Basilicata Traditional Christmas Recipes

23 December 2021

Christmas traditions vary throughout the different regions of Italy, The Christmas season is known as one of Italy’s most celebrated holidays. It is an exciting occasion to cook up some best-loved family recipes, to dine with friends and family and to be merry, of course.
We want to let you know some of our most cherished Basilicata Traditional Christmas Recipes.

Simply Pettole

It’s not Christmas in Basilicata without Pettole.
It is commonly recalled that a local woman, who was preparing a dough for bread, left it to follow a crowd around town. The dough, being left to leaven for too long, was no longer useful for bread making. So the woman broke the dough into small pieces and fried them in hot oil, the result was so delicious that the recipe itself spread around her house.
Pettole are puffed up, small balls of dough that are crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside, often dressed up with flavor-packed ingredients such as olives or anchovies, but also eaten plain. Pettole often mark the beginning of the festive season in Southern Italy.

Cartellate: Patience and Technique

During the holiday season, no meal in Basilicata is complete without trays overflowing with these sweets. Delectable to adults and children alike, this dessert isn’t easy to make. It requires a lot of patience and technique. Preparing these ancient treats is a true ritual involving the whole family. These nests of fried dough are made with simple ingredients, but require a long and laborious preparation process. It takes quite a few hands and just as much time to craft a kilo of cartellate. Finally, cartellate are dunk in vincotto or in honey, depending on the family’s tradition. Every family has its own secret recipe.

The Struffoli: Christmas Delicious Sweet Snack

Struffoli are a fun and delicious sweet snack to have on the table for visitors during Christmas time and let them dig in with their hands.
Struffoli are tiny dough balls deep-fried before rolling in delicious honey with confetti on top. They are arranged on a serving plate in the shape of a dome with a hole in the center.
Would you like to taste Pettole, Cartellate or Truffoli?
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