October Special while stocks last Best Before Date of 26 June 2011 (Product is acceptable for consumption) Paccheri are large, hollow, tube-shaped pasta. The paccheri pasta shape is similar to rigatoni, but paccheri are shorter and have a larger diameter. Legend has it that thepaccheri shape was invented as a way to smuggle at least four garlic cloves in each piece. Italian garlic farmers thought that the garlic in what once was Prussia and is now Austria was less flavorful than that grown in Italy. When the Prussian government banned trade in Italian garlic, the Italian garlic farmers hid garlic cloves inside paccheri pasta when crossing the border.
Many dishes made with paccheri do tend to be highly garlic flavored. Pasteri shapes may be stuffed with sausage and garlic and topped with a red wine sauce. A garlic flavored white wine sauce may top paccheri stuffed with porcini mushrooms. Paccheri dishes are often hearty and may be served with a thick bolognese, or meat sauce.