WEBVTT 00:00:10.300 --> 00:00:14.000 The confectionery was born in 2017 at the same time as the opening 00:00:14.010 --> 00:00:17.210 of the former Dominican monastery to the public. 00:00:17.215 --> 00:00:20.715 This is a valorisation project 00:00:20.721 --> 00:00:24.021 of what was a traditional activity of the monastery, 00:00:24.024 --> 00:00:26.324 the nuns, in fact, had received permission 00:00:26.329 --> 00:00:30.129 from a cardinal of the time to be able to produce sweets, 00:00:30.130 --> 00:00:33.030 but also pasta for their sustenance. 00:00:33.032 --> 00:00:37.032 In fact, after 1866 the monastery had become impoverished, 00:00:37.037 --> 00:00:40.437 many of his assets had been seized by the state, 00:00:40.443 --> 00:00:45.143 thus one of the great sources from which the nuns could draw 00:00:45.148 --> 00:00:49.048 their survival was precisely the production and sale of sweets. 00:00:49.048 --> 00:00:53.448 We have resumed this activity by doing preliminary 00:00:53.454 --> 00:00:57.354 a research work of ancient recipes, 00:00:57.356 --> 00:00:59.756 because for centuries they have been secret, 00:00:59.759 --> 00:01:03.659 they were passed down only from the older nun to the younger one 00:01:03.662 --> 00:01:06.562 and that's why we chose the name "The Secrets of the Cloister", 00:01:06.566 --> 00:01:09.266 because the recipes were secret. 00:01:13.774 --> 00:01:16.374 The sector we deal with is not only that 00:01:16.376 --> 00:01:19.274 of pastry making and confectionery production, 00:01:19.278 --> 00:01:23.378 but it falls within a broader context, that of cultural tourism 00:01:23.384 --> 00:01:26.184 which cannot be mass tourism, 00:01:26.185 --> 00:01:31.185 but a conscious tourism that seeks to rediscover authenticity, 00:01:31.189 --> 00:01:35.039 local products and local excellences. 00:01:35.045 --> 00:01:39.795 So we try to do a job in which we offer the visitor 00:01:39.801 --> 00:01:45.601 a product that reflects the entire tradition of Sicilian pastry making, 00:01:45.606 --> 00:01:49.106 sweets that have been forgotten for over a century 00:01:49.111 --> 00:01:54.111 such as: the chancellor's faith, the triumph of gluttony and the breasts of virgins, 00:01:54.114 --> 00:01:56.114 but also for example Mary Stuart 00:01:56.116 --> 00:01:59.914 which was produced in Palermo until the 1970s. 00:01:59.919 --> 00:02:03.119 Whoever comes here can take a real sensory journey, 00:02:03.124 --> 00:02:08.824 visit the monastery and here only you can taste our sweets 00:02:08.829 --> 00:02:11.729 at the end of the whole journey. 00:02:15.435 --> 00:02:20.435 Our flagship product is one of the most well-known products in the world, 00:02:20.440 --> 00:02:25.140 that is, the Sicilian cannolo, which certainly originated in Sicily, 00:02:25.145 --> 00:02:30.245 even though there are many cities that "fight" over its origin 00:02:30.250 --> 00:02:33.150 between Palermo, Caltanissetta and Catania, 00:02:33.152 --> 00:02:36.952 the most accredited legends, however, tell us that he was born in Palermo. 00:02:36.954 --> 00:02:41.054 Some even date a fried wafer back to the time of Cicero, 00:02:41.060 --> 00:02:45.160 a tube of pasta filled with cream that takes its name 00:02:45.165 --> 00:02:51.025 from the fact that it is wrapped around a reed, hence the "cannolo". 00:02:51.029 --> 00:02:54.369 We produce the pods every week 00:02:54.374 --> 00:02:57.374 one of the main ingredients, one of the secrets 00:02:57.376 --> 00:02:59.976 of our production is the addition of vinegar 00:02:59.979 --> 00:03:05.039 which gives those particular bubbles and crunchiness to the cannolo, 00:03:05.045 --> 00:03:08.685 but above all we fry it in lard like the nuns did 00:03:08.690 --> 00:03:12.390 and this too, compared to frying with oil, 00:03:12.392 --> 00:03:16.890 or as is happening now, with fractionated palm oil, 00:03:16.896 --> 00:03:20.196 gives a particular flavour to our cannolo, 00:03:20.201 --> 00:03:24.901 the main ingredient is ricotta, strictly sheep's milk. 00:03:28.709 --> 00:03:33.409 When we started in 2017 there were few of us producing sweets, 00:03:33.413 --> 00:03:35.413 we started almost for fun, 00:03:35.415 --> 00:03:41.018 to enrich the visit to the monastery. 00:03:41.021 --> 00:03:43.821 Obviously things have changed in 7 years 00:03:43.826 --> 00:03:48.626 and today the cooperative offers job opportunities to many young people 00:03:48.628 --> 00:03:51.426 which deal with confectionery production. 00:03:51.431 --> 00:03:54.931 Ours is a production that starts from scratch 00:03:54.936 --> 00:03:58.736 and, as far as possible, we try to favor 00:03:58.737 --> 00:04:01.436 manual labor versus machinery. 00:04:01.439 --> 00:04:05.039 One of our strong points is the shortcrust pastry with lard, 00:04:05.045 --> 00:04:10.545 the typical Sicilian shortcrust pastry that was prepared by our grandmothers. 00:04:14.154 --> 00:04:18.954 Among the projects for the future, something I've been working on for a long time, 00:04:18.960 --> 00:04:23.060 there is the rediscovery not only of the monastery's sweets, 00:04:23.062 --> 00:04:27.062 but also salty products, gastronomy, 00:04:27.068 --> 00:04:30.668 precisely because the nuns also produced pasta 00:04:30.669 --> 00:04:36.568 and they had secret recipes for the production too 00:04:36.573 --> 00:04:41.673 of pies, of focaccias, the "Sfincione di San Vito", 00:04:41.679 --> 00:04:44.279 stuffed olives and aubergines, 00:04:44.284 --> 00:04:48.484 therefore also a rediscovery of how people ate in monasteries. 00:04:48.489 --> 00:04:52.287 In these years I have been doing archive research, 00:04:52.289 --> 00:04:55.089 the archive that the nuns have kept over the centuries, 00:04:55.094 --> 00:04:59.094 where they also wrote down all the ingredients in the shopping books 00:04:59.099 --> 00:05:03.149 which were necessary for the creation of particular dishes, 00:05:03.153 --> 00:05:06.403 especially in conjunction with the most important holidays.