Tour of traditional Calabrian desserts

Calabria has a very sweet soul, made up of simple, genuine ingredients and flavours rooted in rural culture, enriched by Greek, Arabic and Spanish influences. If you want to discover Calabria's traditional desserts, this is a journey through authentic flavours, jealously guarded ancient recipes and rituals that mark the festivals and seasons that follow one another.

Were you hoping to reproduce them by following recipes on the web? Impossible, you have to come and taste these desserts in Calabria because here, they have a completely different flavour.

When December arrives in Calabrian homes, tables are filled with trays laden with traditional Christmas sweets, fried, baked, colourful or simply decorated. Each province has its own variations, making them all different from one another. Starting with nougat made with local almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts: you can try different types that vary mainly in consistency, but the most famous, as we know, are those from Bagnara Calabra.

Crocette or crucitti in the province of Cosenza are made from dried figs that are opened and crossed. They are made with cinnamon, honey and walnuts, often enriched with citrus peel. They are baked in the oven and covered with chocolate or fig honey. There is no Christmas without scalille and turdilli, fried and glazed with fig honey or dark chocolate. If you happen to be passing through San Giovanni in Fiore, you cannot ignore the lure of pitta 'mpigliata or 'nchiusa, an ancient dessert consisting of shortcrust pastry rolled up into a compact spiral and filled with raisins, walnuts and honey.

In Soriano Calabro, Christmas is the time for 'nzuddha or Calabrian mostacciolo, an extraordinarily simple dessert (flour, honey and flavourings) yet incredibly spectacular thanks to the shapes that skilled hands give it, moulding it before baking. In Locride and in general in the province of Reggio Calabria, you will taste nacatole, made from soft wheat flour, eggs, extra virgin olive oil, milk, aniseed and yeast, fried and sprinkled with sugar. They are prepared around Christmas as a sign of good luck, because naca in dialect means cradle and refers to the cradle of the Baby Jesus.

Many of these typical Christmas sweets are prepared throughout the year. This is the case with bocconotti or bucconotti, which are practically always available in pastry shops and bakeries. These are shortcrust pastry shells made strictly with lard and filled with jam, mustard or chocolate. You can find them almost everywhere, but especially in Pollino, in the Mormanno area.

You can tell it's Carnival by the aroma that fills the streets and squares of every Calabrian village. It's time to fry up lots of crispy chiacchiere: thin sheets of pastry covered with icing sugar. It is reminiscent of Neapolitan struffoli, but it is pignolata, another typical Carnival dessert: small balls fried and then held together by a drizzle of honey.

The undisputed queen of Easter tables is the cuzzupa – known as cuculo in some areas, gute, cudduraci or cozzupe in others – which is prepared on Holy Thursday to be eaten on Easter Sunday. The ingredients are simple, traditional peasant fare: water, flour, eggs and milk. Skilled hands transform the dough into artistically shaped cakes, which are then decorated with coloured sprinkles and hard-boiled eggs, which according to popular belief are a sign of good luck.

Easter is also the season for susumelle, similar to mostaccioli but with a softer texture. The dough is flavoured with cooked wine, honey and cinnamon.