What to drink with Cannoli Siciliani?

Out of all the Sicilian food that you must eat every day while you are in Sicily, the cannoli are definitely in the top 5! Different versions of this pastry exist, filled with chocolate or a pistachio cream, but the classic with ricotta remains the all-time favourite!

The origin of this dessert (or all-day long dish) can be found in Caltanissetta, a city found in the center of Sicily. During the Arabian occupation, products like almonds, lemons and pistachio nuts were imported to the island. Along with them came the sugar canes, and this played an important role in the tube shape of this pastry. In the convents of Caltanissetta, the recipe was further refined and the cannoli were served during the carnival festivities. The cannoli contain three important parts; the fried dough, the filling and the garnish. The dough is mainly made of flower, butter, egg white, cacao, sugar and marsala or dry white wine (I prefer marsala). In the classic recipe the filling is made of ricotta (mostly of sheep milk), confit orange and sugar. For the garnish mostly chocolate, orange and crumbled pistachio nuts are used. 

The Sicilian word for tube is ‘cannolu’ while the Latin word is ‘canna’ and refers of course to the shape of the dough after it’s been fried. Back in the day, the dough used to be rolled with the sugarcanes in order to obtain the shape. Now metal cannolo tubes are used instead. 
When enjoying some cannoli for breakfast, I would just suggest an espresso or cappuccino with it, but since we should enjoy cannoli throughout the whole day, some interesting wine pairing came to mind. Of course, you can think of overly sweet or fortified wines, like a Vin Santo (a wine style that can be found in multiple regions in Italy and even Greece!) or sweet Marsala. But I feel that these styles have too dominant flavours that will overpower the cannolo, especially the classic style with ricotta. It might work with the chocolate or pistachio filled versions. When we are looking towards the local grapes grown, there is 1 grape that springs to mind and that is the Zibibbo grape! Zibibbo is the local name of Muscat d’Alexandria and displays very expressive aromas of peaches, apricots and white flowers. These luscious aromas make it almost destined for a sweet wine. The more subtle style comes from the late harvest wines, where the sugar is naturally higher by the time of harvest. But an even more beautiful match comes from Passito di Pantelleria, made from sun-dried Zibibbo grapes on the Sicilian island of Pantelleria. Due to the drying process the sugar gets more concentraded, allowing the Zibibbo to reach its full potential!

When you are in Sicily it doesn’t really matter what time of the day you enjoy your cannolo, whether it is for breakfast, lunch, in-between or as dessert after dinner (preferably with a glass of Passito di Pantelleria!) The cannoli are seen as a culinary heritage in the Sicilian cuisine. Try one at a local Sicilian pasticceria and you will understand why…