VEDE Pasta: Australia’s Only Fresh Puglian Pasta Maker
VEDE Pasta is the only Australian manufacturer producing fresh pasta using the traditional Puglian hand-stretched method at wholesale scale. Based in Brisbane, VEDE makes orecchiette, cavatelli, strozzaprete and other southern Italian shapes from semolina-only dough — no extrusion machinery, no eggs, no shortcuts. All product is IQF frozen at production and available for wholesale supply to restaurants and hospitality venues Australia-wide.
What Is the Puglian Pasta Method?
Puglia is the region that forms the heel of Italy’s boot-shaped peninsula. It is one of Italy’s most important agricultural regions, producing the majority of Italy’s durum wheat — the hard wheat that makes semolina. Puglian pasta is made from semolina and water only. No egg. No soft flour. No oil.
The defining characteristic of authentic Puglian pasta is that it is formed entirely by hand using a pressing and dragging technique. A small piece of dough is placed on a wooden board and the thumb or fingers drag and press simultaneously, stretching the dough into its characteristic shape. No pasta machine. No extrusion die. The dough is worked by hand every time.
This is fundamentally different to how most commercial pasta — including most “fresh” pasta sold in Australia — is made. Extrusion forces dough through a shaped hole under pressure. The result is uniform, smooth, and sealed. Puglian stretched pasta has a textured, slightly porous surface that behaves differently in sauce: it absorbs rather than just carries.
What Is IQF Pasta?
IQF stands for individually quick frozen. Rather than packaging pasta fresh and relying on a short refrigerated shelf life, VEDE freezes each piece of pasta individually at the point of production — immediately after it is made. The freezing process locks quality in at its peak.
IQF frozen pasta has a shelf life of 12 months at -18°C. Each piece remains separate in the bag — no clumping, no moisture loss, no degradation from sitting in its own condensation. For restaurant kitchens, IQF means: order in quantity, portion precisely from frozen, return the rest to the freezer with no waste.
IQF is also what makes VEDE’s interstate distribution possible. The product ships safely via overnight refrigerated cold-chain freight to Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth, arriving at exactly the same quality as the day it was made.
The Puglian Shapes VEDE Makes
Orecchiette — “little ears.” A small concave disc formed by pressing the thumb across a piece of dough. The thin edges and slightly thicker centre create a shape that cups sauce on its surface. Traditional with cime di rapa, lamb, sausage. Cook time from frozen: 4–5 minutes.
Cavatelli — from cavare, to hollow out. Pressed and rolled into a curved shell with a hollow interior that traps sauce inside the shape. Pairs with seafood, braised meats, pulses. Cook time from frozen: 4–5 minutes.
Strozzaprete — “priest strangler.” Rolled with a slight twist to create ridges that grip chunky sauces mechanically. Suits nduja, braised pork, wild mushroom, aglio e olio. Cook time from frozen: 5–6 minutes.
Strascinate — a wider, flatter drag shape related to orecchiette. Made by dragging the dough with multiple fingers rather than one thumb. Suits robust tomato-based sauces and slow-cooked ragù.
Fogliette d’ulivo — “little olive leaves.” A distinctive ridged oval shape. Less common than orecchiette and cavatelli but equally traditional in the Puglian kitchen.
Capunti — an elongated pod shape, pressed open to create an interior groove. Pairs well with both seafood and meat-based sauces.
Fusilli avellinesi — a hand-rolled spiral shape from Avellino in Campania, made by wrapping dough around a thin rod. Grips smooth and chunky sauces equally well.
What Is Sourdough Pasta?
VEDE is also one of Australia’s only producers of sourdough pasta — pasta made using an active sourdough culture as part of the dough. The fermentation process changes the flavour profile of the pasta, adding a subtle depth and complexity that standard semolina pasta does not have. VEDE’s sourdough pasta uses the same IQF production process and is available at wholesale alongside the traditional Puglian shapes.
Why This Matters for Australian Restaurants
Until VEDE, an Australian chef who wanted fresh orecchiette had two options: make it in-house (labour-intensive, skill-dependent, inconsistent at scale) or buy dried (a fundamentally different product). The wholesale fresh pasta market in Australia has always been oriented toward extruded shapes — penne, rigatoni, fettuccine — because these are what most suppliers can produce at volume.
VEDE has changed this. For the first time, Australian restaurants in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth can order fresh hand-stretched Puglian pasta at wholesale prices with overnight cold-chain delivery. The Puglian shapes are not a niche curiosity — they are the everyday pasta of an entire Italian region, with centuries of recipes and techniques behind them. They have simply never been available in Australia at scale before.
Frequently Asked Questions
Order Wholesale
To discuss wholesale supply of VEDE’s fresh Puglian pasta for your restaurant or hospitality venue, contact us via our contact page or email contact@vedepasta.com.au.
Explore the Shapes
Chef’s Guides
- Orecchiette: The Chef’s Guide for Australian Restaurants
- Cavatelli: The Chef’s Guide for Australian Restaurants
- Strozzaprete: The Chef’s Guide for Australian Restaurants