Mustacciuoli (also known as mustaccioli or mostaccioli) is a traditional

pastry Pastry is baked food made with a dough of flour, water and shortening (solid fats, including butter or lard) that may be savoury or sweetened. Sweetened pastries are often described as '' bakers' confectionery''. The word "pastries" sugges ...

from

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, usually served at

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people around the world. A feast central to the Christian liturgical year ...

time.

Description

Mustaccioli takes the form of a parallelogram, and consist of a soft, spiced, cake-like interior, covered in

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

. In recent years, they are many variations of mostaccioli sold in Naples, where the chocolate glaze may be replaced by a

white chocolate White chocolate is a confectionery typically made of sugar, milk, and cocoa butter. It is pale ivory colored, and lacks many of the compounds found in milk and dark chocolates. It is solid at room temperature because the melting point of cocoa ...

frosting or icing sugar and

candied fruit Candied fruit, also known as glacé fruit, is whole fruit, smaller pieces of fruit, or pieces of peel, placed in heated sugar syrup, which absorbs the moisture from within the fruit and eventually preserves it. Depending on the size and type of ...

. Mustacciolis are often sold alongside other Neapolitan sweets including Roccocò, raffiuoli, susamielli, and

struffoli Struffoli also known as Honey Balls (; nap, struffule ) is a Neapolitan dish made of deep fried balls of sweet dough. The dough is used in many Italian sweet treats such as chiacchiere. For struffoli, the dough is formed in to balls about the s ...

at Christmas time.

History

Neapolitan mostacciolis were mentioned by

Bartolomeo Scappi Bartolomeo Scappi (c. 1500 – 13 April 1577) was a famous Italian Renaissance chef. His origins had been the subject of speculation, but recent research shows that he came from the town of Dumenza in Lombardy, according to the inscription on ...

, personal cook of

Pope Pius V Pope Pius V ( it, Pio V; 17 January 1504 – 1 May 1572), born Antonio Ghislieri (from 1518 called Michele Ghislieri, O.P.), was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 8 January 1566 to his death in May 1572. He is v ...

as part of his ''pranzo alli XVIII di ottobre'' (October 18 lunch).

Etymology

The term ''mustacciuoli'' derives from the

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

'' mustaceus'' and is prey to various paretimologies. Some say it derives from the Latin ''

mustum Must (from the Latin ''vinum mustum'', "young wine") is freshly crushed fruit juice (usually grape juice) that contains the skins, seeds, and stems of the fruit. The solid portion of the must is called pomace and typically makes up 7–23% of t ...

'', linked to the use of must in some ancient recipes as a sweetener., others from '' mustax'', which is a type of

laurel Laurel may refer to: Plants * Lauraceae, the laurel family * Laurel (plant), including a list of trees and plants known as laurel People * Laurel (given name), people with the given name * Laurel (surname), people with the surname * Laurel (mus ...

. Originally the '' mustaceum'' was a wedding cake, wrapped in bay leaves that gave aroma during cooking. Hence the proverb ''loreolam in mustace quaerere'', that is: to look uselessly in the

focaccia Focaccia ( , , ; lij, fugassa ; nap, label= Barese, fecazze ) is a flat leavened oven-baked Italian bread, similar in style and texture to pizza; in some places, it is called ("white pizza"). Focaccia can be served as a side dish or as san ...

for burnt

bay leaves The bay leaf is an aromatic leaf commonly used in cooking. It can be used whole, either dried or fresh, in which case it is removed from the dish before consumption, or less commonly used in ground form. It may come from several species of tr ...

. Another origin could derive from the

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

'' μάσταξ (mástax) '' which means morsels, similar to ''μαστάζω (mastázō)'' which means to chew or eat.

Related sweets in other regions

* 'Nzuddha: version in Calabria * Mustazzoli: version in

Salento Salento (Salentino: ''Salentu'', Salentino Griko: ''Σαλέντο'') is a cultural, historical and geographic region at the southern end of the administrative region of Apulia in Southern Italy. It is a sub-peninsula of the Italian Peninsula, ...

References

Chocolate desserts Christmas food Cookies Italian desserts Neapolitan cuisine {{italy-dessert-stub