Product Review: VitaSpelt Organic Spelt Spaghetti

We have several packages of VitaSpelt products in our cupboard at the moment, and we tried the "Pasta d'Abruzzo" (lighter in taste and color!) style spaghetti the other day. Here's how it worked out for us.

We've been using Meijer's store brand organic pasta* for some time now. It's tasty, but certainly not local (the box says "product of Italy"), so we were very pleased to find pasta that comes from nearby. The fact that it's made from spelt instead of wheat made little difference to us; we're not concerned with gluten allergies or anything like that.

We prepared the spaghetti just like any other kind, and it cooked up nicely al-dente, and was easy to serve. After it cooled, it did stick together a bit, but not as much as our usual brand. We used the Meijer organic* sauce to top it, with some locally grown onions and basil mixed in for fun and flavor. The taste and texture were somewhat lighter than our usual pasta, and the flavor was almost unnoticeable in the background under the sauce. Most importantly, our 3-year-old ate it happily (without sauce) and had seconds. All in all, it was like replacing the coffee we usually serve with Folger's crystals--we didn't even taste the difference.

The one drawback is the price. At $2.25 for 8 oz of noodles, VitaSpelt spaghetti costs more than double the Meijer organic pasta ($1.99 for 16 oz). Ouch.

If you have gluten allergies, and value local food, VitaSpelt is definitely the way to go. But we have a policy about cost-benefit when it comes to our shopping. If an item costs double the nonlocal price (or more), then there needs to be an additional benefit to buying it (animals pastured and humanely slaughtered, for example, or markedly superior quality). The VitaSpelt spaghetti is perfectly good; there's nothing at all wrong with it. But for the price, well, we're going to try our hand at making our own noodles with local flour instead before we decide it's worth the extra expense. We have a recipe. I'll be sure to let you all know how it goes.

As mentioned above, we have some more varieties of the VitaSpelt pasta that we haven't tried yet, including whole grain angel hair and wide Amish style. I'll let you know how we like those as well.

Cheers!

*We know, industrial organic is only marginally better than agri-corp food, but those acres aren't sprayed or fertilized, so we reckon that's a gain. A small gain, but every little helps. And we can use the extra couple bucks at the Farmers' Market or other LVL products.