Sweets | Page 8 of 11
Halva: Sesame Confectionery
Frutta Martorana: Sicilian Marzipan Fruit
Frutta martorana is Sicilian marzipan fruit and vegetables you can't tell from the real thing from a meter away. They're named after a Palermo convent whose nuns weren't allowed to make them, and on All Souls' Day dead relatives leave them for the children. What the almond paste is made of, why it's softer than the marzipan we know back home, and how to tell hand-painted from spray-painted.
Al Cassaro Ice Cream, Palermo
Cannoli: Sicilian Pastry Tubes with Ricotta
Cannoli are crisp fried tubes filled with a cream of sheep's milk ricotta, the best-known sweet of Sicily. The name comes from the reed the dough was once wound around, the history from legends about a harem in Caltanissetta and from convent pastry shops. They are filled only just before they are sold, otherwise the shell goes soft - and that is exactly how you spot a good pastry shop.
I Segreti del Chiostro: A Convent Pastry Shop in Palermo
The only clue to the I Segreti del Chiostro pastry shop in Palermo is a sign outside the Santa Caterina convent. Inside, cannoli, cassata and the breasts of Saint Agatha are baked to the recipes of enclosed nuns - sweets that were sold for centuries through a revolving box in the wall. And the pastry comes with a cloister garden and a view from the convent roof.
Cartocci Siciliani: Fried Yeast Tubes Filled with Ricotta
Cartocci siciliani are fried tubes of yeast dough, rolled in sugar and filled with sweetened ricotta studded with chocolate chips. They are cannoli's Palermo cousins, bought in the morning at a bar or a bakery to go with coffee, and in Palermo they also go by the name Macallè - after an Ethiopian town, though nobody knows why. Today you'll find them all over Sicily.
