The Cartiddate: Southern Italy’s Unique Doughy Dessert
In Southern Italy, The Puglia region meanders down the Adriatic Coast and stretches from the city of Bari south towards the city of Taranto. One of the major regions of Southern Italy, Puglia (also referred to as Apuglia) has it’s own unique cuisine that can’t be found anywhere else. And if you break it down further, each city has a range of specialties they call their own or at the very least are variations of the same theme.
Well, if ever there was a period of time dedicated to enjoying a good meal, the time between Christmas Eve and New Years Day has to be it. I could fill up a list as long as my arm writing about all the different holiday dishes and delicacy’s there are, but there’s one that stands out in particular – the Cartiddate (pronounced car – teh – dah – tey). A twisted, flat little strand of dough that’s fried in olive oil and covered in honey. It’s not quite a pastry, more like finger food for someone with a sweet tooth! It’s origin is probably as old as Italy itself. But a closer look at the economics of Southern Italy and the Puglia region in particular probably places the timeline for this tasty little morsel within the last 200 years or so. A little history puts it all in perspective.
Southern Italy has always suffered from being in the shadow of the more affluent North. It is an area that long ago earned the moniker “economically deprived”. Forever an area dependent on agriculture and farming, Southern Italy has lived with this stigma since the late 1800’s. In fact, there’s an old saying that translates more or less to “the cuisine of Puglia was born in the kitchens of poverty”. There’s a lot of truth to that, as people in the South made do with what they had. Times are certainly not as bleak as they were before World War II or even earlier, but the fact remains, when it came to eating, nothing was wasted and that included dessert.
The Cartiddate – which according to some means “twisted piece of paper”, may have found its origins in this lifestyle of “waste not wants not”. Perhaps a cook somewhere found himself with bits and pieces of left-over dough. And thought it might taste good fried with a little honey on top! It wouldn’t be the first time something was discovered in this way!
At any rate, this is a relatively easy dessert to make. A quick side note: Southern Italy produces more olive oil that the rest of the country combined combined. So it comes as no surprise that the Cartiddate – like practically every other fried food in Southern Italy – is deep fried in olive oil.
So clear off your kitchen table and get ready to make a traditional Pugliese delicacy!
First the ingredients: 5 cups of white flour
Enough olive oil to fill a fryer or deep pan
Olive oil to mix with the flour and yeast
One jar of honey. You will want to thin the honey with warm water
Confectioner’s sugar or cinnamon powder or both
It’s true, that each township makes Cartiddate a little differently. In the coastal town of Brindisi where I live, I can only comment on how I’ve seen my 80 year old mother-in-law make it! She mixes the flour with olive oil. I’ve heard that some people use yeast in addition to flour and it’s not for me to say the logic in this. If I drive 30 miles to the next town, that might be how they make it!
Anyway, mix the oil and flour into a dough, knead well and divide the dough into smaller portions. Take a rolling pin and flatten out the dough. Get the dough as flat as you can. At this point you can take a knife and cut the flattened dough into small strips about 6 inches long. Twist each strip and connect it to make a ring. Drop a few rings of flattened dough into the boiling olive oil and fry for a minute or two until the rings turn golden brown. Now take the Cartiddate and drain on a towel and leave them to cool. You can probably make a 6 or 7 dozen of these! They’re not supposed to be very big, so the size will dictate how many you come out with.
After they cool, spread all the Carteddate onto a few plates or trays and take the thinned honey and pour or brush it liberally all of the fried dough rings. The amount of honey shouldn’t overpower the fried rings of dough. On top of this you have the option of sprinkling confectioner’s sugar, cinnamon or candy sprinkles (the kind you put on cakes).
If you get this far, you’re done! That’s all it takes!
An interesting detail regarding Southern Italian cuisine; it depends less on specific measurements (like cupfuls, spoonfuls and the like) and more on what looks “right” to make something taste “good”. I’ve provided you with measurements that “seem right” to my mother-in-law!
The Cartiddate is a popular item in Southern Italy during Christmas and New Years. And a tradition whose survival depends on being passed down from mother to daughter. Let’s hope some of these old ways keep up with the passage of time!
