Food of the Madonie

Madonie cooking is mountain cooking: cheeses such as provola delle Madonie and ricotta, meat and cured meats, pulses such as the badda bean of Polizzi Generosa, mushrooms and chestnuts in autumn. Some products are found only here, such as the ash tree manna of Castelbuono and Pollina, a Slow Food Presidium, and village sweets such as the testa di turco of Castelbuono and the sfoglio of Polizzi.

What is in this section?

An overview of what to eat in the Madonie, village by village, and guides to the products, one at a time: manna, cheese, pulses and ancient grains, mushrooms, sweets, olive oil and wine, recipes, plus the food festival calendar. Each guide tells you where the product comes from, how it is used and where to buy it. The list above tells you which are already online.

What to taste, village by village?

• Castelbuono: manna, testa di turco, panettoni and baked goods, mushrooms from the woods. The people who harvest it every summer are the subject of the article on the ’ntaccaluòri of manna.
• Polizzi Generosa: badda beans, sfoglio, hazelnuts. The Polizzi area has about 300 hectares of hazelnut groves.
• Petralia Sottana and Gangi: provola, ricotta, mountain cheeses and cured meats, durum wheat.
• Cefalù: oily fish and pastries, by the sea.

Where do you eat and where do you buy?

The trattorias, pastry shops and food shops of the 16 villages are in where to eat in the Madonie, with contacts and the date of the last check. To buy from the producers, food festivals are the best occasion.

When should you go for the food?

• August: the Sagra della Manna in Pollina and the Sagra delle Nocciole in Polizzi Generosa.
• October: the Funghi Fest in Castelbuono and the Festa dei Sapori Madoniti d’Autunno in Petralia Sottana.
• November and December: new olive oil, cheeses and the sweets of Dolcemente Castelbuono.

This year’s dates are on the list of upcoming food festivals, the usual periods in the Madonie food festival calendar.

Source on hazelnut groves: Wikipedia, Parco delle Madonie.