Drying is one of the oldest methods of preserving food.
It is a process which let the water evaporate from the food in which it is content, while the nutritional and organoleptic properties are kept unaltered and it is prevented from the formation of mould and/or bacteria in the future.
A dryer is composed of several stackable shelves called “frames” composed of an external structure and a mesh, above which the short fresh pasta is laid: the frame structure can be made of different materials (ABS, stainless steel, polypropylene, aluminium etc.) as well as the mesh can be made of polyester, steel etc.
It is very important that the dough is evenly distributed on the frames, in this way during the drying process the air can evenly reach all the shelves.
Once the fresh pasta has been distributed on the frames, they are generally stacked on a trolley with rotating wheels and transported inside the dryer.
If you want to dry long pasta (such as spaghetti, linguine, fettuccine etc.) you need to have a trolley with stainless steel barrels where you can lay the dough to dry it in a “vertical” position.
For those who want to obtain a perfect drying process, it is necessary to equip the dryer with the humidity control; without it, actually, there is the risk of obtaining a superficial and “incomplete” drying which can certainly cause the proliferation of mould and bacteria.
A standard dryer is generally made up of the following elements: the thermostat, which allows you to set the temperature according to the type of pasta you want to dry; the timer, to check the duration of the different cycles that make up the drying process; the program button, which allows you to select a pre-set recipe or enter a customized one according to your needs.