‘Finefast’ Pasta Al Dente in Minutes, Sells Millions; Unique Shape Allows Spaghetti to Boil in Half Required of Time

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:00 JST, June 1, 2025

A best-selling dried pasta from Nisshin Seifun Welna Inc. allows home cooks to easily achieve a perfectly “al dente” texture in significantly less time.

Its “Ma-Ma Hayayude Spaghetti FineFast” can be cooked in less than half the usual time and has a pleasantly firm texture with a slightly firm center.

This popular series sold about 100 million units in fiscal 2024.

The noodles’ most notable characteristic is their pinwheel shape, featuring a design of multiple grooves that enables rapid heat conduction to their center, reducing boiling time.

Once boiling, the grooves close to create smooth, circular cross-section.

Balancing the “ideal texture” with a “short cooking time” proved challenging. Even minor changes to the groove shape could cause an overly soft core, as the pasta absorbs water too quickly, or an undercooked center.

Tweaks were repeatedly made to the groove width, core thickness and other details, as subtle changes impacted water absorption and final texture.

After about two years of development, a pasta with a three-groove pinwheel shape was launched in 2011. The company continued making improvements, increasing the number of grooves to four in 2022 and making the noodles compatible with microwave cooking.

The cooking time is just two minutes for 1.4 millimeters, three minutes for 1.6 millimeters and four minutes for 1.8 millimeters. These times are less than half of what standard types require.

The increase in dual-income families has fueled growing consumer demand for reduced cooking times, further contributing to its popularity.

In February, Nisshin Seifun Welna launched a new quick-cooking spaghetti with an even chewier texture.

“We want to develop products that meet consumer needs, such as variations in cooking time and texture,” said chief researcher Ryusuke Kimura.