Un Cannolo Siciliano

This past weekend I attended the John Felice Rome Center study trip to Sicily. Although I am a lover of fish, of which I had plenty in Sicily, I promised myself that I would not board the plane back to Rome before trying one particular Sicilian dessert: un cannolo. Un cannolo, known as a cannoli in America, is a dessert made by filling a fried pastry dough tube with sweetened ricotta cheese or cream. However, many Sicilian’s would argue that a “true” cannolo is made with ricotta cheese, not cream. According to JustSicily.it, the modern day cannolo was invented in the central Sicilian town of Caltanissetta by Arabs in Sicily. The Arabs introduced cane sugar to the region and incorporated the Sicilian’s ricotta cheese from sheep’s milk into the dessert. 

            Upon arriving to the town of Monreale, just south of Palermo, we had some free time to explore the quaint Sicilian town. I was immediately on the hunt for a real Sicilian cannolo. After getting off the main piazza, I headed for the first bakery I saw. Stepping inside, I was greeted by the charming Sicilian family who owned the bakery, all hard at work behind the counter. I ordered “un cannolo” and after a few minutes the baker emerged from the back with the freshly filled pastry. I paid the two Euros and, after returning to the main piazza, I opened up the bag and dug in. The cannolo was one of the best pastries I have ever had. The sweetness of the ricotta cheese and powdered sugar perfectly complemented the savory fried pastry dough casing. I could also tell the pastry was filled with fresh ricotta just moments before. After finishing the cannolo, since all good things must sadly come to an end, I thought about the main ingredient of the dessert: the ricotta cheese. I did not know much about this type of cheese, but the Sicilian’s ability to sweeten it and make it into such an amazing dessert peaked my interest. 

            Later that week, I found out in my food and wine class’ cheese making presentation that ricotta cheese gets its name due to the process of making the cheese. “Ricotta” means cooked twice because the cheese is first heated like traditional cheese, with milk, and then heated again with the leftover milk whey. While Italians favor using sheep’s milk for ricotta cheese, Americans favor using cow’s milk. According to recipes.howstuffworks.com, the ricotta in a cannolo is blended until smooth with cane sugar and then used to fill the fried pastry dough casing. Seems like a simple enough dessert, consisting of fried dough casing and sweetened cheese, but the authentic Sicilian combination creates a sweet and savory combination that makes me want to fly back just to have another!