Fusilli

Fusilli

Fusilli are long, thick, corkscrew shaped pasta. The word fusilli presumably comes from fusile, archaic or dialectal word for "rifle" (fucile in modern Italian), referring to the spiral-grooved barrel of the latter. The word can also mean "little in standard Italian.

In addition to plain and whole wheat varieties, as with any pasta, other colours can be made by mixing other ingredients into the dough, which also affects the flavour, for example, beetroot for red, spinach for green, and cuttlefish ink for black.

Fusilli may be solid or hollow. Hollow fusilli are also called fusilli bucati.

Fusilli are often confused with the short, flattened, twisted pasta known as rotini.

See also

• List of pasta