A snow-white almond-milk pudding, one of the oldest sweets in Sicily and a fixture of the island's east around Modica and Ragusa. Almond milk is cooked with a little starch until it thickens, perfumed with lemon zest, cinnamon and vanilla, then poured into moulds, chilled until it sets and turned out to be eaten cold, usually scattered with chopped pistachios.
The dish is recorded in medieval cookbooks from the 13th century, and its name means, quite literally, 'white food'. It began as a savoury preparation of pounded chicken or capon breast, almonds, milk and lard, served as restorative fare to the sick and the nobility across medieval Europe. In Sicily it slowly turned sweet: the Modica version replaced the dairy with almond milk pressed from the island's own almond groves, while around Ragusa the cream is scented with lemon, cinnamon and Iblean honey. Today it is listed among Italy's traditional agri-food products (PAT), and it is the parent of the lighter, more liquid gelo di mandorle.
Cold and barely sweet, it melts on the tongue almost at once, releasing clean almond with only a whisper of lemon and cinnamon behind it. The texture is silky and just set, trembling on the spoon, with chopped pistachio scattered on top for a little crunch.
The set is pure starch. Heated past about 85℃, the starch granules swell and gelatinize, their amylose leaching out to weave a gel that traps the almond milk; on cooling the gel firms enough to unmould cleanly. Constant stirring keeps it free of lumps and stops it scorching on the base. With no gelatin or egg anywhere in it, the pudding stays clean, wobbly and entirely dairy-free, while the sugar softens the gel so it melts on the tongue rather than turning rubbery.
Variations
The thickener changes from cook to cook — cornstarch, wheat starch or rice flour all appear. Modica keeps to pure almond milk; other towns use cow's milk or a blend of the two. Beyond lemon, cinnamon and vanilla, some perfume it with jasmine water or Iblean honey and finish it with pistachios, grated chocolate or candied peel. Poured looser it becomes gelo di mandorle, while the original savoury 'white dish' with capon survives only in old recipe books.
On the Palate
Where Biancomangiare sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 6
How it's made
7 steps · 20 min
- 15 min
Blanch the almonds briefly in boiling water, drain and rub off the skins while they are still warm.
- 220 min
Grind the peeled almonds with the water to a fine paste, let it steep, then squeeze it through a cloth to draw off the almond milk.
- 33 min
Slake the cornstarch in a little cold almond milk to a smooth, lump-free slurry.
- 48 min
Warm the rest of the almond milk with the sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon stick and split vanilla pod until the sugar dissolves.
- 512 min
Whisk in the slurry and simmer, stirring constantly, until the cream thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
Watch outWhisk constantly as it thickens past coating-the-spoon — stop stirring and the starch scorches on the base and lumps.
- 65 min
Lift out the cinnamon and vanilla, pour into water-rinsed moulds and leave to cool.
- 7240 min
Chill until fully set, turn out of the moulds and finish with chopped pistachios and a dusting of cinnamon.
Watch outChill until fully set before unmolding — it's pure starch with no gelatin, so a warm pudding slumps and won't turn out clean.
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