The Canadian Connection Behind Italian Pasta
When you think about pasta, you probably think of Italy.
Maybe it’s a bowl of spaghetti in a small trattoria, a family gathered around a table, or the centuries of tradition that have made pasta such an important part of Italian food culture.
But here’s something you might not expect: some of the wheat used by Italy’s pasta industry comes from Canada.
And it starts with durum wheat.
A Canadian Wheat with a Global Reach
Durum wheat is a distinct type of wheat, best known for its especially hard kernels and higher protein content compared with many common wheat varieties. These characteristics make it particularly well suited for pasta. When durum is milled into semolina, its naturally golden colour and coarse texture help give pasta its familiar appearance and firm, satisfying bite.
Canada is one of the world’s major producers and exporters of durum wheat, with much of it grown across the Canadian Prairies.
A significant amount of that wheat makes its way around the world, including to Italy.
According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s July 2026 Outlook for Principal Field Crops, Canadian durum wheat exports to Italy reached approximately 1.0 million tonnes between August 2025 and May 2026. That’s roughly the equivalent of 40,000 fully loaded grain trucks travelling from Canada to Italy. Italy was the second-largest destination for Canadian durum during that period, behind Algeria.
And Algeria is a surprising part of the story.
Algeria has a strong food culture built around durum wheat, particularly for foods like couscous and pasta, making it a major global market for durum. During the same August 2025 to May 2026 period, Canada exported approximately 1.3 million tonnes of durum to Algeria, more than it exported to Italy.
An earlier June 2026 report from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada describes Italy as a “prime customer of Canadian durum.”
So, while Italy is famous for producing pasta, the story behind some of that pasta begins thousands of kilometres away, across the Atlantic, in the wheat fields of the Canadian Prairies.
From Canadian Fields to Pasta
This is one of those food connections that makes you look at a familiar ingredient a bit differently.
There are the Canadian farmers who grow the durum wheat, the fields where it is harvested, the mills that process the durum wheat, and the many Canadian food makers who turn it into something we recognize at the dinner table.
For us at Kaslo Sourdough Pasta, durum semolina is foundational to our sourdough pastas.
Made in our production facility in Kaslo, British Columbia, our pasta starts with Canadian durum. We combine it with our sourdough culture, refined over more than 30 years, and guide it through a slow sourdough fermentation before drying the pasta.
It’s a process that takes a little more time, and that’s part of what makes our pasta special.
And depending on the variety, we also work with other specialty grains and flours, including organic wheat flour, spelt, buckwheat, millet, quinoa, and hemp.
Why Durum Matters
There’s a reason durum has such a long history with pasta.
Its hard grain and high protein content help pasta hold its shape and develop that familiar al dente texture when cooked. Milled into semolina, it also gives pasta its naturally golden appearance.
It’s an ingredient that has become closely tied to pasta making around the world, from traditional Italian pasta makers to small artisan pasta producers here in Canada.
For us, knowing where that ingredient comes from is important.
We’re proud to make pasta in British Columbia, and we’re equally proud of the Canadian ingredients that help make it possible.
A Little Bit of Italy, A Lot of Canada
Italy and Canada might seem like unlikely partners when it comes to pasta.
One is known around the world for its centuries-old pasta traditions. The other is known for its enormous Prairie landscapes and agricultural production.
But when you follow the journey of durum wheat, the two are more connected than you might think.
Canadian farmers grow the durum. That wheat can travel thousands of kilometers to become part of Italy’s pasta industry. And here in Kaslo, we use Canadian durum as the foundation for our own sourdough pasta.
It’s a good reminder that food rarely has just one place of origin, especially in today’s global marketplace.
A bowl of pasta can carry pieces of many places with it, from the fields where the wheat was grown, to the people who milled it, made it, cooked it, and finally sat down to enjoy it.
For us, that’s one of the things we love about making pasta.
Our pasta may be made in a mountain town in British Columbia, but the ingredients and traditions behind it connect us to something much bigger.
Great Pasta Starts with Great Durum
The next time you sit down to a bowl of pasta, you might think differently about what’s on your plate.
Before it became spaghetti, linguine, radiatori, or rotini, it started with wheat.
And for Canadian pasta makers like us, that wheat is grown not far from home.
From Canadian Prairie fields to our production facility in Kaslo, we’re proud to turn a simple ingredient into something meant to be shared around the table.
Sometimes, the most interesting food stories are the ones that take you a little farther than you expected.
Sources
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canada: Outlook for Principal Field Crops, 2026-07-20. The report provides Canadian durum export figures for the August 2025–May 2026 period, including approximately 1.0 million tonnes exported to Italy and approximately 1.3 million tonnes exported to Algeria.
Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Canada: Outlook for Principal Field Crops, 2026-06-19. The report describes Italy as a “prime customer of Canadian durum” and discusses Canadian durum exports to Italy.
Statistics Canada, Cereals and Oilseeds Review. Historical Canadian trade data also records durum wheat exports to Italy.
Kaslo Sourdough Pasta, Our Sourdough Pasta. Information about Kaslo Sourdough Pasta’s ingredients, sourdough process, and production in Kaslo, British Columbia. Contact us.
