Sicialian specilities: Manna delle Madonie

by Giuseppe Raitano

Good morning to everyone, I am Giuseppe Raitano and I come from Sicily. Today I will show you a traditional product from Sicily: the “Manna delle Madonie“. In this brief presentation I am first going to explain how manna is made. I will then show you the role of the “mannaluoru“, how to cut ash trees. I will then talk about sale and developing and traditional “mannaluoru's family”. Manna is the product resulting from the incision of the Ash tree, now it is only produced in Sicily, exactly in the Madonie Park, close to the towns of Castelbuono and Pollina. It is called “manna“ because it seens to come from heaven. Manna is a natural sweetener because of its characteristics and taste. It is an excellent dietary supplement and it has depurative and laxative properties. Manna is used in Sicily for the preparation of desserts like torroncini, praline, glasse, cookies and creams.

from www. mannapura.blogspot.it

The Ash tree begins to produce Manna at the age of 6-8 years but this process depends on several factors: from the plant’s variety and sort of soil to the exposure to the sun and altitude. The manna is made by an incision on the bark of the Ash tree. The first incision begins between June and July of every year. The production is reduced considerably during the summer seasons because of the rains and the warm.  The person who works the Ash tree is called “mannaluòru” (the man who produces manna, in sicilian dialect). He cuts a piece of bark of the Ash trees to check if they are ripe. If a drop come out from the bark, the tree is ripe.

The “ntacche“ (how the incisions are called in sicilian) must be done with energy. The “mannaluoru“ cuts the trees with accuracy to avoid damages and preserve the quanlity of the harvest. The incision is done with a particular tool that is called “cutieddru mannaluoru“ or “cutieddu a manna“, that is a billhook, a kind of knife in the shape of question mark. From the incisions flows a bitter liquid that becomes sweet in contact with air and it forms a whitish, crystalline layer: manna. According to the inclination of the trunk, the liquid can set along the trunk and it is called “cannolo” that represents the most precious part of manna or it can flow to the feet of the tree and is known as “manna in sorte”.  When the secretion is more abundant, the liquid flows to the ground where it is collected through “pale di ficodindia” or agave leaves or “baked clay dishes”, where the crystallization takes place slowly. The harvesting of manna is after eight days from the first incision and then it goes on with intervals of six days throughout the seasons.

Manna is kept dry so, sometimes, it harvests early to prevent the negative effects of summer storms.

from www.slowfood.it

The mannaluoru harvests manna during the hottest hours of the day because the heat helps the disjunction of manna and prevents the loss of juice. At first, the “cannoli” are separated from the trunk by a flexible wooden arch and they are placed in special baskets. After, the residues, which are attached to the trunk that is “manna in sorte”, are scraped with a metal blade and they fall into a tin box. Manna is produced according to traditional techniques, handed on from father to son. In the tradition the whole mannaluoru’s family is involved in harvesting operations: the householder cuts the trees, women and young people collect and put to dry the product and kids are allowed to collect fragments fallen on the ground. The whole family check the weather because everyone knows that the high humidity, the fog or a storm can destroy all product. The sap that flows along the cortex is called “blood” and the mannaluoru indicates the trunk’s parts with a terminology of human body: the chest, neck and the nape. After the incisions of the Ash trees, the Ash foresters wash the trunk trying to alleviate the pain caused.  My last point is about the sale of manna. It is becoming more mopular today. Currently, most of frassineti are uncultivated and about 150 frassinicoltori continue to practice the incisions, year after year. This is a testimony of a centuries agricultural activity of the Madonie Park that is unique in the world. In recent years the price of manna is increased and became profitable, so as allow a recovery of cultivation. New commercialization is developing in the field of organic farming. Tradition, quality, naturalness, authenticity, genuineness and uniqueness, wellness for the body arising from its consumption are quality characteristics of manna of the Madonie. So that's is my talk for today.  Thank you for reading.