(Finance) – Today closes the Christmas holiday period, it used to be the first day of the year. And from a pagan holiday the Epiphany became a Christian holiday and then the children’s holiday par excellence. And in this last form dedicated to gifts certainly but with a sweet food connotation. Increasingly oriented towards typical artisanal products. To celebrate a sort of triumph of “local delicacy”. This was revealed by an investigation conducted by CNA.
King of Christmas sweets, whether or not they end up in the classic stocking still very popular among the little ones, it is sweet charcoal, a recipe that recently spread during the years of the economic boom but rooted in pre-Christian traditions. But, long before sweet coal became widespread, special sweets were produced for the Epiphany. A tradition that has been massively revived for a few years and this year is even more evident.
Naples is the confectionery capital of Epiphany or Befana, as it is popularly called, whatever you want to say. And struffoli are the typical dessert of the Neapolitan city, with different names widespread in many areas of the South and beyond: balls of leavened dough, fried and then dipped in honey and possibly decorated with candied fruit and sprinkles. But at Epiphany in the most traditional families they also cook and eat the first pastiera of the year, an Easter dessert which is also offered in what was called Easter Epiphany, that is, a pre-announcement of Easter.
Practically from one end of Italy to the other, However, it’s worth emptying the stocking. In Varese and its province, pastry shops (and also many families) prepare a dessert only two days a year, 5 and 6 January. These are sweet puff pastry camels. Camels to remember the mounts of the Three Kings which, compared to the past, are now also stuffed with cream, jam or fruit.
Moving from Lombardy to Piedmontin the province of Cuneo, Epiphany has its “fugassa d’la Befana”, a dessert with a soft, rounded dough, inside which two different colored broad beans were once hidden. Whoever got the light bean had to pay for the focaccia, whoever got the dark bean had to buy the drinks. In some areas of Piedmont a coin is inserted and whoever uses it Find is predestined by fate for a very lucky year.
In Liguria, anicini are prepared for the Epiphany, a festive dessert characterized by the presence of anise, halfway between a focaccia and a biscuit, which does not involve the use of any kind of fat. Moving from the North West to the Triveneto, the “pinza de la marantega” (Befana, in Venetian) is dedicated to the Befana, a sweet bread enriched with raisins, dried figs, candied orange, pine nuts, grappa, preferably cooked under the ashes of bonfires and covered with cabbage leaves.
Descending under the Apennines, in Tuscany, cavallucci, soft leavened biscuits, are prepared in Siena and its surroundings, and befanini are prepared between Lucca and Viareggio, which also include the presence of rum and are made in typical Christmas shapes.
From the Tyrrhenian Sea to the Adriatic the list grows longer. Youtypical of the Ancona area are sheep, puff pastry sweets filled with jam and dried fruit. In Abruzzo and Molise at Epiphany (and already for all the Christmas holidays) pepatelli are prepared, whose name clearly comes from a rather unusual ingredient in a dessert, black pepper, added in modest quantities to flour, cocoa, honey, almonds and orange peel. Going further south, typical Epiphany sweets (and not only) from Puglia are the “cartellate” from Bari and the “purcidduzzi” from Salento. The former are prepared with flour, oil and dry white wine. The dough is shaped like a rose which, once fried, is filled with cooked must or vin cotto of figs. The Salento dessert is basically a small dumpling that is dipped in hot honey after frying. Finally, typical of the Epiphany in Sicily are the buccellati (in dialect “cucciddati” or “turtigliuna”, based on shortcrust pastry with various fillings and decorations), the “cubbaita” or “giuggiulena” (crunchy sweets made with almonds and/or or sesame), “tetù e teio”, based on almonds with or without chocolate