The cookie of Castellammare is a cookie looking like a cigar, born in 1848 in Castellammare di Stabia. As the decades went by, it appeared and developed the tradition of arriving in Castellammare to taste these cookies dipped in the water of the Virgin Mary.
The story started to become complicated when Lady Concetta, heir of the recipe of the cookies, became so jealous of it that she refused to show it, and it is said that for this reason she was poisoned. Obviously, this contributed in increasing the interest around these delicious cookies. Luckily, before her death, Lady Concetta gave the recipe to her nephew, who, handing it down to sons and grandsons, has allowed making arrive these cookies until today and transforming them into the symbol of this wonderful coastal locality.
The ingredients of this cookie are really few and among them the water of the Virgin Mary of Castellammare is essential. The traditional shape as a big cigar needs the right cooking, to avoid it remains uncooked inside.
The brief story of this characteristic cookie, appreciated for its fragrance and unique taste, can be completed with the following description:
‘Who arrives, even if for the first time, in our town, will not forget two pleasant perfumes: the one slightly tickling of the vapors of sulfur and iron and other minerals coming from the water sources of Stabia; and the other one evanescent and very sweet of the cookies of Castellammare. In fact, they will be ten, twenty, or more the ovens, some primitive while others modern, that launch uninterruptedly on the market these much sought-after cookies that in none other part of the world can be imitated, even if it is known that the simple and essential elements to make and produce them are flour, sugar, butter and vanilla (…)’. Stabiae e Castellammare di Stabia by Michele Palumbo, Aldo Fiory Publishing, 1972.
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