We eat a fair bit of pasta in my home. My husband and I are both part Italian, so can you really blame us?! Anyways, today I learned something about making pasta that I wish I’d known about sooner. And it involves the water that most people generally strain in the sink when their pasta is finished cooking.

 

 

However, you should actually be conserving your pasta water, not pouring it down the drain! According to Bon Appetit, pasta water is “liquid gold” because it can make for a deliciously smooth sauce. When the pasta boils, starch from the noodles seep into the water. Although this gives the water a cloudy appearance, this starchy water is actually what you need for emulsification (the process that keeps your sauce together, and doesn’t make it all watery).