Abstract: The inventive method and apparatus suggests guiding the pasta directly into a drying climate after exiting from the die. Pasta strands of short goods are fed directly into the drying device from the extrusion die. The pasta strands can be cut either directly at the extrusion die or subsequently into packaging lengths after drying by means of an additional cutting device. It is possible to operate only the initial drying in this way, particularly to heat up the goods and then to carry out the final drying in a manner known per se, e.g. by portions. However, it is also possible to carry out the drying in its entirety, i.e. the pre-drying and final drying, according to the invention, particularly for short goods. The goods can be intensively dried at previously unaccustomed temperatures of 90.degree. C. to 120.degree. C., particularly during final drying from 15% to less than 13% product moisture.