The slender tubes of pastry stuffed with seasoned meat or even with cream and chocolate take their name, cannelloni, from the Italian canna, meaning reed or stalk, a tube through which a plant’s nutrients flow. In turn, the Italian canna goes back to a Latin source (also spelt canna), that developed via French into words for other tube-like structures including cane, canal, and channel; via Spanish, the Latin canna also developed into the English words canyon and cannon, the one a sort of “tube” for a river, the other for an artillery shell. Further back in its history, the Latin canna developed from a Greek source that also evolved into the Latin canistrum, the name of a basket made of reeds; it was this Latin word, canistrum, that was adopted by English in the eighteenth century as canister, a tube-shaped container no longer made of reeds, but of metal.
These pasta dishes are known as cannelloni in Italy. They are large squares of pasta that are cooked in boiling salted water, then stuffed with a filling, rolled up, and baked in the oven. Sometimes they are served with a generous sprinkle of Parmesan cheese and baked with butter, while in Tuscany, they are covered with a sauce and baked until the top is golden brown. Cannelloni are among the largest stuffed pastas in Italy and can be filled with various ingredients, such as spinach and ricotta cheese, meat and tomato sauce, or a mixture of vegetables and cheese.