Black Pasta

Black pasta is made black by cuttlefish ink, a most efficient dye which works as well on clothes and teeth as it does on dough. The real thing comes from the ink sacs of the cephalopod of the genus sepia. Its ink was originally used to produce monochrome water-colours and gave its name to them. Seppia are the small Venetian cuttlefish used in the city’s famous black risotto. Cuttlefish ink is starting to be sold in small plastic sachets; it is good as a food dye but has little flavour and is not as good as fresh cuttlefish ink. When using it to colour a risotto you need to do so in conjunction with a well-flavoured fish stock or your rice wont taste of anything.