 | |
| Course | Dessert |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Italy |
| Region or state | Naples,Campania |
| Main ingredients | Dough,honey |
Struffoli (Italian:[ˈstruffoli];Neapolitan:struffule,Neapolitan:[ˈstrufːulə]), also known asHoney Balls, is aNeapolitan dish made of deep fried balls of sweet dough. The dough is used in many Italian sweet treats such aschiacchiere. Forstruffoli, the dough is formed in to balls about the size of marbles. Crunchy on the outside and light inside,struffoli are mixed with honey and other sweet ingredients and formed into mounds or rings. There are many different ways to flavour them, but the traditional way is to mix them in honey withdiavulilli (nonpareils sprinkles), cinnamon, and bits of orange rind. Naming varies by region: inCalabria they are also known asscalilli, and inAbruzzocicerchiata. They are often served atChristmas and are sometimes served warm.[citation needed]
A similar dish is described byArchestratus, an ancient Greek poet fromGela, Sicily. It was calledenkris (Greek:ἐγκρίς)—a dough-ball fried in olive oil, which he details in hisGastronomy; a work now lost, but partially preserved in theDeipnosophistae ofAthenaeus, which mentionsenkris thirteen times, in variousinflected forms.[1] The most complete description of it in theDeipnosophists is a passage that reads:
πεμμάτιον ἑψόμενον ἐν ἐλαίῳ καὶ μετὰ τοῦτο μελιτούμενον, μνημονεύει αὐτῶν Στησίχορος διὰ τούτων
χόνδρον τε καὶ ἐγκρίδας ἄλλα τε πέμματα καὶ μέλι χλωρόν.
There are cakes, also, called ἐγκρίδες. These are cakes boiled in oil, and after that seasoned with honey; and they are mentioned by Stesichorus in the following lines:—
Groats and encrides,
And other cakes, and fresh sweet honey.[2]
The namestruffoli originates from theGreek wordstrongoulos, which means 'rounded'.[3]
Media related toStruffoli at Wikimedia Commons
