Ingredients
o Caggiunitti
o Caragnole -- generally associated with Christmas, but some households also made caragnole for The Feast Day of St. Joseph [For recipe see "Fritters"]
o Caveciune, calcioni, cauciuni, calciumi, or calciuni [For recipes see "Calcioni"]
o Cavzunett', a sweet ravioli fritter, stuffed with chickpeas [from the town of Gambatesa]
o Cicerchiata di Larino
o Colzoncelli, St. Joseph fritters, similar to casciatell'
o Marmellata di ciliegie
o Riso con il latte, rice pudding traditionally made for Christmas Eve, St. Joseph Eve and Good Friday [For recipe see "Fritters"]
o Sfringiuni, fried yeast dough -- Guardialfiera, Molise [For recipe see "Fritters"]
o Scrippelle [Spelling varies: in Molise, Italy, the fritter is known as "screppelle," in dialect as "scr'pell' natalizie"; in North America, it is generally spelled as "scrippelle"; other spellings include: Scrapelle, Scrapelles, Scrippelle, Scrippelles, Screppelli, and Scrapelli], long columns of fried dough [For recipe see "Fritters"]
o Zeppole di San Giuseppe [for recipes see "Pastries" and/or "Fritters"]
Directions
Notes
Additions and/or corrections are welcomed.... In Molise St. Joseph desserts differed from town to town -- often the desserts were similar, but their names differed. You'll find people who were born in Molise that will argue that "caucini" were only done for the Christmas holidays and not for the Feast Day of Saint Joseph. Others will argue the other way round. The fact is some households only did "caucini" for the Christmas holidays, while others only did it for the Feast Day of Saint Joseph. Also, prior to World War II the modern-style "zeppole" -- creams puffs -- were rarely (if ever!) made in Molise for the Feast Day of Saint Joseph. The ingredients needed would have been too expensive for the average family. In the 1930s the word, zeppole," generally described a fritter (fried yeast dough) -- it could be either sweet or savory. However, in the 1950s both those living in Molise and those who immigrated to North American started to adopt the Sicilian version of zeppole. Nowadays, Italian pastry shops anywhere and everywhere sell cream-filled zeppole as the traditional St. Joseph treat. |
