These pastries are made for the commemoration of the dead, and take the place of beans from the garden, which are in this case boiled with a ham bone. The custom is rooted in antiquity, as the fava bean was offered to the Fates, to Pluto, and to Persephone, and was used in superstitious rituals. The ancient Egyptians didn't eat fava beans, nor would they sow them or touch them with their hands, while their priests didn't dare look at them because they considered them to be cursed. Fava beans, and especially the black variety, were used as funerary offerings because the ancients believed the beans contained souls of the dead and were shaped like the doors of hell.
In the Lemuralia, the Romans spat black fava beans while beating a copper vase to drive the evil spirits, the Lemuri, and the Gods of the Underworld from their homes.
Festus says there's an unholy symbol hidden in the flowers of the fava bean, and the custom of offering fava beans to the dead is one of the reasons, supposedly, that led Pythagoras to order his disciples to avoid them. Another was to keep them from becoming entangled in affairs of state, since fava beans were used to cast ballots in elections.
There are several ways to prepare sweet fave; of the three I will present, the first two are for family use, while the third is more elegant.
First Recipe
1 2/3 cups (200 g) flour
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
1/4 pound (100 g) almonds
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 egg
Lemon zest, vanilla extract, or orange water
Second Recipe
1/2 pound (225 g) almonds
1 cup (100 g) flour
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 egg
Lemon zest, vanilla extract, or orange water
Third Recipe
1/2 pound (225 g) almonds
2 cups (100 g) powdered sugar
2 egg whites
Lemon zest, or other flavoring as you prefer
For the first two recipes, peel the almonds and grind them to half the size of a grain of rice with the sugar. Mix them with the flour and the remaining ingredients, adding enough rosolio (a mild, sweet liqueur) or aquavit to obtain a soft dough. Break the dough up into pieces the size of fava beans; you should obtain between 60 and 70. Put them in a greased and floured copper pan and brush them with egg yolk. Bake them in a 375 F (185 C) oven, keeping in mind that they'll cook rapidly because they're small.
For the third recipe, dry the almonds in the sun or by the fire and grind them to a fine powder in a mortar, adding the egg yolks a little at a time. Mix in the sugar last, and pour the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll the dough out into a snake and divide it into 40 parts; shape them like beans, and cook them as indicated above.
Other Recipes
Ossa di Morto (Ossa da Mordere)
Piemontese Bones of the Dead, with hazelnuts and almonds left whole.
Uosse de Mort o Finocchietti
Basilicatan Bones of the Dead, richly laced with anise seed and fennel.
Ossa di Mortu
Sicilian Bones of the Dead, lavishly sweet and flavored with cloves.
Fave Livornesi o Ossa di Morto
Tuscan Bones of the Dead, laced with orange.
Fave dei Morti
Lombard Bones of the Dead, with lemon and cinnamon.
Ossa da Morto
Veronese Bones of the Dead, made with polenta.
Fave Dolci
Roman Bones, made with almond paste and lemon.
Catalani
Not exactly bones, but still made for the Day of the Dead, in Sicily.
A Couple of Related Things
During the middle ages it was also custom to prepare a fava bean soup to give to the poor on November 2, in memory of the dead. This is from Basilicata, and is drawn from Ottavio Cavalcanti's Libro d'Oro della Cucina e dei Vini di Calabria e Basilicata:
Fave e Aiete -- Fava bean and Collard Green Soup
- 14 ounces (400 g) dried fava beans
- 18 ounces (500 g) collard greens
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- Olive oil
- Salt to taste.
Begin by rinsing the beans, removing any stones that may be mixed in with them, then put them in a pot with ample water to cover and leave them over night. Cook them the next day until tender and blend them; check seasoning.
Pick over the collard greens, discarding any really tough ribs, wash them very well, and heat them until the wilt completely in a large pot (the water left over from the rinsing will be sufficient). Squeeze out the excess moisture and chop them coarsely.
Reheat the bean puree. Heat about a quarter cup of olive oil in a skillet, sauté the crushed garlic until it begins to darken (don't let it brown), and then stir in the greens. Cook briskly for a few minutes, stirring to keep them from sticking, and as soon as the greens are done combine them with bean puree. Check seasoning and serve hot.
Ceci e Tempio di Maiale
Chickpeas and Pork Temple (actually pork meat from throughout the head) is a Milanese dish from the days of the Spanish occupation -- in the 1600s -- that's now traditionally served on the Day of the Dead.
Buon Appetito!
Kyle Phillips
