Origins and recipe for susamielli
Susamielli are the Christmas sweet par excellence of the Amalfi Coast and are never missing from the table during the festive season, along with struffoli, roccocò, mostaccioli and calzoncelli. For those who do not know them, they are hard S-shaped biscuits made with flour, sugar, almonds, honey and candied fruit, and flavoured with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and vanilla. In addition to the classic version, there are several variations, both in terms of ingredients and shape. Susamielli bring to the table the tradition of yesteryear, made up of simple flavours, fragrances and that typical atmosphere of long family dinners.
Their origins date back as far as ancient Greece. They would be the heirs of the honey and sesame doughnuts prepared in honour of the goddesses Demeter and Core of the Eleusinian Mysteries. We then find them again in the 17th century, with the Poor Clares of the Convent of Santa Maria della Sapienza (located in the historical centre of Naples), who were precisely specialised in the production of these sweets (in a variant, however, with an elliptical shape), then called ‘sapienze’ (from the name of the monastery). According to the humanist and philologist Antonio Altamura, it was from the mid-19th century that susamielli were given their characteristic and unmistakable S-shape in honour of the Neapolitan writer Luigi Settembrini.
In ancient times, they were prepared in three different versions: the ‘susamielli nobili’, made with high-quality white flour, pisto and almond paste for illustrious guests; the ‘susamielli dello zampognaro’, made with coarse flour and discarded ingredients (such as citrus peels), to be offered to poor guests or pipers (as compensation for their work in travelling Christmas concerts); and the ‘susamielli del buon cammino’, intended for priests and filled with sour cherry jam.
Regarding the name, although many believe it derives from its shape, it is actually derived from the Greek ‘sesamon’, going back to the late Latin ‘sesamum+mel’, meaning sesame and honey, the main ingredients with which they were once made. A small curiosity: the term sumaniello, perhaps due to the hardness and dryness of the biscuit, is used in the traditional lexicon to indicate a heavy and annoying person.
Susamielli can be found in all pastry shops and bakeries along the Amalfi Coast, but for those who want to prepare them at home, here is the recipe.
Ingredients (for about 15 pieces)
250 grams of flour
250 grams honey
100 grams sugar
100 grams of almonds
1 tablespoon candied fruit
pisto (chopped cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, vanilla)
a pinch of ammonia for sweets
Procedure
First make a well in the flour well and add the almonds (toasted and coarsely chopped) and the candied fruit. Then melt the honey with the sugar in a saucepan and pour it into the centre of the well, taking care not to let it cool. Add the pisto and ammonia, and begin to knead everything until a homogeneous mixture is obtained. From the dough, cut out ‘sausages’ about 10 cm long and 2 cm wide. Place them in the shape of an S on a baking tray covered with baking paper, pressing them down slightly, and bake in a preheated oven for about 15 minutes at 180 degrees (until golden brown).
Photo © CiboToday
