1 pound of sugar
1/2 pound of pine nuts, blanched
cinnamon-flavored water
lemon juice

For lining cookies
"Hosts" [Thin white-colored wafers] or paper cups
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Original Italian Text
una librra di zucchero
mezza libbra di tanti bianchi e pronti pignoli
d'acqua di cannella
succo di limone

ostia bianca o sulla carta

Take a pound of sugar, and melt it until it has the right color, then add 1/2 pound of blanched pine nuts, add a little cinnamon-flavored water and lemon juice.

Mix well.

Place the sugared pine nut clusters on hosts or in paper cups, making the clusters into the regular size.



Original Italian Texts

Prenda una librra di zucchero, che lo ferai in ginlebbe stretto, e propriamente al casse che e la nona cottura da me immaginato, e quando avrai portato il zucchero a tal punto, ci mescolarai mezza libbra di tanti bianchi e pronti pignoli, con un pochino d'acqua di cannella e succo di limone; li rivolgerai bene, e quando saranno bene uniti li farai assodare sull ostia bianca, o sulla carta, formandone le pignolate di una regolare grossezza.

The recipe in this entry was taken from the book, "Cucina Teorico-pratica" by Ippolito Cavalcanti (Naples: Di G. Palma, 1839). For the complete copyright-free Italian cookbook visit www.archive.org.... P.S. Having tried this recipe, I won't say it's bad, it's good enough, but because because pine nuts are so expensive in North America, I don't think this recipe is worth doing. Still, for those who can't resist the taste of pine nuts, this recipe could be to their liking. What's interesting about this recipe is its name: "pignolata." Nowadays "pignolata" often describes fried balls of dough that are placed one on top of each other. If one googles images for "pignolata" that's what one gets (Dough balls in the shape of a mountain). Still, as the Italian word, "pignoli," means pine nuts, it's not surprising that a "pignolata" contains pine nuts. The nice thing about this recipe is that the nut clusters are presented on "ostia" -- "hosts." This makes the look of the sweet attractive. Unfortunately, while thick host sheets are readily available in food shops (Even some Dollarshops have them in Montreal) the thin ones are very difficult to locate. Some old American cookbooks suggest that one can use Japanese-style "rice" paper for Italian-style "hosts," but this is a big mistake. Rice paper that is used to make sushi has to be soaked in water for it to have the right texture, and if one does that, then it becomes almost transparent, serving no purpose in the presentation of nut clusters. If one doesn't soak the rice paper in water, then it has the texture of walnut shells -- sharp, brittle and unappetizing. Enough said. Comments and photo: Mary Melfi.

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