All Saints and Festa dei Morti, two anniversaries that in Italy still have the power to bring together entire families, from the Alps to the islands. Heartfelt anniversaries that are also honored around a beautiful set table. It should also be noted that there are manyculinary legends' accompanying the seeds popular of these two very evocative days full of pathos. In every Italian region there are dishes that are consumed exclusively between the first and the second of November, ancient dishes dedicated to Saints and especially to the dead. Really many recipes that recall the memory of the dearly departed and that enhance the aromas and flavors of the autumn season.
Typical dishes of the Feast of the Dead
In the past, always according to popular beliefs, from one end of the boot to the other, lights were lit near the window and the tables of the houses were set, right in the night between the first and two of November. The banquets were set up to welcome deceased family members who came to visit. In Sicily, also in these two days, baskets of sweets containing sugar dolls were given to children martorana fruit. In practice, the custom of trick or treat of today's Halloween, in Italy was already in vogue for some time.
Among the typical dishes of the Day of the Dead there are soups with vegetables, born as poor dishes and then become unique dishes with the addition of various types of meat. Already at the beginning of the Middle Ages in Day of the Dead the boiled chickpeas were distributed to the poor. For this reason, one of the most typical dishes of this day is precisely the chickpea soup. The recipe varies from region to region, so much so that in some versions pumpkin, which is the typical vegetable of this period, is also added to the soup.
From bread to desserts, a tradition that has been handed down for centuries
There are many varieties of breads and sweets such as the Apulian colva, a sort di autumn fruit salad which is prepared with pomegranate, cooked wheat, dried figs, walnuts and almonds. Also sasanelli are sweets for the Feast of the Dead, also these typical Apulian products based on almonds, vincotto of figs. The appearance of these stone-shaped sweets is rustic; however, it is one of the tastiest and most refined sweets of the Apulian tradition. There is also the bread of the saints of Tuscan origin, a small loaf, with a soft dough enriched with dried fruit and raisins. It is prepared from the beginning of autumn until Christmas, but especially during feast of the Saints and the Dead.
Bread of the Dead
Pane dei Morti is made with crumbled dry biscuits and dried fruit. Among the digressions on the subject also that with cocoa, wine and other tasty ingredients. This particular bread, of clear peasant origin, is prepared in different parts of Italy.
Martorana fruit and castagnaccio
In Sicily the martorana fruit it is prepared especially on the occasion of the feast of the dead. According to tradition, this confectionery specialty was born thanks to the nuns of the monastery of Marzipan who, to replace the fruits harvested from their garden, created new and tasty ones with almond flour and sugar. A way to make the monastery table richer on the occasion of important visits. These desserts are among the typical specialties of Sicilian pastry which boasts an ancient tradition. And, again, in different parts of Italy the castagnaccio it is inevitable on the tables of the first and second of November.
This food, of origin Tuscany, is prepared using chestnut flour. It is a sweet cake, enriched with raisins and pine nuts strongly flavored with rosemary. So many typical products, made of authentic and genuine flavors that still resist the fashions of modern gastronomy and the contaminations of sophisticated pastry today. Secular recipes that are handed down from generation to generation, enhancing the best tradition of the Italian culinary art.
