin of raw materials to how they are selected and processed. The public is more sensitive to issues of allergens and contaminants. They are increasingly demanding products that are certified natural or free of gluten, lactose, eggs, yeast, or even with lower glycemic index, hypoprotein content, or made from alternative raw materials. In practice, many consumers are demanding more and much more quality than in the past.
What do you mean by quality flour?
The term “quality” has been widely abused for at least two decades since the 1980s. It has often been a high-sounding but empty word, while today it is being filled with substance. In concrete terms, producing a quality flour subtends a complex of actions aimed at producing a product that is serviceable, good, contaminant-free and nutritionally balanced.
What is your most centered product in this regard today?
Undoubtedly the Nutridea line of flours, which are ideal for cross-use in the pastry, bakery and pizzeria sectors. Under that brand we collect products that are source or rich in fiber and micronutrients, thus Type 1, 2 and whole grain flours. With the conception of a specific brand, conceived 6 years ago, we wanted to give value to these products often considered marginal in the milling sector. Instead, based on studies conducted together with the University of Perugia, we believe that they are noble products, worthy of valorization and dissemination. So much so that for us they do not represent a niche line, but a viable, indeed an improving alternative for all productions, compared to refined flours.
What is the added value of these flours and your production in general?
We are very strict in our selection of suppliers, warehouses, and grain lots, as well as in our inspections and analyses. And once the batch of wheat has been approved and cleaned, before it gets to milling it undergoes a hulling process that goes to remove the most superficial layers of the grain. An operation that is rarely done on soft wheat. In this way, even the cruscal parts that we recover for the production of type 1 and 2 flours are derived exclusively from the heart of the caryopsis, ensuring the absence of contaminating residues – heavy metals, mycotoxins, bacterial loads, pesticides – present especially in the grain coating. From an application point of view, our flours perform better due to a reduced grain size of the bran parts, which facilitate leavening processes and regular development of alveoli in the finished product.
What are the benefits of using your type 1 and type 2 flours?
As I mentioned, the ease of processing, but above all the improvement of the product from an organoleptic point of view, that is, greater aroma and taste, particularly in baked goods. Last but not least, the advantage from an economic point of view, since such flour products absorb more water and thus provide a higher yield in terms of the finished product.
How do you support the professional practitioner?
We have a team of technologists available to our customers for technical assistance, and we periodically hold meetings to demonstrate the use of our flours and do nutrition education.
How and in what areas do you distribute in Italy?
For pastry and pizza we rely on a network of wholesalers, concentrated particularly in central and southern Italy and the islands, but we are also getting good feedback in the North, where we aim to grow.
A range that blends taste, wholesomeness and innovation
We couldn’t help but think of master pastry chefs, to whom we have dedicated the “Sweet Talents” line, designed to combine flair and workability in industry-specific applications.
To pizzeria operators, we offer a “Pizza in the Heart” format that accompanies them in developing greater nutritional sensitivity to their customers. We have also developed a series of functional semi-finished products that help the professional operator make a difference: such as natural yeast, milk enzymes for leavening, hemp sativa flour from de-oiled seeds, or vegetable charcoal, a natural black dye, for the creation of attractive and fashionable products. We also offer a line of gluten free flours, made to our own recipe, and an organic line, which represents for us the frontier of the future and the present, as we apply to organic the same care and attention that we put into all our products, the same search for guaranteed, controlled and husked grains.
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