The traditional Sicilian cannoli is made with a fried tube-shaped shell filled with sheep’s milk ricotta, but the filling can vary: from pastry cream to chantilly, from buffalo ricotta to pistachio or chocolate cream. The shell of the cannoli is crunchy, the inside is a sweet caress for the palate enriched with candied fruit, chocolate chips, vanilla and/or cinnamon flavoring. Cannoli are usually decorated with powdered sugar and chopped nuts (almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts) which are placed on the portion of filling that sticks out of the shell.
The history of the Sicilian Cannoli is somewhat uncertain. Without recorded information, the origins of this dessert can be reconstructed through assumptions and some hints in ancient writings. What seems certain is that the cannoli dates back to ancient times and has undergone significant variations over time to reach us in the form and substance that we all know today.
The first mention was actually made by Cicero in 70 BC, who during a trip to Sicily was enchanted by a “Tubus farinarius dulcissimo edulio ex lacte fartus”, which translates to a tube of flour filled with soft milk cream. This seems to be a description of the ancestor of our beloved cannoli, in a still primitive and undefined version. But how did we get to the cannoli as we know it today? There are different versions, halfway between history and legend, reality and fiction.
The first hypothesis is linked to Arab domination. Although ricotta has been a product in Sicily for a long time, it was the Arabs who mixed it with sugar, forming an exquisite cream that is at the base of Sicilian pastry.
According to this story, the Sicilian Cannoli was born in Caltanissetta. Some historians argue that the cannoli was invented by cloistered nuns, modifying and reworking the ancient recipe; according to other historians, it was the women of the countless harems that populated the city who passed the time preparing delicious sweets. In particular, they would have reworked a typical dessert from the Saracen tradition, proposing it with typical Sicilian ingredients.
Another hypothesis, strongly supported by journalist and historian Gaetano Basile, tells us about the cannoli being born as a typical dessert of the carnival period. This dessert was meant to be a joke, something fun and irreverent at the same time, and so a dessert in the shape of a phallus was created.
