I love festivals. Italy really knows how to party. Huge parades, lots of lights, often fireworks and costumes, but mostly FOOD. I was in Catania February 5th, Saint Agatha’s day. She is the patron saint of Catania. It was HUGE. They celebrate for three days. It coincides with the Candelora, which is the festival of candles, so there are also candles. The incredible jewel bedazzled statue is carried around on the shoulders of strong men around the entire city.
The jewels on the statue are amazing. You can see where Dolce e Gabbana get their inspiration from.
In Sicily, sugar rules! Marzipan is everywhere as well as cannoli, cassate and granite. Often the sweet has a special symbol. Agatha was martyered by having her breasts pulled off. OUCH. The traditional sweet you see all year long are called Minnuzze or Breasts of Saint Agata. They are darling! They are really like a small cassata, sponge cake with ricotta filling, but their shape and the little cherry nipple remind me of a stripper more than of a saint.
The other sweet which is made of marzipan are small green olives, looking like the olives from Castelvetrano. It is an easy sweet to make at home and you can control how sweet you want them to be. The story goes that as Agatha was escaping from the soldiers, she paused to tie her shoe and an olive tree protected her from the soldiers sight and also provided olives for her to eat.
I first made these for a presentation at a culinary conference on the importance of the almond in cooking. Italy is one of the producers of a special almond, from Noto and the region around the Temples in Agrigento has an almond festival every February. I have been to an orchard in California when the almonds are in bloom and it is magical. The frangrance is overwhelming.
In making this almonds, we do a classic simple almond paste called Pasta Reale. It is eggless. This is used for forming the marzipan fruits as well. Normally they would grind the peeled almonds with the granulated sugar and add some simple syrup and then knead the dough. It is a simple recipe, using ratio.
Equal weights of ground almond flour and granulated sugar and 1/4 the weight in water.
Ingredients
- 200 grams of ground almond flour , which is easier than grinding your own.
- 200 grams of sugar ( plus extra for rolling them in after they are formed)
- 1/2 cup of water
- drops of green food coloring.
Instructions
- Mix the sugar and water together and stir to melt the sugar over low heat.
- You don't want it to caramelize, simply to form a "thread" which is a syrup.
- Add the liquid to the ground almond flour and mix with a spoon.
- Add drops of green food coloring slowly. I used 4 drops.
- Mix well to combine the food coloring and to form a dough.
- Let it rest until cool.
- Form small olives and roll them in additional granulated sugar to form a crust.
Interesting to read about the history and culture. My great grandmother was from Castelveltrano.
I go to Castelvetrano often. There are so many wonderful food products from there. The olives of course, and a family started making oil from those olives, Gianfranco Becchina and now there is a huge industry also doing oil. The famous bread from Castelvetrano, which is a rare wheat is incredible. That is also now available in the USA! I brought a huge bag from the flour mill ( molino drago) to the USA to Gustiamo in Brooklyn, and they are now importing it. they also sell the Busiate pasta made with that flour.
Thanks Judy. I love marzipan!!
hope you try this! it is so easy with ground almond flour
It looks very yummy.
Thanks for sharing such a delicious recipe with us.
i hope you try it! do you use ground almond flour in India? or use something like marzipan?
Love 💕 your site, history plus delicious recipes
I always learn something new Thanks 😘
thank you! always nice to know when someone enjoys it! you should try making these or any marzipan with this recipe. it is very easy when you buy ground almond flour.