Scientists have created the thinnest spaghetti in the world – although diners shouldn’t expect to find it on their plates anytime soon. Or ever.
This “nanopasta” was created as part of an experiment at University College London, the school announced in a recent press release.
Unlike traditional pasta, nanopasta is neither edible nor meant to be eaten – even though it is made from flour and water.
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While spaghetti, angel hair and the like types of pasta Usually made using an extruder or specialized kitchen tool, the method of creating nanopasta was similar – but on a much, much smaller scale.
“To make spaghetti, you push a mixture of water and flour through metal holes. In our research, we did the same, except we pulled flour mixture electric charge,” Adam Clancy, a lecturer in inorganic and materials chemistry at the University of London, said in a press release.
The “nanopasta” created by scientists from University College London is a thousand times smaller than the smallest existing pasta. (Beatrice Britton)
Scientists have made “pasta” as a way of testing the viability of using starch to create nanofibers.
These nanofibers have the potential to be used in wound dressings or other medical settings, said Gareth Williams, a professor at the University of London’s School of Pharmacy.
“In addition, nanofibers are being explored for use as scaffolds for tissue regrowth, as they mimic the extracellular matrix – the network of proteins and other molecules that cells build to support themselves,” he said.
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Starch nanofibers have advantages over other materials, Clancy noted.
“Starch is a promising material to use because it’s abundant and renewable—it’s the second largest source of biomass on Earth, behind cellulose. And it’s biodegradable, meaning it can be broken down in the body,” Clancy said in the release.
Standard pasta shown. Scientists have created a new “nanopasta” to test the viability of using starch to create nanofibers. (iStock)
Starch, however, “requires a lot of processing” before it can be purified.
This nanopasta, he said, is proof that there is a “simpler way” to make these fibers.
“The next step would be to investigate the properties of this product. We would like to know, for example, how quickly it breaks down, how it interacts with cells and whether you can produce it on a large scale,” he said.
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Nanopasta is 372 nanometers in diameter, a thousand times thinner than the next thinnest pasta in the world.
The pasta, called “su filindeu”, is 400 microns wide and is handmade in Sardinia, according to the statement.
Scientists have created a 2-centimeter-sized “mat” of nanofibers, which is the only way these objects can be seen.
A nanopasta “substrate” made by University College London is visible. Individual nanofibers cannot be seen without an electron microscope. (Beatrice Britton)
The individual threads, however, are too small to be seen without the aid of a scanning electron microscope, the statement said. They are also too thin to cook at all, the researchers say.
While angel hair pasta—the thinnest type of pasta widely available—takes four minutes to cook in boiling water, nanopasta would be ready even faster.
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The nanopasta would “overcook in less than a second, before you could take it out of the pan,” Williams said.
