Carnival sweets in Sardinia

Since we survived the Festive season, we decided to detox ourselves, keep on short rations and eat just boiled fennel, yogurt, artichoke’s stem soups and lean ham. We replaced any alcoholic drink with sugarless ginger tea and the bravest of us registered to yoga classes, too.

But we didn’t consider one thing: CARNIVAL time. Who remembered it? We happily passed the age to dress up, we never had the urge to squeeze ourselves into a parade float, so it seemed pretty obvious that we were safe.

No way! Who doesn’t have at least one sister in law inviting everyone to her Frittellata, a party to eat Carnival pancakes? Or an 85-year-old-aunt that feels offended if we refuse to eat at least five of her home made sweets? It’s ME. I have no sisters in law neither aunts, but I fall the same for Carnival.

I live in a region, SARDINIA, where Carnival sweets are a real must have. We don’t prepare desserts for Christmas, or better, none of them is typical of Christmas time; but when it’s Carnival time, we get even more doughs and batters, from the risen to the lard ones, always fried and often generously covered with honey.

When I lived in MILAN I could limit myself to buy the classic six ounces of baked CHIACCHIERE, the Mardi Grass fritters with a little bit of powdered sugar; here the minimum purchase in any confectionery, bakery, grocery store, pizzeria and other place slightly linked to food commodity consists of two pounds of FRITTELLE LUNGHE, a longer variant of Carnival pancakes, deep fried and sprinkled with granulated sugar. Every year we debate on the right place to buy them. And every year there’s an extensive exchange of trays in search of the best ones in town: it’s a real social duty.

Of course, you can find the classic chiacchiere (or frappe) in Sardinia, too but for once it’s more interesting to dive into our regional carnival tradition, which could be also a solution to attract more tourists in winter time.

Of course, you can find the classic chiacchiere (or frappe) in Sardinia, too but for once it’s more interesting to dive into our regional carnival tradition, which could be also a solution to attract more tourists in winter time.

In GALLURA, apart from rural housings, wind and beautiful prehistoric sites, you can taste tricciulini or acciuleddi, made with flour and lard, fried and covered with honey; if you want to follow this line you can move down to the east, in Oliena, and bump into rugliettas, or, towards the middle of the island, in Orgosolo, where you can surely find orilettas.

If you stop in a home, restaurant or farm throughout the central belt of the island, from the land of Barbagie to the sea near Oristano, you’ll be asked to express your opinion on the local recipe of some sweet, soft but pretty heavy little balls of cottage cheese, eggs, sugar, saffron and yeast called arriubiolus, arruviolos, rujolos, rubieddos, etc. Whatever they call them, remember they’re fried.