October 2012
Organic EDEN Pasta is made at a small pasta factory in an old Detroit neighborhood that has been making pasta daily since opening in its new, brick, Pewabic Pottery decorated, building in 1923. This German built and owned factory, then the Schmidt Noodle Company, originally supplied kluski egg noodles to Detroit's Polish community. Eden began having whole grain organic pasta made there in the mid 1970s. To protect our supply, we purchased it 1981 and renamed it the ‘Eden Organic Pasta Company’ (EOPC). In 1988 it became the first third-party certified organic food processing ‘facility’ in North America. Today, we lovingly refer to it as a functioning museum.
Through all these years its laborious traditions and equipment have been maintained, like small batch crafting, original Italian equipment, artisan brass dies, noodle rollers, slow inside-out drying, macaroni dryers, and the finest organic grain. Making it work is its team of fourteen people who care. They dutifully carry out handling and processing techniques that are long-gone from today's commercial pasta making. Although old machines are utilized, knowledgeable visitors still consider EOPC pasta hand-made.
Simple Pleasures Year Round
October is National Pasta Month. Eden is fond of pasta year round. We benefit from EOPC's excellent pasta as a staple food that delivers potent nourishment. We've been doing so for decades after creating whole grain pastas as a quick and versatile way of enjoying whole grain.
Artisan Expertise and the Finest Grain
Each step in making EDEN pasta is designed to create the finest texture and flavor. All of them are still being done daily. In EOPC's 89 years of continuous operation, no shortcuts have been employed. We begin with Eden selected grain. The noodles and macaroni pastas are exclusively made of seven family farm organically grown whole grains: high plains • golden amber durum wheat • Khorasan wheat (kamut®) • rye • buckwheat • California short grain brown rice • spelt from Michigan and Washington state and high altitude • quinoa from the Andes Mountains. All of the whole grain flour is milled at Eden's headquarters, while semolina and patent durum flour are prepared at an organic mill in North Dakota that we had certified. Organic vegetables, organic herbs, and organic spices are added to some of the pasta. Carrot, beet, spinach, flax, parsley, basil, garlic, paprika, clove, saffron, annatto seed, red bell pepper, and black pepper, add color, flavor, and phytonutrients. The flours are slowly kneaded with purified water to develop dough strength, then shaped into pastas by rolling/cutting or extruding/cutting. The various shapes are then patiently steam/air dried from the inside out, finishing the pasta in a distinctly old-world manner.
Color Coded Boxes
All EDEN Pasta (spaghetti, rigatoni, ziti, ditalini, elbows, shells, gemelli twists, spirals, ribbons, and alphabets) is packed in reclosable, recycled, and recyclable boxes. Each has an Eden kitchen-tested recipe on the back with a photo of it prepared. The boxes are color–coded reflecting the percentage of organic whole grain. Yellow — 100% whole grain. Blue — 60% whole grain. Green — 100% sifted flour.
Slow Food® Ready In Minutes
With twenty-five flavors and shapes of EDEN pasta — nineteen of them smooth delicious whole grain — tasty options are endless, ready in minutes, and certain to deeply satisfy. EDEN pasta contains no salt, oil, eggs, or any other additives. All are 100% EDEN organic and verified Non-GMO.
