Feast Day of John the Baptist

[Pontormo]

FESTA DI SAN GIOVANNI BATTISTA

After dark on the 24th of June in Florence, fireworks puncture the moist, mosquito-filled air in celebration of the feast day of John the Baptist, the patron saint of the city whose baptistery served briefly as a cathedral, and surrounding piazza, a burial ground and site for wedding processions and civic ritual.

In the late Middle Ages, when preachers were taught to deliver sermons in the vernacular, that is, Italian instead of Latin, embellished stories from the lives of the saints were one of their most popular sources for making the dusty bones in reliquaries come alive. Thus, they heard that the Baptist leapt in the womb of his mother when Mary told her of the impending birth of her own child, so eager was he to meet and play with his younger cousin. And in my favorite story from the Dominican Cavalca, Salome dutifully presented the severed head of the Baptist to her mother after his death. Herodotus, in evil delight, held it up to her face, and when just about to kiss its lifeless lips, the mouth of the Baptist formed an "O" and blew, knocking her down, dead.

While Florentines may claim a special bond with the biblical martyr, Saint John the Baptist is popular throughout Italy where ecclesiastical tradition honors him on two separate dates in the liturgical calendar, marking his birth and his death. Evoking Christmas and Easter, this unusual practice signals the prominence of his cult.

The most joyous of these two events occurs on June 24, a date that coincides with the beginning of summer, and thus, draws from traditions that date much earlier than the rise of Christianity. These annual feast days are another way to revitalize an early cult each year, and of course, food is involved. This makes sense in terms of the bounty of the season, the diet of locusts and honey that sustained the Voice Crying in the Wilderness, and the banquet where Salome danced, and thus, sealed the tragic fate of the saint.

This thread is started several weeks before June 24 to invite you to plan ahead or offer what you know about Italian culinary traditions on this feast day.

For those of you who own Molto Italiano, Mario Batali offers a recipe for pasta that is served in Puglia on the eve of the feast day, or June 23.

And for those of you who are cooking the foods of Sardegna in June 2006, please note that there are at least two dishes you might wish to prepare.

In Budoni, fried pastries called origliette are served on the feast day, of course, coated with honey.

ORIGLIETTE

Flour (1 Kg)

Suet (strutto) (1.5 Kg)

3 eggs

Oil for frying

Honey (dark, such as chestnut or buckwheat)

Combine the first three ingredients to form a dough, then cut into narrow strips slightly less than an inch (two centimeters) wide to form the traditional shape (neither specified nor pictured). Fry these in hot oil and dip them in honey that has been heated in a pan until it foams.

N.B. This is my own rough translation a very imprecise recipe, so there may be errors. Cf. conversion charts such as one provided on Chocolate & Zucchini. Since this involves more than 7 cups of flour (2.2 pounds), you might wish to make a MUCH smaller batch.

The Sardinian comune of Fonni honors John the Baptist as its patron saint and bakes a special bread called "cohone e vrores" on a day also known as the day of flowers. On the morning of June 24, the loaves are blessed at the high altar of the fifteenth-century titular church. In the evening, an image of the saint leads a procession "su cohone 'e vrores," or as one source notes, with "a crown of focaccia" decorated with the image of a flower, nests and birds which is believed to protect the town from illness.

Edited June 13, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[Pontormo]

N.B. I found a source in English for origliette that describes the Sardinian treat as braided nests dipped in honey. It sounds as if the pastry also appears at Lent.

Edited June 12, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[Kevin72]

Michele Scicolone in Italian Holiday Cooking lists a recipe from Parma for a stuffed pasta. She says that traditionally, the locals stuff the pasta with verbena, mint, and rue, but for her recipe she subs the easier-to-find Swiss Chard.

In Flavors of Puglia, Nancy Harmon Jenkins gives a recipe for vermicelli or spaghetti topped with a barely cooked sauce of garlic, anchovies, and fresh tomatoes.

A new book I've recently aquired is Carol Field's Celebrating Italy, a huge sourcebook of feasts, festivals, and sagre all over Italy, organized by month of the year. It actually has much more history and stories than recipes, but it's a very interesting read. Both she and Scicolone mention the Roman tradition of serving snails in a spicy tomato sauce for this day. Field also mentions that it is a time when Roman trattorie move their tables and chairs outside to eat in the piazze.

Other notable events that happen on, the day before, or shortly after San Giovanni:

The tasting and judging of balsamic vinegar in Spilamberto, Emilia Romagna

Three soccer tournaments with the participants dressed in Medieval garb in Florence

Green walnuts are picked and put up in barrels for Nocino in Sicily

Boat races in Genoa

A giant fish fry in Formia, Lazio

The beginning of the Mattanza, the tuna hunt, begins shortly after San Giovanni in Sicily

[lagrassa]

Another tradition for the Festa di San Giovanni Battista is making nocino, walnut liqueur. On June 24, the walnuts are still green, giving the nocino its characteristic aroma. I'm planning my first attempt this year and wondering if anyone has any experience.

I found this recipe on Paesi online, the translation is mine:

Ingredients

350 g alcohol (95% by volume, 190 proof; commonly available in Italy for making liqueurs)

19 small walnuts, mostly green

4 cloves

2 g cinammon

zest of 3 lemons

500 g sugar

300 g water

On June 24, the day of San Giovanni, gather walnuts, chop into quarters and macerate in alcohol in a tightly sealed jar. The next day add the spices and lemon zest. Agitate the jar three times a day until August 3. Then dissolve the sugar in the water, heated, and add to the alcohol mixture. Allow to cool and then bottle. This liqueur should mature for three months before it is consumed.

[Pontormo]

Thank you, Kevin, and Lagrassa, for your contributions!

This seems to be a rich topic, not simply for Italy. For example, the fireworks in Florence may be linked to the French tradition of bonfires on a day that is tied very much to national identity since the concept of France stems from the conversion and baptism of the Frankish king, Clovis. You would think that bonfires would also inspire grilling or spit-roasts during the summer, outdoors, but I haven't seen anything to that effect. Lamb would be especially appropriate.

Of course, anything pertaining to water and John the Baptist makes sense, therefore, fish. However, all the green-filled pasta and the gathering of green walnuts allude to pre-Christian celebrations of Midsummer Night's Eve when herbs are ingested for their magical properties. It's as if the beginning of summer was the beginning of spring, only intensified, and these qualities are grafted on a fiery prophet wandering in the wilderness.

Our own Divina writes about the tradition of making walnut liqueur. Abruzzo follows the same tradition.

I'd love to hear your reports, Lagrassa, please keep us updated. I hope the link to Divina's recipe for Nocino helps. It seems quite similar to the one you found.

[kellytree]

This has nothing to do with food . but

here (nearby) in Fabriano on San Giovanni the big tradition is that the night before you pick a bunch of flowers and take a bath in flower water....

[divina]

Yes.. I will be making Nocino again this year.. but not with the Vodka version online but the traditional "everclear".

I put the vodka version on my site for those that don't have access to everclear.

( ask your local college aged kid!)

I do the same recipe as lagrassa, but in larger quanities.. 40 walnuts!

Edited June 19, 2006 by divina (log)

[Kevin72]

Yep, I use Everclear to make Limoncello and get suspicious looks and questions from the cashier whenever they see this thirtysomething buying it . . .

[srhcb]

The Day of Saint John the Baptist is, of course, the Church's sanctioned substitute for the ancient pagan celebration of Midsummer Night.

Midsummer Night and it's ancient customs were, of course, the subject of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream.

The Play contains some interesting food related advice in Act 4, Scene 2, where Bottom instructs the actors:

" And, most dear actors, eat no onions

nor garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath; and I

do not doubt but to hear them say, it is a sweet

comedy."

SB (loves Mickey Rooney as Puck in the 1934 Hollywood film version)

[Pontormo]

Indeed. See introduction and subsequent posts about green walnuts, herbs, et al.

As for Shakespeare, do recall how the Queen of the Fairies fell in love with Bottom, at that point, a donkey-headed fool. 'Twas through drinking an herb-rich brew.

It's interesting that due to the nature of early Midsummer's celebrations, John the Baptist became a saint associated with lovers in some countries despite his own role in infuriating Salome's mother by condemning her relationship to the man who had him beheaded. However, I don't remember if those associations are grafted onto his cult in Italy...or if those in love are supposed to ingest anything in particular to bind themselves to one another on the 24th.

Edited June 22, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[Kevin72]

Here's a meal I usually cook on or near Midsummer's Eve.

The primo is inpsired by the stuffed pasta mentioned above in Michele Scicolone's Italian Holiday Cooking book. I use the flowers from my herbs (mint and oregano), parsley, and cheese for the filling.

I experimented with rosewater in the pasta dough but it didn't really come through, even though the dough really smelled of it whenever I was kneading and rolling it out.

The condimento is butter sauteed with zucchini and nastertium(sp?) flowers.

The main is yet another grilled fish (see Sardinia thread for Friday's meal), this time striped bass, with golden tomato and basil oil.

I winged dessert: grilled peaches topped with yogurt, brown sugar, and barely whisked cream. Pretty good, actually. The caramelized parts of the peaches were surprising, nearly like toasted marshmallows.

[Pontormo]

Gorgeous, Kevin! Especially the pasta, though the fish looks perfectly suitable. I love the wording: "butter sauteed with zucchini...."

I confess to have completely forgotten the significance of the 24th until the last moment and ended up relying on all of the (complementary) herbs I had to augment some pesto. Greens on the side.

[srhcb]

I don't know how John the Baptist would have felt about it, (or Shakespeare either for that matter), but I made a meatloaf, rotelle pasta w/bacon & grated Parmesan and corn on the cob!

SB (thinks Puck would have enjoyed it?)