2.2.2. Cooking Properties

Pasta samples were cooked in boiling distilled water at 1:10 *(w/v)* pasta-to-water ratio, without the addition of salt, as reported by Pasqualone et al. [35]. The optimum cooking time (OCT) was determined by removing tagliatelle from boiling water every 30 sec, cutting them, and checking for the white and opaque core to disappear, according to the AACC 16–50 official method [36]. After cooking, pasta samples were drained and rinsed with distilled water and allowed to rest for 5 min. Cooking loss was evaluated by combining cooking and rinsing water, measuring total volume, putting 20 mL in tarred Petri dishes, and evaporating in an air-oven at 105 ◦C until reaching constant weight. The residue, scaled up to total volume, was expressed as a percentage of the original pasta sample weight. After cooking at their OCT, the samples were analyzed for their water absorption and swelling index (grams of water per gram of dry pasta) according with Bustos et al. [37]. Each determination was carried out in triplicate.

$$\text{Water absorption} \left( \% \right) = \frac{\text{Wc} - \text{Wr}}{\text{Wr}} \times 100 \qquad \text{Swelling index} = \frac{\text{Wc} - \text{Wd}}{\text{Wd}}$$

Wr = weight of raw pasta (g)

Wc = weight of cooked pasta (g)

Wd = weight of dried pasta (g)

### 2.2.3. Inulin Loss in Cooking Water

P5, P10, and P15 were cooked at their OCT with a pasta-to-water ratio of 1:10 (*w/v*). Afterwards, 15 mL of cooking water was collected and analyzed for its inulin content by a cationic exchange HPLC following the same method described in Section 2.1.3. The inulin cooking water content was expressed as grams of inulin loss during cooking at OCT of 100 g of fresh pasta. The analysis was carried out in triplicate.

### 2.2.4. Color and Firmness Evaluation

Color of raw and cooked fresh pasta sample at its OCT (red index, corresponding to a\*, yellow index, corresponding to b\*, and luminosity index, corresponding to L\*) was evaluated using a colorimeter CM-600d (Konica Minolta, Osaka, Japan) equipped with SpectraMagicX software. Six measurements were recorded for each pasta sample.

Firmness evaluation of raw and cooked pasta at its OCT was carried out using a Z1.0 TN (Zwick Roell, Ulm, Germany) equipped with a blade set with a guillotine and 50 N load cell. Pasta firmness was evaluated as the force required to cut 5 strands of pasta at a speed of 0.17 mm/s and was expressed as the maximum force (N) required to cut pasta strands. Eight measurements were recorded for each sample.
