black linguine with squid ink

Black Linguine al Nero di Seppia by Filotea, black pasta with squid ink

The black linguine from Filotea are Italian egg ribbons, colored with authentic squid ink, bronze-drawn, and slowly dried. Black pasta with a subtle salty sea aroma, ideal for fish and seafood.

When looking for black pasta, people usually mean this exact combination of appearance and sea-inspired flavor. These black noodles from Filotea, Linguine al Nero di Seppia, are rolled from fresh eggs, durum wheat semolina, a small portion of Type 00 wheat flour, and genuine squid ink, produced in the workshop in Ancona in the Marche region. No food coloring, but Nero di Seppia, the ink itself.

Deep black, salty, with a delicate sea aroma

The ink does not just dye the dough black; it also provides a slightly salty undertone reminiscent of the sea, which you won't find in light-colored linguine. Anyone who has ever eaten fresh calamaretti will immediately recognize the connection.

As with every Filotea pasta, the bronze-drawing process ensures a rough, porous surface. Salty, robust, and oceanic – this very structure holds a seafood sauce in place instead of letting it simply slide off.

You can identify real squid ink by the rich, almost matte black color of the dough, while cheap imitators often only shimmer in grey or blue. After 4 minutes in salted water, the linguine is al dente, with the color remaining stable throughout.

The ink itself comes from the ink sac of the squid, a natural byproduct of processing that has always been used in Italian cuisine for risotto, sauces, and, of course, colored pasta.

For tomato sauce, calamaretti, and seafood

Black pasta like this demands partners from the sea: lightly seared calamaretti, shrimp in white wine, or a simple tomato sauce with garlic provide both the visual contrast and the matching flavor. Overly heavy cream sauces would only mask the delicate sea aroma.

Garlic, chili, and fresh mussels in white wine are the obvious counterparts; some parsley added at the end completes the dish. If you prefer something more classic, opt for the light Linguine from the same producer, or combine the black pasta with the spicy Sugo Peperoncino for more heat.

These noodles are also visually impressive: set on a light-colored plate with pink shrimp or yellow lemon zest, the contrast looks almost as if prepared for a feast, without any extra effort.

Two friends, one idea, born in Ancona in 2005

Pietro Giugliarelli and Francesco Severoni founded Filotea in 2005, as Pietro Giugliarelli still likes to recount, driven by the conviction that pasta should be crafted by hand rather than on an assembly line.

The first noodles were made in a tiny basement room in Sant'Elpidio a Mare; today, Filotea produces in the industrial area of Ancona and supplies customers in more than 50 countries. The dough is bronze-drawn and then dried for 24 hours at low temperatures before it goes into the 250g package – for the black pasta, the ink is added directly into the dough, not applied as a dye over the finished noodle.

Those who want to buy black pasta frequently will quickly realize: authentic squid ink costs more than artificial coloring, but in exchange, it preserves the slightly salty flavor that mere looks alone cannot provide.

Four minutes, then immediately into the sauce

Boil for 4 minutes in plenty of salted water, drain, and mix immediately with the hot sauce. If you want to discover more robust varieties, you can also find classic and spicy ribbon pasta for every occasion in the Filotea egg pasta collection.