Carnival is a global festival that is celebrated in almost every country in the world, this Catholic tradition is celebrated mostly with traditional parades and games. The peculiar thing about this party is the use of masks of all kinds.
In Italy, as in many other countries, the carnival festival is celebrated in the month of February or March depending on the calendar, traditionally starting on Thursday and ending on Tuesday.
Many of the dishes of the Italian tradition have a history, this is not an exception. We are talking about the “Frappe“, a typical carnival sweet. This sweet has different names depending on the area in which you are.
In Rome it is known as Frappe, in Liguria as “Bugie”, in Tuscany as “Cenci” and in Venice as “Chiacchiere”. This is the only difference because the recipe for the famous “Frappe” is the same.
The history of “Frappe”
The history of this famous carnival treat dates back to the time of ancient Rome. At the time of the Saturnalia, festivals very similar to the current carnival, during that period people gathered to hold popular festivals with large banquets. Everything was done in a very exaggerated way and full of fried and fatty foods like pork and they had a recipe for a fried sweet made with eggs, flour and sugar. This was the origin of the famous “Frappe”.
Photo Credits: Rollopack, Bugie chiacchiere, CC BY-SA 4.0
The recipe of Frappe
The recipe is very easy and you can make it at home.
Ingredients:
500 gr flour
80 gr sugar
50 gr butter
3 eggs
Process:
Integrate all the ingredients in a bowl and knead. When the mixture has a homogeneous consistency, it is ready to stretch and then cut into squares. Once you have the squares made, put the frying oil in a pot and fry the “Frappe”.
When they are ready you can add sugar or bathe them in honey as the ancient Romans did.
