September 5, 2025 • 43 mins
Do you travel for food? Sicily is one of the best places for an Italian foodie adventure especially if you're a sweet tooth. Most of us know cannoli but what other sweet treats can you find in Sicily? Find out what to taste and where to find the most delicious Sicilian sweets when you're traveling around the island.
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The Untold Italy travel podcast is an independent production. Podcast Editing, Audio Production and Website Development by Mark Hatter. Production Assistance and Content Writing by the other Katie Clarke
Read the full episode show notes here > untolditaly.com/289
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Editorial Information
The Untold Italy travel podcast is an independent production. Podcast Editing, Audio Production and Website Development by Mark Hatter. Production Assistance and Content Writing by the other Katie Clarke
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Do you have a sweet tooth?
Speaker 2 (00:01):
They need better? Heads straight to Sicily. Sicilian's no a
thing or two about Doce. And while you've probably heard
of canoli, you've definitely never tasted one as delicious as
those you have when you're in Sicily. And then there's
granita casata bien commandore. You get the idea.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Chawatuti and benvenuti to one told Italy the travel podcast
where you go to the towns and villages, mountains, the lakes,
hills and coastlines of Bella, Italia. Each week, your host
Katie Clark takes you on a journey in a search
of magical landscapes, history, culture, wine, gelato, and of course,
(00:48):
a whole lot of pasta. If you're dreaming of Italy
and planning future adventures there, you've come to the right place.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
Do you dream of speaking Italian but feel stuck? I
hear you.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Whether you want to connect with your Italian heritage a partner,
or you want to live in Italy, finding the right
tools to match your learning style is important. My friend
Michelle from Intrepid Italian offers a practical approach to learning
Italian with her unique eighty twenty method teaching you only
what you need to know. As an adult learner herself
with Italian heritage, she really knows how to bridge the
(01:31):
gap between English and Italian. As Angela from Australia said,
I put my inability to learn down to my senior
stage of life, but with Intrepid Italian, it seems to
just fit. To find out how Intrepid Italian can help
you learn Italian, and to claim an exclusive twenty dollars
coupon code that you can use on any of Michelle's
(01:51):
online courses from beginner to intermediate, visit untold Italy dot com,
forward slash Italian or visit the link in the show
notes Bonus. You'll also get a downloadable travel phrase guide
absolutely free, So visit untold Italy dot com forward slash
Italian to accelerate your Italian Jao Benvenuti, Welcome friends now.
(02:14):
People usually fall into two categories when it comes to
food cravings, either the sweet or the salty, and I'm
generally a salt fiend. Give me a wedge of cheese
any day, but I can also be tempted by sweets
if they are not too sweet and made with precision.
I don't really like junkie chocolate or lollies or candy
(02:35):
or sweets for that reason, but a dense gelato would
be more than okay with me. I'm very fussy about that,
and that's why you'll only find the good stuff for
the very best gelateria and pastry shops in our Untold
Italy app.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Now we're working on sicily at the moment, so that
will be ready soon.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
But already there are twelve of the twenty regions ready
for you right now, complete with those gelati, and when
you upgrade to the premium app version, you'll get travel
guides for those regions, plus general travel tips and itinery ideas,
plus access to all of our podcast episodes add free
and easy to search by topic. We keep adding more
(03:15):
as part of the one time fee, and you get
first access to the latest podcast episodes too, as a
thank you for all your support. You can download the
Untold Italy app on the Apple App Store or on
Google Play, and if you book in for one of
our trip consultations or itinery planning sessions as a bonus,
will upgrade you on the app for free. Because we
(03:37):
want to make sure that our very special clients have
access to the best gelato and all the most wonderful
Italian things. Anyway, I'm wondering if you've ever tasted a
proper Sicilian canolu. I once thought I had, as we
have a lot of great Sicilian style bakeries here in Australia.
But it wasn't until I went to Sicily and I
(03:59):
had the deal that I understood what all of us
was about. And it turns out that Sicilians are obsessed
with sweets more than other Italians in fact, which is
saying something. When you're in Sicily, you'll notice sweet treats everywhere,
and it's a very serious business. So I thought we
should delve deeper into this and invite someone along on
(04:19):
the podcast who knows a thing or two about connoli.
Joining us today is Hannah, one of our wonderful hosts
from Untold Italy Tours.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Hannah has been.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Living in Italy and for most of that time in Sicily,
where she's been part of a very famous cooking school.
She's also attended the extremely prestigious food program at the
University of bra But above all, she's obsessed with Italian food.
So Andiamo, let's find out about that Cannoli shall we
ben tonight, Hannah, Welcome back to the Untold Italy podcast.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Thanks Katie, it's great to be here.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I'm so excited because obviously your own important member of
our team, and now you're also joining us from beautiful Sicily.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Right now, whereabouts exactly are you?
Speaker 5 (05:08):
I am in Chaffalou at the moment. I've had a
foot in Chaffalou since twenty seventeen and it's August as
we're recording, so it's the high summer months. It's warm,
the beach is full, and it's really beautiful right now.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Amazing, amazing, Sorry, absolutely gorgeous, and I'm so jealous. But
you're in the podcast last year with some of our friends,
but some of our listeners may not know your voice,
So can you let them know what a woman with
such a lovely Massachusetts that sand is doing in Sicily.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
You call it Katie, not an Italian.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
So I am from Nantucket, a small island in Massachusetts.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
I have been living in.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
Italy since twenty fourteen. I came over to do a
master's program at the University of Gastronomic Sciences that's up
north and Piedre, and it was founded by the founder
of Slow Food about twenty years ago. So my master's
program was in food culture and communication. Obviously, I'm someone
(06:12):
who likes to eat and enjoy Italian food.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
I came over.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
Thinking I would do a one year program and maybe
stay on another year, see how I liked things in Italy.
And now it's been almost, I guess eleven years, which
is absurd but very exciting. I currently work, as you said,
as a tour leader for Untold Italy, which is definitely
my favorite.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
And then I also.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
Have been at the Anatasca Lanza Cooking School here in
Sicily since twenty seventeen. I work in general management for them.
It's a beautiful place and introduced me to a lot
of Sicilian food.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
And you were there during COVID, wouldn't you say you
did get to learn a lot about life in Sicily.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
I feel very fortunate. It was a crazy time, but
I did get to appreciate the natural beauty of Sicily
in that moment, it was very quiet and just, yeah,
an interesting moment, not much going on, but that was
a good reset, and luckily I came out of it
healthy and happy.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
So that's that's okay.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I can't think there's many places. I'd rather be in
Sicily during that moment, because you know they do as
cause have all these beautiful, beautiful food that you've learned
so much about.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
And so today we're going to talk about.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Sicilian sweet treats, which Sicilians they love sweet things, don't they?
Speaker 4 (07:43):
They do? They do Italians in general.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
I mean, you'll learn quickly that the Italian breakfast when
you come over this way, we're not We're not doing
a typical American brunch or bacon and eggs.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
It's all about sweets.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
So they start their morning when with cookies, with cakes,
with croissants, with all of the good stuff. My mother
in law, who's not Sicilian but Italian, she told me
the other day that I need to eat more sugars
because it's hot out. So clearly the taste for sugar
also comes with the Italian heat in their culture. I
(08:19):
don't know if this is scientifically true, but I'm up
for it because I love Any excuse for a sweet treat.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
With the breakfast is so funny. My son loves an
Italian breakfast. How many pieces of cake.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Is too many?
Speaker 2 (08:33):
I don't know, because I just stopped looking when he's
going for it on those hotel buffets.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
It's almost embarrassing.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
In fact, it's addicting.
Speaker 5 (08:42):
It's definitely addicting, and I have completely converted My favorite
morning is either a donut or a cornetto, which is
like a croissant, and a nice either cold coffee or
a black Americano in the mornings.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
It's so funny because all of it.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Our health advice at the moment here in I Gain
English speaking countries is like, you've got to eate protein.
You've got to get in that. We have many hundred
grams a day of protein, and the worst thing you can.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Do is have the cap sugar, Bobby. But the Italians
have been you.
Speaker 5 (09:18):
Know, they they're doing it, so they're doing something right.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
And I think it's really interesting in Sicily as well,
because not only do they have the sweet of the sugar,
but there's so many different influences that come into the
cooking in Sicily and also the sweets.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Can you tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 5 (09:39):
Yeah, definitely, Cicily is great because it's it's like a
crossroads of many different cultures. And I'd say probably the
most prominent influence would be the Arabic influence, so that
that has stayed over the years. So this means a
lot of things like the pistachios, the almonds, you'll find cinnamons,
particular spices, and a lot of their both sweet and
(10:02):
savory dishes, and that all comes from the Arabic influence
and just refined sugar in general. That was something brought
over with the with the Arab you know, settlements here
and so we probably have that influence to thank for
all the sweet treats. Sicily is also interesting because there
was a period of what they call the mons soux cuisine.
(10:25):
These were these were French chefs that came over in
the seventeenth nineteenth century to cook for Sicilian nobility, and
so they were bringing a lot of like French you know,
what we would call French techniques of the time that
have also influenced some of the cooking here in Sicily.
And you can see that in desserts like bianco mangarite,
(10:47):
which in French I think is like blanc mange.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
It's like a milk pudding.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
So you have.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Diversity across the across the palette here.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah, I mean, this is amazing thing about Sicily in general,
not just in the sweets, all of food, but just
all over the island. You have these influences which makes
it a pretty magical place and very different to the
rest of Italy.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Yeah, it's I mean, you see it too, just in
the architectural styles, in the landscapes. You have a lot
of you know, a lot of different styles and people
who have moved in and out of the island, and
it's its own continent in a way.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
There's a lot of different.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
Landscapes, places, people, and it's a real melting pot.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Did the Arabs bring specific ingredients or techniques or what
did they bring with them?
Speaker 5 (11:43):
Yeah, ingredients definitely, like the pistachio cultivation, almonds, you know,
the use of spices. There's debate on the topic of granita,
which is a Sicilian. I hate saying shaved ice or slushy,
but sometimes that's what comes to mind when I tried
to translate it if you haven't had a granita. But
(12:04):
there is a story that also the current day granita
is based off the Arabic dish of Sherbert, which was
an an ice flavored with lemon juice or citrus juice.
So I think they did a great job in bringing
some strong influences to the Sicilian cuisine.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
You wand not know the answer to these, but it
just occurred to me. Where did they get the ice
from back in the day.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
Well, the stories that I've heard is Mount Etna, So
that's another you know, that's another thing is that we
have the sea over here on one hand, and we
also have really high altitude up on Etna, so you
had ice, and that was one of the first places
where people took ice from the volcano and were able
to store it like in underground pool places, to have
(12:51):
refrigerated things and icy dishes.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
So that's that's a theory, a working theory.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
It doesn't make sense.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Was they didn't have electricity or you know, like refrigeration
everything like that, so they had to get it from somewhere.
I heard the Romans would do that as well, send
people up to the Apennines and grab some ice. Sense
all right, So let's dig a little bit deeper. Should
we talk about some of these sweets, because like, really, Sicily,
I don't know, they kind of do it the best.
I mean, that's a bone of contention, I guess, but
(13:21):
I don't. I can't think of anywhere else in Italy
where they really They might have one or two dishes
that you know, you.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Get bonbolonna down down in the South, or you get a.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Bubba in Naples, but you have like a vast array
of sweets in Sicily, So it makes it really exciting.
Should we start with the classic, the one, the original,
the one that everyone loves.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
The Sicilian canola? Is that what you're thinking of? Yeah,
it's funny.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
A lot of dishes and especially sweets, Like when you
think of what the iconic Italian dishes are, like the carnolo.
I grew up in Massachusett, so I'd go to the
North End in Boston and like that was what we
think of as the Italian dish, or the Italian sweeze
at canolo and it is Sicilian and it is delicious,
(14:11):
and if you haven't had one, it's a fried pastry
shell stuffed with sweet ricotta and often has either pistachio
crumbs or a slice of candied orange on either end.
And they are absolutely delicious. I don't even know what
else to say about them, Katie, What do you think
(14:33):
is important?
Speaker 4 (14:34):
What should we share?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Time for a quick break shorter than your morning espresso.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
I think that the thing that I think people should
know is that most of the time, if you've had
them at home, you haven't had them properly.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
I would agree. I would agree.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
The thing I think with Kno that's important is that
you want to have it filled the minute you're eating it.
So if you see them hanging out in a beautiful
display in a bar or pastry shop, the ricotta filling
will often have made the shell a little mushy. So
(15:19):
if you really want to get the best canolo, you
need to look for a place where they fill them.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
On the spot.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
So sometimes you'll see canoli espresso, which means they're doing
them right. Then sometimes you just have to go in
and ask. Like my favorite spot here in Scheffalu, I
would never have known that they have cannoli because they
fill them in the back. They aren't on display. But
you go in, you ask, and they put the ricotta
filling in right then, and that makes sure that you
(15:47):
have the shell that's nice and crunchy and crumbly, and
then the filling is sweet and often cool because they
keep it in the refrigerator.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
So that's the best bet delicious. I mean, nothing worse
than a soggy canola, really but no, it's like a
sad thing.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
It is, I have to say, because I think a
lot of people know about the canoli, but they don't
know about its cousin, which is a cartacho.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Have you ever heard of this? Have you had one?
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Note? I haven't told me more so, this.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
Is probably one of the most decadent Sicilian sweets. And
you have to think if you know the shape of
a canolo, it's the same shape. However, instead of a
hard shell, it's sort of like a puffy donut wrap.
So it's like a fried dough in a nice what
(16:40):
do you call that cone shape, and then they stuff
it with the same recotta filling. And this is like
a combination of a fried doughnut with sugar outside and
then the sweet recorda inside, and it's to die for.
It's really one of my favorite things.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
If we want to appease you, he know, then we
just buy you a plan of katachu.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Can Yes, that will work.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yes, I think I have seen them.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
I think they might also be a little bit less
messy to eat.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Yeah, they're softer, so when you take a bite, it's
not like falling apart in your hand.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
They're softer, and they will keep you full for the
entire day. If you have one of those in the morning,
watch out.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
It's got everything well because in fact, it's quite balanced
when you think about it, because it's got the car
and the protein because the ricotta is very high in protein.
So there you go. So, yeah, a complete meal, A
complete meal if you put some fruit on it. Yeah,
let's just go a little bit deep into this ricotta
because well, originally, back in the day, they make them
properly here now but then they use ricotta. But back
(17:47):
in the day they would use like some sort of
like pastry cream.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
And that's not traditional, is it. No?
Speaker 5 (17:54):
I mean you can now, like you'll still find a
lot of cannoli that are like filled with chocolate or
filled with pastry cream or pistachio cream. But these are
I think these are like modern inventions. They know that
the traditional canolo with ricotta has done well, and so
now you can find alternatives that are stuffed with more
(18:18):
I don't know, I hesitate to say artificial, but more
like yeah, maybe maybe more I don't know what the
word is.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
More mustidy creamy thing.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Yeah, I mean they're good, but it's not the traditional No, it.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
Is not the traditional and if you want something with
a custard cream or pastry cream, there's lots of different options,
so go for like, go for the classic.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
If we want something with the more creamy based, what
do we go for.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
Most places in Italy you can find the Italian version
of a little bignier, which is sort of like a
shoe pastry stuffed with pastry cream or with like pistachio
cream or chocolate, like a chocolate custard.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Those are really good.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
They're usually like the tiny, little size, and they call
the mignon pastries. Also, this is all from the French
kind of tradition. The French have their croissant and the
Italians have the version, the moon shaped version, which will
either be called a cornetto if you're in the south
of Italy or brioche if you're in the north. So
(19:21):
that's sort of the more modern pastry, but it's a
go to and you'll have you can have that filled
with yellow pastry cream or pistachio or nutella or chocolate,
and that's like a very very classic breakfast pick. And
I would always recommend that if you like the pastry cream,
I'd say.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Delicious, and it's funny though, isn't it, Because brioche is
not the briosche that we think of, is it. It's
like in that context it's it's more, it's kind of weird.
It's not really croissant. It's something some different type of pastry.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
It's something that also Italians get mixed up, so brioche.
For example, here in Sicily, if you ask for a brioche,
you're going to get the Sicilian called tupo.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
For me, it's the closest to.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
Like a halla bread, like a sweet bread with a
little it's a little round sweetbread with a little cap
on the top, like a little hat.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
And this is the brioche in Sicily.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
So sometimes up north, when you ask for a brioche
you'll get a croissant type of pastry. So if a
northern Italian comes down to Sicily and asks for a brioche,
the waiter, often knowing that they're from the north from
their accent, will specify, do you want this Sicilian brioche?
Are you looking for sweetbread? Or you want an Italian brioche?
Are you looking for a more croissant type of thing?
(20:44):
So it's a confusing yes, it's a confusing language, brioch coordinato.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
There's a lot going on there.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
The brioche, though, there is a special thing with breakfast,
and I have to say, this is like one favorite
memory that I have from being in Sicily with my
husband's family who had an auntie. She sadly passed away now,
but she lived in Messina, and the relatives wanted to
give my children four years old, a proper Sicilian breakfast,
(21:14):
and so off we went and we got the granita
with the brioch, which really kept them going for a
few hours. But let's have a chat about that, because
that is something that's so Sicilian, and you know, you've
got to just go for it when you're there because
it is the best, literally, especially in summer.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
It is and it's not something that I would ever
have imagined on my radar. Dunking sweet bread into an
icy slushy type of thing. It's crazy, sounds crazy, but
it tastes wonderful. Sometimes if you're feeling superducadent on your granita,
you can get some whipped cream and then you have
(21:57):
your bread, your sweet bread, your briosh, and you have
your icy granita, which you can get fruit flavored, so
like lemon is a classic you're in Sicily. Like pistachio
and almond are super good. I also love coffee. If
you're starting off strong first thing in the morning, a
coffee granita with whipped cream on top, and then you're
(22:18):
briochha from the side and you just dunk it all together.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
It's delicious.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
However, I have to say my favorite granita flavor that
I have only really seen in Sicily is mulberry. So
coming from New England, coming from the Northeast, I don't
think I've ever seen a mulberry or really heard of
mulberry's before, and when I had a mulberry grenita that
was my first introduction. I couldn't understand. It's called jelousy
(22:47):
or gelso in Italian, and I just didn't know what
it was until I saw at a fruit store they
were selling just buckets and buckets of jealousy of mulberry,
and it's the most It's almost like a BlackBerry, but
it has a little bit more tang to it, and
it's my absolute favorite granita flavor for sure.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Yeah, one time when we were there, we decided I'm
wearing matza Mimi. Actually it was a hot day and
we were by the sea and we wanted we got
the three flavors.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
I think we got almond, jelousy, pistachio.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
And the jelousy is really fresh, isn't it Like it
gives you a ZINNI?
Speaker 5 (23:27):
Yes, exactly, it has that saying. And it's great with
because the pistachio and the almond.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Are are like rich, very rich.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
So when you have like another, you can always get
more than one flavor, often two flavors, and you're in
your granita, and so it has a nice combination when
you do like fresh mulberry and like that really rich
nutty pistaschio or almond, wonderful combination.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Yeah. And the mulberry so is like bright purple.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
Yes, So don't wear your white outfit when you're eating it,
because I mean, if you're me, you're going to get
it everywhere and it stains.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
It really stains.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
How about these Sicilians, So they're always wearing white in summer,
white linen, and I don't know, they always look chicen.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
I don't know how they do it. There's no jelosy
veneta on them. It never looks crumpled. I know.
Speaker 5 (24:18):
Between between the like tomato sauce Chelsea like I couldn't
do it. I wear My strategy is to wear patterned
clothes so that when it stains, you can't really tell
that I've got huge stains all over it.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I love it. Oh, it's so true though.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
I mean it's very juicy food like there's like a
lot of liquids happening, and yeah, bright colors.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
It's all good. It's all good.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Wow, we've covered the two big ones. What else do
we have? There's so many other ones. Do you have
any other favorites?
Speaker 5 (24:49):
I think the iconic one of the iconic Sicilian sweets
is Casata. I would call it like the queen of
Sicilian cakes. Casata is beautiful. If you've have looked into
a Sicilian pastry shop and seen this, It's a round
cake covered often in a green almond paste on the
(25:11):
sides and then decorated with candied fruits, so like slices
of candied orange, candy, cherries, green and red, and it
just looks like something fit for royalty, and it is.
It's beautiful. It's super sweet, like most of the versions
that you will find in pastry shops at bars, It's
(25:34):
like a little slice will send you reeling for the
rest of the day.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
Have you had them before, Katie.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
It's too much for me to be honest with. Yeah,
you have to be a real sweet tooth.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Yeah, I have a real sweet tooth.
Speaker 5 (25:47):
And this is something I learned the hard way. I
took like a whole casata home with me one time,
and my roommate and I had it for breakfast, lunch,
and dinner for like forty eight hours, and then we
both said, okay, time to take a pause.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
It was great.
Speaker 5 (26:02):
I fulfilled many dreams, eating almost entire casotan in forty
eight hours, but I don't think I'd do it again.
So for those who maybe haven't seen it, it's like
a sponge cake base, and then you have your sweet
ricotta layer, so that's the same sweet ricotta that you'd.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Find in a canola. And then on.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
The outside you have a ring of almond paste that's
often colored green with you know, traditionally they would have
used some sort of greens to color it. Now we
have modern day food coloring, so it looks like electric
green often. And then on top, as I said, you
have all of these candied fruits, and if you get
a slice and you have like a whole candied orange
(26:47):
or a whole candied cherry on it. Just pure sugar
in your mouth, like pure, pure sugar. Absolutely delicious too.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
When I was Greg Avid Australia, if there are Australians
listening though, understand these, we had this ice cream that
was called casata and they made it similar to that
with candied fruits inside. So it was like the Australianized
version of the Sicilian casata, which was actually quite nice actually,
but you haven't seen it around very often. But yes,
(27:16):
for me, it's only a small slote. I don't think
I could go a whole casata.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
If you're looking for like a mini portion.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
So you have your casata, and often if you're getting
this in a bar, you'll get a slice.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Of casata of the big casata. But they also have.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
Something called cassatine which is a little casata and it
has the same shape, but it's mini size, so it's
just like maybe the size of your a small fist,
and they make the whole cake in these tiny little molds.
It looks exactly the same. You still have like the
green almond paste and a little candied fruit on top,
but it's a tiny version, and I think it's one
(27:54):
of the cutest little pastries that you can find, because
it's like the mini version, just a couple of bite
and I don't know, there's a lot of debate around
if it has the same taste as a big casata,
because obviously the proportions of like the almond paste and
the sweet ricotta are different than a big recorta.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
But I think it's cute.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Good to know, good to know. There's so many sweets,
so we've got we've got a whole list here.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
But one thing I.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Think is very interesting in Italy, and it's why you
have to keep going back, is because at certain times
of the year they bring out the certain types of
sweets and bakery items.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
And so Easter is a big one, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Let's take a quick break, bold brief and back before
you know it.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
Easter, Yes, Easter is a big moment for sweets. You'll
find a lot of casata. Something that I saw in
Sicily that I had not seen before. So Cicily has
the tradition of fruits de martana, which are the almond
paste treaits that are shaped like little fruits. So there's
(29:05):
molds and they take an almond paste, a sweet almond paste,
and they make it into the shape of like a
pear or an apple or even bananas. You can find
all different shapes and they hate them so they look
like real little fruits. These you'll find around Easter. But
then in Sicily you also find the same thing, but
(29:28):
in the shape of a little lamb, which is just
can be absolutely adorable or can be actually frightening, depending
on how well it's painted and how well it's made.
I'm happy to share photo evidence of Some of them
are scary almond paste lambs.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Do it? I think I've got some cute ones where
we can put next.
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Yeah, we can showcase all of the all of the
styles of little lambs. But yeah, you have a little
lamb made of almond paste, and then.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
You're supposed to eat it.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
So I think it's easy to eat an almond paste fruit.
You cut it up, you're like, oh, I'm enjoying fruit.
But then when you get to your almond paste lamb,
you're going to have to dismember it. I don't know
if this is appropriate for a podcast, but it's like,
where do I start?
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Do I cut off the legs first? And eat them.
It's it's terrible. It's terrible.
Speaker 5 (30:19):
They're so cute to look at, but eating it is hard.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Agree.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
I was like, hmm, I think that's just for decorations,
but no, they do eat them. And some of these
bakeries with these pastichili I have like huge ones as well.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Like that's their window dressing.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Yes, their window is played exactly.
Speaker 5 (30:38):
I'm like, who's the family of eighteen that's going to
eat this entire almond paste?
Speaker 4 (30:43):
Because if you, if you have tried.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
Any you know of the fruit of Martana or the
almond paste lambs. I mean one bite is it's pure
sugar and almond. You aren't having a cake sized portion
of this and take weeks to to get through just
one of these little sweets.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Yeah, it's a lot. What about a Christmas time? Do
I have any things they like to eat at Christmas?
Speaker 5 (31:10):
So Christmas has one of the sweets that I've never seen.
I'd never seen anywhere. It's called pinolata and it's so cute.
I was trying to think this morning, Katie, if I
have seen it really in pastry shops and sometimes around
Christmas you find a little version. It's sort of like
a short cut crust pastry that's deep fried. So they
(31:33):
cut little nuggets of this. You have to imagine little
balls that are kind of like jingle bell sized of
short crust pastry, and then they deep fry them and
make this mound, this little mound of tiny little fried
dough balls, and then glaze it with tons of honey.
(31:53):
And the modern day version you have colored sprinkles on top,
so it's so cute. It also can stay out, so
you have like this pile, and then slowly through the holidays,
you're picking one after the other off this huge tray
of fried sweet dough balls. It's heavy, it's cute, but
(32:15):
it's something I've seen more in like homes. I have
seen some versions in pastry shops, but it's more like
I would see it more in families.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Is it a bit like this?
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Truefully they have in Naples, because that's more like their
puffy little doughbles.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
Yeah, these are like hard, which is which is the
thing interesting. It's like eating a fried cookie almost, yes,
a honey fried, honey covered cookie, I think. I mean,
if you're if you're listening, you're starting to hear Cilians
love fried things. So I'm thinking of like all of
the classics, and if you're not deep frying it, you're
(32:56):
probably not doing it right. Can shell the pinola. Sphin
Che are another super typical Sicilian dessert that are deep fried.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
Have you had them before?
Speaker 1 (33:10):
No, but tell me more.
Speaker 5 (33:13):
You can find them year round, the sphen che or
sometimes like pronounced sphenja, depending on where you are in Sicily,
but they are traditional of Sanduw's Appa, which is the
Italian Father's Day on March nineteenth, and sphenche Sandrew's appe.
In Sicily, you'll find that everyone prepares them a little
(33:37):
bit differently, so it's always sort of like a shoe
pastry that's deep fried. So you get this puff ball
that's empty inside. And in Palermo, for example, they often
stuff it with the sweet ricotta, so again deep fried
sweet ricotta, amazing combination.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
Can't go wrong.
Speaker 5 (33:58):
A sphen che where I've where I've lived for a
while in inland Sicily. There they do them. They do
the same you know, shoe pastry that's fried. Instead of
filling them, they just drizzle honey on top and then
they put either pistachio crumbs or like a slice of
candied orange on top, so they're a little bit lighter
than the Palermo version. But I've also seen them just
(34:21):
plain with powdered sugar. Yeah, it's a great It's in March,
is Sandrew's appe, so something sweet and fried and the
colder months is always nice. But now you can pretty
much find them here around if you look.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Lace and delicious. I love anything with pistachio. Actually, I'm
a big pistachio lover. And in fact, when I come
back from Italy, if my family's not with me, I
am basically got half a suitcase full of pistachio things.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
Perfect.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
We're a big pistachio bed here.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Now they have one other type of dessert, which is
more like pudding.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
So should we round it off with that? Yeah, something
a little bit lighter.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
So classic.
Speaker 5 (35:01):
Since we're in August, you can find jellod melone. So
this is like a watermelon pudding, and it's so good
because if you are in Sicily, you will see just
heaps and heaps of enormous watermelon everywhere you go, and
you won't know what to do with them because one
(35:22):
can only eat so much watermelon. Although that's not true.
It could eat watermelon forever. So they make a pudding,
a watermelon pudding, and it's absolutely delicious, super easy, very light,
very sweet because we love sweet. And this is the
summer version, the jello d melone, so watermelon jelly. Let's
(35:43):
say in the winter, you can often find a yello
di lemone, so a lemon like a lemon pudding or
a lemon custard. You know, you can do more of
a custard with like eggs if you want something heavier,
but depending on the season the pudding, you know, use
whatever fruit is is in season. So yeah, I'd love
a good Jello de milani.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
They're just really creating.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
When you've got like extra it's just stuff you've got
to make it into a sweet.
Speaker 5 (36:11):
Yes, it was thinking actually when you asked about Christmas,
because everything you know, sicily is abundant.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
We're lucky because we have a long growing season. But
then there's you.
Speaker 5 (36:21):
Know, the summer, in the fall harvest, which is just
everything's about preservation.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
And one of you know, one of their sweets.
Speaker 5 (36:28):
Here in the summer we have fig season, tons of figs.
But what you know, you can only eat so many
fresh figs, so often they'll dry the figs, and then
for Christmas time there's a sweet called buccellati, which are
cookies stuffed with like a dried fig.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
So they've used that fig they've.
Speaker 5 (36:45):
Preserved in the summer to make something that's delicious in
the winter.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
I feel about figs the way you feel about melons.
It's so good. My mother in law has a fig tree.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
It's striving in the Adelaide summers, gives big, juicy things.
It's very delicious, fantastic. Now, Hannah, we can all be
in sicily like you. So how easy are these things
to make?
Speaker 4 (37:09):
Listen? I'm I'm an eater. I'm not a cooker.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
Like I let the people who are good at what
they're doing do their jobs well, especially pastries, like I
will go to a pastry shop over trying to make
something at home, although I have to say I've had
a lot of wonderful cannoli that have been made by
others in their homes. If you're someone who's adventuress, who
(37:34):
likes to deep fry, who has time, who wants to
find the best ricotta around, you can definitely make it.
I think things like the jello di milone or Jello
di limone that sort of stuff is a little bit
easier to translate. Once you're out of Sicily or out
of Italy, you can definitely find whatever fruits in season
and do a nice little you know, like a little
(37:55):
jelly or a little pudding type thing. I'm going to
be honest, you know, I don't think they're easy to
make it home, but if you do make them, I
will happily try them for you. I can taste test.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Or you just have to go to Sicily and it
can take you on a tour of her favorite pastichia.
Have you got anyones that you want to share with everyone?
Speaker 5 (38:18):
My advice is always to look for pastry shops because
now like a lot of bars or cafes, they have pastries.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
If you find a.
Speaker 5 (38:26):
Place that's only doing pastries, you know they're probably good
at what they do. Also, you know, a lot of
these sweet traditions, something we didn't talk about, you know,
came out of the convents, so nuns were often in
charge of making a lot of a lot of the
sweet treats.
Speaker 4 (38:42):
Sugar was precious.
Speaker 5 (38:44):
For example, in Palermo, there's still like that Santa Caterina
convent where you can go and get one of the
biggest and sweetest cannoli in Sicily. So you can look
for places that are you know, that are unusual like that,
where to find sweets. I'll show you some great places,
but I think you'll find a lot of really good
places anywhere in Sicily.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
So don't get sucked in by these tiktoks or instagram
giant canoli's.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
Or whatever like. Yeah, go to the neighborhood prestigiity.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
And the thing is over there is that they're very
proud of their work and they're mainly serving locals.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
For this stuff.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
So you're not going to last very long if you're
doing a dodgy canoli exactly.
Speaker 4 (39:28):
That's true, That's very true.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
But I think as well what you said is go
for the prestigiaty over the bar.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
So I think maybe if people haven't.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Got a lot of experience traveling in Italy, they may
not know the difference actually, because a bar might be
open all day and maybe into the evening and they
may do breakfast with a briosh or the canoli if
you're in Sicily, and they may go on until, you know,
maybe eight o'clock at night, serving drinks and snacks and
things so it's not their specialty.
Speaker 5 (39:58):
Right, There are some there are some great bars that
have great pastries attached to them, but a lot of
the times they won't be as fresh. They might be outsourcing,
like they might have a Pastry Please doing their pastries.
So you know, if you find a spot that does
only pastries, it's a good sign.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Hannah, this has been a bit of a treat, and
I'm very hungry now, and I'm very jealous that you're
probably going to now wander down the street for a
freshly popcinolo after we finish this recording.
Speaker 4 (40:30):
I might I might get a cat today, Katie, I
might go crazy.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
Who knows, Oh why did you get two? Who knows?
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Just pretendent that I'm hitting one of them, and then
you won't feel guilty at all. Grat Hannah, thank you
so much for sharing all your information on the podcast
about Sicilian sweets. I know that when anyone's on tour
with Hannah, they are going to have a delicious sweet
treat time. And she does so much about Italian food
(41:00):
and Tonguian wine, and it's just a delight to hear
you talk about it. I always enjoy having chats with you.
So thank you so much, Gratsy Relive for coming on
the podcast.
Speaker 4 (41:11):
Oh thank you, Katie.
Speaker 5 (41:12):
It's always fun to be here, and yes, please come over.
I will share sweet treats with you anytime, and I'm
excited to continue my adventures here in Italy and share
with everyone all of the yummy things we have.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Graty Hitter, thank you Katie.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Even if you're more tempted by salty flavors than sweet,
I can assure you that you'll want to get stuck
into the treats on offer in Sicily.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Want it for you.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
If you're in a group, I can recommend ordering all
the grenada flavors that one go so you can try
them all. I loved the Jealousy or mulberry flavor and pistachio,
but the kids love chocolate and strawberry, and my husband
like the almond and coffee, so it worked out great
for us. We'll be making sure we all our guests
have an in depth Sicilian Suite experience in a few
(42:04):
weeks time, when we head into Sweet Making Heaven in
the Valdnuto on our Eastern Sicily tour and on next
year's Sicily trip, our twelve day adventure across the island
includes a sweet making workshop at one of the most
celebrated bakeries on the island. You'll find all the details
of those tours and the delicious suitees we discussed today
(42:24):
on our website at Untold Italy dot com. Forward slash
two eight nine for episode number two hundred and eighty
nine Grautzia Mile. Thank you to all our wonderful listeners
for your ongoing support of Untold Italy. I hope you
enjoyed today's show. If you did, then it would be
wonderful if you gave us a rating or review in
your favorite podcast app and a big shout out to
(42:46):
Champagne Stefanova from Australia for their lovely review. It sounds
like you might also be an Oasis fan like me,
so I do appreciate your support. On next week's episode,
we're going to discuss us another suite. It's our product
from central Italy. It's one that's steeped in tradition and
ritual and it's an important part of the culture of
(43:07):
the Amelia region.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
But until then, it's chow for now.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
The Untold Italy podcast is an independent production podcast editing
audio production and website development by Mark Hattera, production assistance
and content writing by the Are they kg Clark?
Speaker 1 (43:25):
Yes, there are two of us. For more information about
Untold Italy, please visit untold Italy dot com
Do you have a sweet tooth?
Speaker 2 (00:01):
They need better? Heads straight to Sicily. Sicilian's no a
thing or two about Doce. And while you've probably heard
of canoli, you've definitely never tasted one as delicious as
those you have when you're in Sicily. And then there's
granita casata bien commandore. You get the idea.
Speaker 3 (00:27):
Chawatuti and benvenuti to one told Italy the travel podcast
where you go to the towns and villages, mountains, the lakes,
hills and coastlines of Bella, Italia. Each week, your host
Katie Clark takes you on a journey in a search
of magical landscapes, history, culture, wine, gelato, and of course,
(00:48):
a whole lot of pasta. If you're dreaming of Italy
and planning future adventures there, you've come to the right place.
Speaker 1 (01:05):
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Speaker 2 (01:09):
Whether you want to connect with your Italian heritage a partner,
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(01:31):
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Italian to accelerate your Italian Jao Benvenuti, Welcome friends now.
(02:14):
People usually fall into two categories when it comes to
food cravings, either the sweet or the salty, and I'm
generally a salt fiend. Give me a wedge of cheese
any day, but I can also be tempted by sweets
if they are not too sweet and made with precision.
I don't really like junkie chocolate or lollies or candy
(02:35):
or sweets for that reason, but a dense gelato would
be more than okay with me. I'm very fussy about that,
and that's why you'll only find the good stuff for
the very best gelateria and pastry shops in our Untold
Italy app.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Now we're working on sicily at the moment, so that
will be ready soon.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
But already there are twelve of the twenty regions ready
for you right now, complete with those gelati, and when
you upgrade to the premium app version, you'll get travel
guides for those regions, plus general travel tips and itinery ideas,
plus access to all of our podcast episodes add free
and easy to search by topic. We keep adding more
(03:15):
as part of the one time fee, and you get
first access to the latest podcast episodes too, as a
thank you for all your support. You can download the
Untold Italy app on the Apple App Store or on
Google Play, and if you book in for one of
our trip consultations or itinery planning sessions as a bonus,
will upgrade you on the app for free. Because we
(03:37):
want to make sure that our very special clients have
access to the best gelato and all the most wonderful
Italian things. Anyway, I'm wondering if you've ever tasted a
proper Sicilian canolu. I once thought I had, as we
have a lot of great Sicilian style bakeries here in Australia.
But it wasn't until I went to Sicily and I
(03:59):
had the deal that I understood what all of us
was about. And it turns out that Sicilians are obsessed
with sweets more than other Italians in fact, which is
saying something. When you're in Sicily, you'll notice sweet treats everywhere,
and it's a very serious business. So I thought we
should delve deeper into this and invite someone along on
(04:19):
the podcast who knows a thing or two about connoli.
Joining us today is Hannah, one of our wonderful hosts
from Untold Italy Tours.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Hannah has been.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
Living in Italy and for most of that time in Sicily,
where she's been part of a very famous cooking school.
She's also attended the extremely prestigious food program at the
University of bra But above all, she's obsessed with Italian food.
So Andiamo, let's find out about that Cannoli shall we
ben tonight, Hannah, Welcome back to the Untold Italy podcast.
Speaker 4 (04:53):
Thanks Katie, it's great to be here.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
I'm so excited because obviously your own important member of
our team, and now you're also joining us from beautiful Sicily.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Right now, whereabouts exactly are you?
Speaker 5 (05:08):
I am in Chaffalou at the moment. I've had a
foot in Chaffalou since twenty seventeen and it's August as
we're recording, so it's the high summer months. It's warm,
the beach is full, and it's really beautiful right now.
Speaker 2 (05:24):
Amazing, amazing, Sorry, absolutely gorgeous, and I'm so jealous. But
you're in the podcast last year with some of our friends,
but some of our listeners may not know your voice,
So can you let them know what a woman with
such a lovely Massachusetts that sand is doing in Sicily.
Speaker 4 (05:42):
You call it Katie, not an Italian.
Speaker 5 (05:45):
So I am from Nantucket, a small island in Massachusetts.
Speaker 4 (05:49):
I have been living in.
Speaker 5 (05:50):
Italy since twenty fourteen. I came over to do a
master's program at the University of Gastronomic Sciences that's up
north and Piedre, and it was founded by the founder
of Slow Food about twenty years ago. So my master's
program was in food culture and communication. Obviously, I'm someone
(06:12):
who likes to eat and enjoy Italian food.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
I came over.
Speaker 5 (06:16):
Thinking I would do a one year program and maybe
stay on another year, see how I liked things in Italy.
And now it's been almost, I guess eleven years, which
is absurd but very exciting. I currently work, as you said,
as a tour leader for Untold Italy, which is definitely
my favorite.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
And then I also.
Speaker 5 (06:40):
Have been at the Anatasca Lanza Cooking School here in
Sicily since twenty seventeen. I work in general management for them.
It's a beautiful place and introduced me to a lot
of Sicilian food.
Speaker 2 (06:53):
And you were there during COVID, wouldn't you say you
did get to learn a lot about life in Sicily.
Speaker 5 (07:00):
I feel very fortunate. It was a crazy time, but
I did get to appreciate the natural beauty of Sicily
in that moment, it was very quiet and just, yeah,
an interesting moment, not much going on, but that was
a good reset, and luckily I came out of it
healthy and happy.
Speaker 4 (07:20):
So that's that's okay.
Speaker 2 (07:22):
I can't think there's many places. I'd rather be in
Sicily during that moment, because you know they do as
cause have all these beautiful, beautiful food that you've learned
so much about.
Speaker 1 (07:34):
And so today we're going to talk about.
Speaker 2 (07:37):
Sicilian sweet treats, which Sicilians they love sweet things, don't they?
Speaker 4 (07:43):
They do? They do Italians in general.
Speaker 5 (07:46):
I mean, you'll learn quickly that the Italian breakfast when
you come over this way, we're not We're not doing
a typical American brunch or bacon and eggs.
Speaker 4 (07:56):
It's all about sweets.
Speaker 5 (07:58):
So they start their morning when with cookies, with cakes,
with croissants, with all of the good stuff. My mother
in law, who's not Sicilian but Italian, she told me
the other day that I need to eat more sugars
because it's hot out. So clearly the taste for sugar
also comes with the Italian heat in their culture. I
(08:19):
don't know if this is scientifically true, but I'm up
for it because I love Any excuse for a sweet treat.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
With the breakfast is so funny. My son loves an
Italian breakfast. How many pieces of cake.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Is too many?
Speaker 2 (08:33):
I don't know, because I just stopped looking when he's
going for it on those hotel buffets.
Speaker 1 (08:39):
It's almost embarrassing.
Speaker 4 (08:40):
In fact, it's addicting.
Speaker 5 (08:42):
It's definitely addicting, and I have completely converted My favorite
morning is either a donut or a cornetto, which is
like a croissant, and a nice either cold coffee or
a black Americano in the mornings.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
It's so funny because all of it.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Our health advice at the moment here in I Gain
English speaking countries is like, you've got to eate protein.
You've got to get in that. We have many hundred
grams a day of protein, and the worst thing you can.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
Do is have the cap sugar, Bobby. But the Italians
have been you.
Speaker 5 (09:18):
Know, they they're doing it, so they're doing something right.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
And I think it's really interesting in Sicily as well,
because not only do they have the sweet of the sugar,
but there's so many different influences that come into the
cooking in Sicily and also the sweets.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
Can you tell us a little bit about that.
Speaker 5 (09:39):
Yeah, definitely, Cicily is great because it's it's like a
crossroads of many different cultures. And I'd say probably the
most prominent influence would be the Arabic influence, so that
that has stayed over the years. So this means a
lot of things like the pistachios, the almonds, you'll find cinnamons,
particular spices, and a lot of their both sweet and
(10:02):
savory dishes, and that all comes from the Arabic influence
and just refined sugar in general. That was something brought
over with the with the Arab you know, settlements here
and so we probably have that influence to thank for
all the sweet treats. Sicily is also interesting because there
was a period of what they call the mons soux cuisine.
(10:25):
These were these were French chefs that came over in
the seventeenth nineteenth century to cook for Sicilian nobility, and
so they were bringing a lot of like French you know,
what we would call French techniques of the time that
have also influenced some of the cooking here in Sicily.
And you can see that in desserts like bianco mangarite,
(10:47):
which in French I think is like blanc mange.
Speaker 4 (10:50):
It's like a milk pudding.
Speaker 1 (10:53):
So you have.
Speaker 4 (10:53):
Diversity across the across the palette here.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah, I mean, this is amazing thing about Sicily in general,
not just in the sweets, all of food, but just
all over the island. You have these influences which makes
it a pretty magical place and very different to the
rest of Italy.
Speaker 5 (11:11):
Yeah, it's I mean, you see it too, just in
the architectural styles, in the landscapes. You have a lot
of you know, a lot of different styles and people
who have moved in and out of the island, and
it's its own continent in a way.
Speaker 4 (11:28):
There's a lot of different.
Speaker 5 (11:30):
Landscapes, places, people, and it's a real melting pot.
Speaker 2 (11:35):
Did the Arabs bring specific ingredients or techniques or what
did they bring with them?
Speaker 5 (11:43):
Yeah, ingredients definitely, like the pistachio cultivation, almonds, you know,
the use of spices. There's debate on the topic of granita,
which is a Sicilian. I hate saying shaved ice or slushy,
but sometimes that's what comes to mind when I tried
to translate it if you haven't had a granita. But
(12:04):
there is a story that also the current day granita
is based off the Arabic dish of Sherbert, which was
an an ice flavored with lemon juice or citrus juice.
So I think they did a great job in bringing
some strong influences to the Sicilian cuisine.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
You wand not know the answer to these, but it
just occurred to me. Where did they get the ice
from back in the day.
Speaker 5 (12:29):
Well, the stories that I've heard is Mount Etna, So
that's another you know, that's another thing is that we
have the sea over here on one hand, and we
also have really high altitude up on Etna, so you
had ice, and that was one of the first places
where people took ice from the volcano and were able
to store it like in underground pool places, to have
(12:51):
refrigerated things and icy dishes.
Speaker 4 (12:54):
So that's that's a theory, a working theory.
Speaker 1 (12:58):
It doesn't make sense.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Was they didn't have electricity or you know, like refrigeration
everything like that, so they had to get it from somewhere.
I heard the Romans would do that as well, send
people up to the Apennines and grab some ice. Sense
all right, So let's dig a little bit deeper. Should
we talk about some of these sweets, because like, really, Sicily,
I don't know, they kind of do it the best.
I mean, that's a bone of contention, I guess, but
(13:21):
I don't. I can't think of anywhere else in Italy
where they really They might have one or two dishes
that you know, you.
Speaker 1 (13:28):
Get bonbolonna down down in the South, or you get a.
Speaker 2 (13:31):
Bubba in Naples, but you have like a vast array
of sweets in Sicily, So it makes it really exciting.
Should we start with the classic, the one, the original,
the one that everyone loves.
Speaker 4 (13:46):
The Sicilian canola? Is that what you're thinking of? Yeah,
it's funny.
Speaker 5 (13:50):
A lot of dishes and especially sweets, Like when you
think of what the iconic Italian dishes are, like the carnolo.
I grew up in Massachusett, so I'd go to the
North End in Boston and like that was what we
think of as the Italian dish, or the Italian sweeze
at canolo and it is Sicilian and it is delicious,
(14:11):
and if you haven't had one, it's a fried pastry
shell stuffed with sweet ricotta and often has either pistachio
crumbs or a slice of candied orange on either end.
And they are absolutely delicious. I don't even know what
else to say about them, Katie, What do you think
(14:33):
is important?
Speaker 4 (14:34):
What should we share?
Speaker 1 (14:36):
Time for a quick break shorter than your morning espresso.
Speaker 2 (14:44):
I think that the thing that I think people should
know is that most of the time, if you've had
them at home, you haven't had them properly.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
I would agree. I would agree.
Speaker 5 (14:58):
The thing I think with Kno that's important is that
you want to have it filled the minute you're eating it.
So if you see them hanging out in a beautiful
display in a bar or pastry shop, the ricotta filling
will often have made the shell a little mushy. So
(15:19):
if you really want to get the best canolo, you
need to look for a place where they fill them.
Speaker 4 (15:24):
On the spot.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
So sometimes you'll see canoli espresso, which means they're doing
them right. Then sometimes you just have to go in
and ask. Like my favorite spot here in Scheffalu, I
would never have known that they have cannoli because they
fill them in the back. They aren't on display. But
you go in, you ask, and they put the ricotta
filling in right then, and that makes sure that you
(15:47):
have the shell that's nice and crunchy and crumbly, and
then the filling is sweet and often cool because they
keep it in the refrigerator.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
So that's the best bet delicious. I mean, nothing worse
than a soggy canola, really but no, it's like a
sad thing.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
It is, I have to say, because I think a
lot of people know about the canoli, but they don't
know about its cousin, which is a cartacho.
Speaker 4 (16:14):
Have you ever heard of this? Have you had one?
Speaker 1 (16:17):
Note? I haven't told me more so, this.
Speaker 5 (16:20):
Is probably one of the most decadent Sicilian sweets. And
you have to think if you know the shape of
a canolo, it's the same shape. However, instead of a
hard shell, it's sort of like a puffy donut wrap.
So it's like a fried dough in a nice what
(16:40):
do you call that cone shape, and then they stuff
it with the same recotta filling. And this is like
a combination of a fried doughnut with sugar outside and
then the sweet recorda inside, and it's to die for.
It's really one of my favorite things.
Speaker 2 (17:00):
If we want to appease you, he know, then we
just buy you a plan of katachu.
Speaker 4 (17:05):
Can Yes, that will work.
Speaker 1 (17:07):
Yes, I think I have seen them.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
I think they might also be a little bit less
messy to eat.
Speaker 5 (17:13):
Yeah, they're softer, so when you take a bite, it's
not like falling apart in your hand.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
They're softer, and they will keep you full for the
entire day. If you have one of those in the morning,
watch out.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
It's got everything well because in fact, it's quite balanced
when you think about it, because it's got the car
and the protein because the ricotta is very high in protein.
So there you go. So, yeah, a complete meal, A
complete meal if you put some fruit on it. Yeah,
let's just go a little bit deep into this ricotta
because well, originally, back in the day, they make them
properly here now but then they use ricotta. But back
(17:47):
in the day they would use like some sort of
like pastry cream.
Speaker 1 (17:51):
And that's not traditional, is it. No?
Speaker 5 (17:54):
I mean you can now, like you'll still find a
lot of cannoli that are like filled with chocolate or
filled with pastry cream or pistachio cream. But these are
I think these are like modern inventions. They know that
the traditional canolo with ricotta has done well, and so
now you can find alternatives that are stuffed with more
(18:18):
I don't know, I hesitate to say artificial, but more
like yeah, maybe maybe more I don't know what the
word is.
Speaker 1 (18:25):
More mustidy creamy thing.
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Yeah, I mean they're good, but it's not the traditional No, it.
Speaker 5 (18:32):
Is not the traditional and if you want something with
a custard cream or pastry cream, there's lots of different options,
so go for like, go for the classic.
Speaker 2 (18:41):
If we want something with the more creamy based, what
do we go for.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
Most places in Italy you can find the Italian version
of a little bignier, which is sort of like a
shoe pastry stuffed with pastry cream or with like pistachio
cream or chocolate, like a chocolate custard.
Speaker 4 (19:00):
Those are really good.
Speaker 5 (19:00):
They're usually like the tiny, little size, and they call
the mignon pastries. Also, this is all from the French
kind of tradition. The French have their croissant and the
Italians have the version, the moon shaped version, which will
either be called a cornetto if you're in the south
of Italy or brioche if you're in the north. So
(19:21):
that's sort of the more modern pastry, but it's a
go to and you'll have you can have that filled
with yellow pastry cream or pistachio or nutella or chocolate,
and that's like a very very classic breakfast pick. And
I would always recommend that if you like the pastry cream,
I'd say.
Speaker 2 (19:41):
Delicious, and it's funny though, isn't it, Because brioche is
not the briosche that we think of, is it. It's
like in that context it's it's more, it's kind of weird.
It's not really croissant. It's something some different type of pastry.
Speaker 5 (19:55):
It's something that also Italians get mixed up, so brioche.
For example, here in Sicily, if you ask for a brioche,
you're going to get the Sicilian called tupo.
Speaker 4 (20:07):
For me, it's the closest to.
Speaker 5 (20:09):
Like a halla bread, like a sweet bread with a
little it's a little round sweetbread with a little cap
on the top, like a little hat.
Speaker 4 (20:18):
And this is the brioche in Sicily.
Speaker 5 (20:21):
So sometimes up north, when you ask for a brioche
you'll get a croissant type of pastry. So if a
northern Italian comes down to Sicily and asks for a brioche,
the waiter, often knowing that they're from the north from
their accent, will specify, do you want this Sicilian brioche?
Are you looking for sweetbread? Or you want an Italian brioche?
Are you looking for a more croissant type of thing?
(20:44):
So it's a confusing yes, it's a confusing language, brioch coordinato.
Speaker 4 (20:49):
There's a lot going on there.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
The brioche, though, there is a special thing with breakfast,
and I have to say, this is like one favorite
memory that I have from being in Sicily with my
husband's family who had an auntie. She sadly passed away now,
but she lived in Messina, and the relatives wanted to
give my children four years old, a proper Sicilian breakfast,
(21:14):
and so off we went and we got the granita
with the brioch, which really kept them going for a
few hours. But let's have a chat about that, because
that is something that's so Sicilian, and you know, you've
got to just go for it when you're there because
it is the best, literally, especially in summer.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
It is and it's not something that I would ever
have imagined on my radar. Dunking sweet bread into an
icy slushy type of thing. It's crazy, sounds crazy, but
it tastes wonderful. Sometimes if you're feeling superducadent on your granita,
you can get some whipped cream and then you have
(21:57):
your bread, your sweet bread, your briosh, and you have
your icy granita, which you can get fruit flavored, so
like lemon is a classic you're in Sicily. Like pistachio
and almond are super good. I also love coffee. If
you're starting off strong first thing in the morning, a
coffee granita with whipped cream on top, and then you're
(22:18):
briochha from the side and you just dunk it all together.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
It's delicious.
Speaker 5 (22:23):
However, I have to say my favorite granita flavor that
I have only really seen in Sicily is mulberry. So
coming from New England, coming from the Northeast, I don't
think I've ever seen a mulberry or really heard of
mulberry's before, and when I had a mulberry grenita that
was my first introduction. I couldn't understand. It's called jelousy
(22:47):
or gelso in Italian, and I just didn't know what
it was until I saw at a fruit store they
were selling just buckets and buckets of jealousy of mulberry,
and it's the most It's almost like a BlackBerry, but
it has a little bit more tang to it, and
it's my absolute favorite granita flavor for sure.
Speaker 2 (23:08):
Yeah, one time when we were there, we decided I'm
wearing matza Mimi. Actually it was a hot day and
we were by the sea and we wanted we got
the three flavors.
Speaker 1 (23:19):
I think we got almond, jelousy, pistachio.
Speaker 2 (23:22):
And the jelousy is really fresh, isn't it Like it
gives you a ZINNI?
Speaker 5 (23:27):
Yes, exactly, it has that saying. And it's great with
because the pistachio and the almond.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
Are are like rich, very rich.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
So when you have like another, you can always get
more than one flavor, often two flavors, and you're in
your granita, and so it has a nice combination when
you do like fresh mulberry and like that really rich
nutty pistaschio or almond, wonderful combination.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
Yeah. And the mulberry so is like bright purple.
Speaker 5 (23:56):
Yes, So don't wear your white outfit when you're eating it,
because I mean, if you're me, you're going to get
it everywhere and it stains.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
It really stains.
Speaker 2 (24:06):
How about these Sicilians, So they're always wearing white in summer,
white linen, and I don't know, they always look chicen.
Speaker 1 (24:12):
I don't know how they do it. There's no jelosy
veneta on them. It never looks crumpled. I know.
Speaker 5 (24:18):
Between between the like tomato sauce Chelsea like I couldn't
do it. I wear My strategy is to wear patterned
clothes so that when it stains, you can't really tell
that I've got huge stains all over it.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
I love it. Oh, it's so true though.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
I mean it's very juicy food like there's like a
lot of liquids happening, and yeah, bright colors.
Speaker 1 (24:40):
It's all good. It's all good.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
Wow, we've covered the two big ones. What else do
we have? There's so many other ones. Do you have
any other favorites?
Speaker 5 (24:49):
I think the iconic one of the iconic Sicilian sweets
is Casata. I would call it like the queen of
Sicilian cakes. Casata is beautiful. If you've have looked into
a Sicilian pastry shop and seen this, It's a round
cake covered often in a green almond paste on the
(25:11):
sides and then decorated with candied fruits, so like slices
of candied orange, candy, cherries, green and red, and it
just looks like something fit for royalty, and it is.
It's beautiful. It's super sweet, like most of the versions
that you will find in pastry shops at bars, It's
(25:34):
like a little slice will send you reeling for the
rest of the day.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
Have you had them before, Katie.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
It's too much for me to be honest with. Yeah,
you have to be a real sweet tooth.
Speaker 4 (25:45):
Yeah, I have a real sweet tooth.
Speaker 5 (25:47):
And this is something I learned the hard way. I
took like a whole casata home with me one time,
and my roommate and I had it for breakfast, lunch,
and dinner for like forty eight hours, and then we
both said, okay, time to take a pause.
Speaker 4 (26:02):
It was great.
Speaker 5 (26:02):
I fulfilled many dreams, eating almost entire casotan in forty
eight hours, but I don't think I'd do it again.
So for those who maybe haven't seen it, it's like
a sponge cake base, and then you have your sweet
ricotta layer, so that's the same sweet ricotta that you'd.
Speaker 4 (26:23):
Find in a canola. And then on.
Speaker 5 (26:25):
The outside you have a ring of almond paste that's
often colored green with you know, traditionally they would have
used some sort of greens to color it. Now we
have modern day food coloring, so it looks like electric
green often. And then on top, as I said, you
have all of these candied fruits, and if you get
a slice and you have like a whole candied orange
(26:47):
or a whole candied cherry on it. Just pure sugar
in your mouth, like pure, pure sugar. Absolutely delicious too.
Speaker 2 (26:54):
When I was Greg Avid Australia, if there are Australians
listening though, understand these, we had this ice cream that
was called casata and they made it similar to that
with candied fruits inside. So it was like the Australianized
version of the Sicilian casata, which was actually quite nice actually,
but you haven't seen it around very often. But yes,
(27:16):
for me, it's only a small slote. I don't think
I could go a whole casata.
Speaker 4 (27:21):
If you're looking for like a mini portion.
Speaker 5 (27:24):
So you have your casata, and often if you're getting
this in a bar, you'll get a slice.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Of casata of the big casata. But they also have.
Speaker 5 (27:32):
Something called cassatine which is a little casata and it
has the same shape, but it's mini size, so it's
just like maybe the size of your a small fist,
and they make the whole cake in these tiny little molds.
It looks exactly the same. You still have like the
green almond paste and a little candied fruit on top,
but it's a tiny version, and I think it's one
(27:54):
of the cutest little pastries that you can find, because
it's like the mini version, just a couple of bite
and I don't know, there's a lot of debate around
if it has the same taste as a big casata,
because obviously the proportions of like the almond paste and
the sweet ricotta are different than a big recorta.
Speaker 4 (28:13):
But I think it's cute.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Good to know, good to know. There's so many sweets,
so we've got we've got a whole list here.
Speaker 1 (28:19):
But one thing I.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Think is very interesting in Italy, and it's why you
have to keep going back, is because at certain times
of the year they bring out the certain types of
sweets and bakery items.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
And so Easter is a big one, isn't it.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
Let's take a quick break, bold brief and back before
you know it.
Speaker 5 (28:44):
Easter, Yes, Easter is a big moment for sweets. You'll
find a lot of casata. Something that I saw in
Sicily that I had not seen before. So Cicily has
the tradition of fruits de martana, which are the almond
paste treaits that are shaped like little fruits. So there's
(29:05):
molds and they take an almond paste, a sweet almond paste,
and they make it into the shape of like a
pear or an apple or even bananas. You can find
all different shapes and they hate them so they look
like real little fruits. These you'll find around Easter. But
then in Sicily you also find the same thing, but
(29:28):
in the shape of a little lamb, which is just
can be absolutely adorable or can be actually frightening, depending
on how well it's painted and how well it's made.
I'm happy to share photo evidence of Some of them
are scary almond paste lambs.
Speaker 1 (29:48):
Do it? I think I've got some cute ones where
we can put next.
Speaker 5 (29:51):
Yeah, we can showcase all of the all of the
styles of little lambs. But yeah, you have a little
lamb made of almond paste, and then.
Speaker 4 (30:01):
You're supposed to eat it.
Speaker 5 (30:02):
So I think it's easy to eat an almond paste fruit.
You cut it up, you're like, oh, I'm enjoying fruit.
But then when you get to your almond paste lamb,
you're going to have to dismember it. I don't know
if this is appropriate for a podcast, but it's like,
where do I start?
Speaker 4 (30:15):
Do I cut off the legs first? And eat them.
It's it's terrible. It's terrible.
Speaker 5 (30:19):
They're so cute to look at, but eating it is hard.
Speaker 1 (30:23):
Agree.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
I was like, hmm, I think that's just for decorations,
but no, they do eat them. And some of these
bakeries with these pastichili I have like huge ones as well.
Speaker 1 (30:33):
Like that's their window dressing.
Speaker 4 (30:36):
Yes, their window is played exactly.
Speaker 5 (30:38):
I'm like, who's the family of eighteen that's going to
eat this entire almond paste?
Speaker 4 (30:43):
Because if you, if you have tried.
Speaker 5 (30:46):
Any you know of the fruit of Martana or the
almond paste lambs. I mean one bite is it's pure
sugar and almond. You aren't having a cake sized portion
of this and take weeks to to get through just
one of these little sweets.
Speaker 2 (31:03):
Yeah, it's a lot. What about a Christmas time? Do
I have any things they like to eat at Christmas?
Speaker 5 (31:10):
So Christmas has one of the sweets that I've never seen.
I'd never seen anywhere. It's called pinolata and it's so cute.
I was trying to think this morning, Katie, if I
have seen it really in pastry shops and sometimes around
Christmas you find a little version. It's sort of like
a short cut crust pastry that's deep fried. So they
(31:33):
cut little nuggets of this. You have to imagine little
balls that are kind of like jingle bell sized of
short crust pastry, and then they deep fry them and
make this mound, this little mound of tiny little fried
dough balls, and then glaze it with tons of honey.
(31:53):
And the modern day version you have colored sprinkles on top,
so it's so cute. It also can stay out, so
you have like this pile, and then slowly through the holidays,
you're picking one after the other off this huge tray
of fried sweet dough balls. It's heavy, it's cute, but
(32:15):
it's something I've seen more in like homes. I have
seen some versions in pastry shops, but it's more like
I would see it more in families.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Is it a bit like this?
Speaker 2 (32:27):
Truefully they have in Naples, because that's more like their
puffy little doughbles.
Speaker 5 (32:33):
Yeah, these are like hard, which is which is the
thing interesting. It's like eating a fried cookie almost, yes,
a honey fried, honey covered cookie, I think. I mean,
if you're if you're listening, you're starting to hear Cilians
love fried things. So I'm thinking of like all of
the classics, and if you're not deep frying it, you're
(32:56):
probably not doing it right. Can shell the pinola. Sphin
Che are another super typical Sicilian dessert that are deep fried.
Speaker 4 (33:08):
Have you had them before?
Speaker 1 (33:10):
No, but tell me more.
Speaker 5 (33:13):
You can find them year round, the sphen che or
sometimes like pronounced sphenja, depending on where you are in Sicily,
but they are traditional of Sanduw's Appa, which is the
Italian Father's Day on March nineteenth, and sphenche Sandrew's appe.
In Sicily, you'll find that everyone prepares them a little
(33:37):
bit differently, so it's always sort of like a shoe
pastry that's deep fried. So you get this puff ball
that's empty inside. And in Palermo, for example, they often
stuff it with the sweet ricotta, so again deep fried
sweet ricotta, amazing combination.
Speaker 4 (33:57):
Can't go wrong.
Speaker 5 (33:58):
A sphen che where I've where I've lived for a
while in inland Sicily. There they do them. They do
the same you know, shoe pastry that's fried. Instead of
filling them, they just drizzle honey on top and then
they put either pistachio crumbs or like a slice of
candied orange on top, so they're a little bit lighter
than the Palermo version. But I've also seen them just
(34:21):
plain with powdered sugar. Yeah, it's a great It's in March,
is Sandrew's appe, so something sweet and fried and the
colder months is always nice. But now you can pretty
much find them here around if you look.
Speaker 2 (34:34):
Lace and delicious. I love anything with pistachio. Actually, I'm
a big pistachio lover. And in fact, when I come
back from Italy, if my family's not with me, I
am basically got half a suitcase full of pistachio things.
Speaker 4 (34:49):
Perfect.
Speaker 1 (34:50):
We're a big pistachio bed here.
Speaker 2 (34:52):
Now they have one other type of dessert, which is
more like pudding.
Speaker 1 (34:56):
So should we round it off with that? Yeah, something
a little bit lighter.
Speaker 4 (35:00):
So classic.
Speaker 5 (35:01):
Since we're in August, you can find jellod melone. So
this is like a watermelon pudding, and it's so good
because if you are in Sicily, you will see just
heaps and heaps of enormous watermelon everywhere you go, and
you won't know what to do with them because one
(35:22):
can only eat so much watermelon. Although that's not true.
It could eat watermelon forever. So they make a pudding,
a watermelon pudding, and it's absolutely delicious, super easy, very light,
very sweet because we love sweet. And this is the
summer version, the jello d melone, so watermelon jelly. Let's
(35:43):
say in the winter, you can often find a yello
di lemone, so a lemon like a lemon pudding or
a lemon custard. You know, you can do more of
a custard with like eggs if you want something heavier,
but depending on the season the pudding, you know, use
whatever fruit is is in season. So yeah, I'd love
a good Jello de milani.
Speaker 1 (36:04):
They're just really creating.
Speaker 2 (36:06):
When you've got like extra it's just stuff you've got
to make it into a sweet.
Speaker 5 (36:11):
Yes, it was thinking actually when you asked about Christmas,
because everything you know, sicily is abundant.
Speaker 4 (36:18):
We're lucky because we have a long growing season. But
then there's you.
Speaker 5 (36:21):
Know, the summer, in the fall harvest, which is just
everything's about preservation.
Speaker 4 (36:26):
And one of you know, one of their sweets.
Speaker 5 (36:28):
Here in the summer we have fig season, tons of figs.
But what you know, you can only eat so many
fresh figs, so often they'll dry the figs, and then
for Christmas time there's a sweet called buccellati, which are
cookies stuffed with like a dried fig.
Speaker 4 (36:43):
So they've used that fig they've.
Speaker 5 (36:45):
Preserved in the summer to make something that's delicious in
the winter.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
I feel about figs the way you feel about melons.
It's so good. My mother in law has a fig tree.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
It's striving in the Adelaide summers, gives big, juicy things.
It's very delicious, fantastic. Now, Hannah, we can all be
in sicily like you. So how easy are these things
to make?
Speaker 4 (37:09):
Listen? I'm I'm an eater. I'm not a cooker.
Speaker 5 (37:12):
Like I let the people who are good at what
they're doing do their jobs well, especially pastries, like I
will go to a pastry shop over trying to make
something at home, although I have to say I've had
a lot of wonderful cannoli that have been made by
others in their homes. If you're someone who's adventuress, who
(37:34):
likes to deep fry, who has time, who wants to
find the best ricotta around, you can definitely make it.
I think things like the jello di milone or Jello
di limone that sort of stuff is a little bit
easier to translate. Once you're out of Sicily or out
of Italy, you can definitely find whatever fruits in season
and do a nice little you know, like a little
(37:55):
jelly or a little pudding type thing. I'm going to
be honest, you know, I don't think they're easy to
make it home, but if you do make them, I
will happily try them for you. I can taste test.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
Or you just have to go to Sicily and it
can take you on a tour of her favorite pastichia.
Have you got anyones that you want to share with everyone?
Speaker 5 (38:18):
My advice is always to look for pastry shops because
now like a lot of bars or cafes, they have pastries.
Speaker 4 (38:25):
If you find a.
Speaker 5 (38:26):
Place that's only doing pastries, you know they're probably good
at what they do. Also, you know, a lot of
these sweet traditions, something we didn't talk about, you know,
came out of the convents, so nuns were often in
charge of making a lot of a lot of the
sweet treats.
Speaker 4 (38:42):
Sugar was precious.
Speaker 5 (38:44):
For example, in Palermo, there's still like that Santa Caterina
convent where you can go and get one of the
biggest and sweetest cannoli in Sicily. So you can look
for places that are you know, that are unusual like that,
where to find sweets. I'll show you some great places,
but I think you'll find a lot of really good
places anywhere in Sicily.
Speaker 2 (39:06):
So don't get sucked in by these tiktoks or instagram
giant canoli's.
Speaker 1 (39:12):
Or whatever like. Yeah, go to the neighborhood prestigiity.
Speaker 2 (39:16):
And the thing is over there is that they're very
proud of their work and they're mainly serving locals.
Speaker 1 (39:23):
For this stuff.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
So you're not going to last very long if you're
doing a dodgy canoli exactly.
Speaker 4 (39:28):
That's true, That's very true.
Speaker 2 (39:31):
But I think as well what you said is go
for the prestigiaty over the bar.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
So I think maybe if people haven't.
Speaker 2 (39:39):
Got a lot of experience traveling in Italy, they may
not know the difference actually, because a bar might be
open all day and maybe into the evening and they
may do breakfast with a briosh or the canoli if
you're in Sicily, and they may go on until, you know,
maybe eight o'clock at night, serving drinks and snacks and
things so it's not their specialty.
Speaker 5 (39:58):
Right, There are some there are some great bars that
have great pastries attached to them, but a lot of
the times they won't be as fresh. They might be outsourcing,
like they might have a Pastry Please doing their pastries.
So you know, if you find a spot that does
only pastries, it's a good sign.
Speaker 2 (40:20):
Hannah, this has been a bit of a treat, and
I'm very hungry now, and I'm very jealous that you're
probably going to now wander down the street for a
freshly popcinolo after we finish this recording.
Speaker 4 (40:30):
I might I might get a cat today, Katie, I
might go crazy.
Speaker 1 (40:34):
Who knows, Oh why did you get two? Who knows?
Speaker 2 (40:37):
Just pretendent that I'm hitting one of them, and then
you won't feel guilty at all. Grat Hannah, thank you
so much for sharing all your information on the podcast
about Sicilian sweets. I know that when anyone's on tour
with Hannah, they are going to have a delicious sweet
treat time. And she does so much about Italian food
(41:00):
and Tonguian wine, and it's just a delight to hear
you talk about it. I always enjoy having chats with you.
So thank you so much, Gratsy Relive for coming on
the podcast.
Speaker 4 (41:11):
Oh thank you, Katie.
Speaker 5 (41:12):
It's always fun to be here, and yes, please come over.
I will share sweet treats with you anytime, and I'm
excited to continue my adventures here in Italy and share
with everyone all of the yummy things we have.
Speaker 1 (41:27):
Graty Hitter, thank you Katie.
Speaker 2 (41:33):
Even if you're more tempted by salty flavors than sweet,
I can assure you that you'll want to get stuck
into the treats on offer in Sicily.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Want it for you.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
If you're in a group, I can recommend ordering all
the grenada flavors that one go so you can try
them all. I loved the Jealousy or mulberry flavor and pistachio,
but the kids love chocolate and strawberry, and my husband
like the almond and coffee, so it worked out great
for us. We'll be making sure we all our guests
have an in depth Sicilian Suite experience in a few
(42:04):
weeks time, when we head into Sweet Making Heaven in
the Valdnuto on our Eastern Sicily tour and on next
year's Sicily trip, our twelve day adventure across the island
includes a sweet making workshop at one of the most
celebrated bakeries on the island. You'll find all the details
of those tours and the delicious suitees we discussed today
(42:24):
on our website at Untold Italy dot com. Forward slash
two eight nine for episode number two hundred and eighty
nine Grautzia Mile. Thank you to all our wonderful listeners
for your ongoing support of Untold Italy. I hope you
enjoyed today's show. If you did, then it would be
wonderful if you gave us a rating or review in
your favorite podcast app and a big shout out to
(42:46):
Champagne Stefanova from Australia for their lovely review. It sounds
like you might also be an Oasis fan like me,
so I do appreciate your support. On next week's episode,
we're going to discuss us another suite. It's our product
from central Italy. It's one that's steeped in tradition and
ritual and it's an important part of the culture of
(43:07):
the Amelia region.
Speaker 1 (43:09):
But until then, it's chow for now.
Speaker 2 (43:13):
The Untold Italy podcast is an independent production podcast editing
audio production and website development by Mark Hattera, production assistance
and content writing by the Are they kg Clark?
Speaker 1 (43:25):
Yes, there are two of us. For more information about
Untold Italy, please visit untold Italy dot com
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