Calabrese “Scirubbetta”, the oldest ice cream in the World

25.1.2023

The main ingredient is snow… the purest one, but not the one that has just fallen, but the one called “ciciarusa” in jargon , which is snow that has turned into grains of ice due to the alternation of daytime heat with night frosts, collected in pristine spaces of our beloved Calabria.

The Calabrian scirubbetta , or snow mixed with fig honey or cooked must, is a beautiful custom that is still very much alive in Calabria when the white winter flakes arrive. A preparation as simple as it is ancient, whose origin is lost in the mists of time and is to be considered as the first ice cream in history.

Snow Flakes, the ingredient

AN ANCIENT TRADITION

The name scirubetta comes from the Turkish “sharbat” which means “beverage”, a term in turn derived from the Arabic “sharbat”, from which the Italian words “syrup” and “ sorbet” also originate. Sharbat in the Middle East is a sweet drink served very cold, of various textures to be savored by the spoonful.

A profound tradition that opens on the primordial form of ice cream and traces of which can be found in any population that has had access to snowy mountain areas. A sort of ice cream for the poor.

The mother-recipe: Sharbat

The traditional preparation of the scirubetta involved the collection of snow in a large pot from which it was then redistributed directly into glasses or cups or into a centerpiece tray in which the magical and generous encounter with the sweet fig honey took place, elsewhere popularly called vincotto di fichi or simply cooked with figs, prepared by housewives in the last part of summer.

In some areas of Calabria cooked must was also used. In more recent times, but still daughters of the ancient oriental tradition, the variants of scirubetta di neve with orange juice (winter fruit by definition) or lemon and sugar, or again with coffee and sugar, or finally with chocolate.

Cooked must for scirubetta

THE ICE CREAM ARCHETYPE

The definition of granita is inadequate, since it was made through the processing of long slabs of ice, using a special machine. It is not even a sherbet, as it is made with the addition of milk and other ingredients. Scirubetta is, in truth , the oldest form of ice cream and, probably, Calabria was one of the first regions of southern Italy (thanks to its mountain ranges) where this preparation was experimented and conceived for the first time.

Suffice it to say that about a century ago, in the historic center of Cosenza there was a street called the “vineddra da nivi” (today Via Spirito Santo) where the snow collected in the Sila was sold to allow citizens to savor the scirubetta, rigorously prepared with cooked fig honey (better known as fig honey) or, alternatively, cold coffee or orange juice.

Cosenza by night

A KEY INGREDIENT: FIG HONEY

The fig honey is a 100% natural condiment, obtained by boiling figs, and still made today, following the ancient Cosenza recipe, through a long manual process that involves the use only of Cosenza DOP figs and water, without addition of preservatives, dyes or thickeners. The yield is very low considering that around 25kg of figs are needed to obtain 7 litres.

Specifically, the figs are boiled in water for more than 12 hours after which they are pressed, process which takes place in the press, the extract obtained is then brought to the boil again for about 8 hours or in any case until it takes on a dark color and the characteristic smell. “The secret for a top quality honey is to use raw materials coming only from the best local crops and work them, strictly by hand, according to the ancient recipes jealously guarded only by the best producers.

Scirubetta figs honey

In addition to the preparation of the scirubetta and the typical Calabrian sweets ( turdilli , scalille , etc.), its use in the kitchen is vast. It is delicious on ice cream, cheese or fruit salad. But its flavor makes it a perfect condiment also to accompany meat and fish dishes.

It is also important to underline the therapeutic properties of this precious and sweet liquid, used since ancient times as an expectorant, to cure coughs and colds.

Scirubetta, in its enviroment

The Bio Calabrian Corn: Jermanu

15.11.2022

Wheat field with cypresses” is a painting made in 1889 by Vincent Van Gogh, which represents the view of the countryside of Saint-Rémy, surrounded by shrubs and cypresses.

Such cornfield with cypresses by Van Gogh is a wonderful picture, which describes a typical Mediterranean environment…And an essential component of the French and broadly European and Mediterranean diet, the wheat with which bread is made.

This helps us to introduce a typical wheat of Calabria: Iermanu type.

CALABRIAN CORN

In Aspromonte (a mountainous zone of Calabria, in the very south of the region), “u granu jermanu“, or jermano, is the dialect name for rye, and it has been cultivated since ancient times.

With the use of this ancient Calabrian wheat, – with many beneficial properties, rich in vitamins, mineral salts and fibers, – Calabrian people produce a black bread, with a very rustic flavor, a little acid and with an intense aroma.

Ancient and Bio

Iermano wheat was widely used throughout the South up to the 1950s, with this name (Iermano or Jurmano) that which in Italian is called rye is identified.

Introduced by the Germans during the First World War to create alcohol and bread, Jurmano wheat was well received in Calabria. From Aspromonte to Sila plateau there are still some farmers who have been carrying on the cultivar for over 50 years without stopping!

Being Calabria a rather mountainous land and therefore subject to very rigid winters, this German cultivar has been able to adapt well to our winter climates.

ITS SUCCESS: A VERY TASTY BLACK BREAD

Firstly, its rusticity. It is a cereal that even grows in the polar circle and reaches up to 4,000 meters of altitude.

Healthy benefits from Jermanu bread

Its peculiarity is mainly due to the health benefits: according to various scientific researches, rye thins the blood and prevents arteriosclerosis.

Rye flour, called in dialect iermano flour or iurmano flour, often mixed with durum wheat flour, is the main ingredient of an ancient product, the above mentioned black bread.

This black bread, whose production is very laborious, was produced with the luvato (mother yeast), which is prepared from the evening and then thrown in water and flour and covered with wool blankets.

Vitaminic

The next day, the preparation begins with strength and effort, the dough of this bread is dense and viscous, but it is after baking that it keeps better and for a long time. At this point it is cut and cooked for a very long time, about two hours.

The Iurmano bread has some characteristics that distinguish it in a decisive way: the very dark color and the remarkable shelf life. It is a rustic bread, widely used by farmers, and therefore long-lasting.

A BIOLOGICAL PRODUCT

Organic Jurmano flour is 100% biological. It is produced with ancient Calabrian Jurmano or Jermano (Rye) wheat, grown organically by local companies, and it is characterized by a low protein content that makes it suitable even for people with food intolerances (who have digestive disorders in the presence of high percentages of gluten).

Furthermore, the stone grinding, avoiding the overheating of the grain, preserves the wheat germ without altering its properties, and the flour preserves all the nutritional substances it is equipped with, among which the vitamins of group E, B and mineral salts such as phosphorus, potassium stand out, and magnesium.

suitable for food intolerances

The wheat of the Calabrian mountain areas, after the long decline that began after the war, is now finally subject to widespread re-evaluation thanks to its excellent nutritional properties.

In addition to bread making, Jurmano flour can be used for the production of pasta: maccarruni, for example.