HINTS OF TRADITION
“Sweet heart of stone that preserves memories and flavors”
From the Arab Hazzana, the Jazzana, is a sideboard carved into the wall. Niches used to store the “lumere”, ancient oil lamps, or other objects. In old Sicilian houses the Jazzana used to be also in the kitchen to store food and utensils. The shelves could be made of stone or wood
Think about the most precious thing you have, where would you keep it? Surely in a trusted and familiar place, where the things you care about most usually are stored. A place where you can be sure to find that treasure exactly as you left it. Here, all this was the Jazzana. A casket for your treasures. Treasures that at the time had neither carats nor precious stones but were
the purest jewels that the earth could give. Genuine and genuine ingredients that were worth much more than gold and that every day had to be used to feed the whole family, without any kind of waste, because the tables were not always so abundant. It is precisely from this that Jazzana was born, she who over the years has seen entire generations follow one another. She, there, always still
“STOP, PROPERTY, SILENT SPECTATOR WEATHER”
Let’s make them talk, let’s give voice to her, to Jazzana, so that she can pass on to us all the secrets of the best desserts that were once stored inside. Because she is the one who has seen over the years the true and sure skilled hands of a woman who prepared the favorite dessert for a son who was returning from afar, who gave life to almost forgotten recipes by transcribing them in a yellowed notebook so as never to forget doses and steps. Simply her, a Sicilian woman, Donna Maria, who with immense love handed down those same recipes to her daughters first and to her granddaughters later. When we were still all living together and in that kitchen sometimes we even had to sleep. It is this Woman that we must think of to rediscover almost forgotten tastes and flavors. To rediscover today what was yesterday.
Jazzana is therefore an infinite journey through scents, flavors, time and memories, to return to where it all began, in an ancient kitchen with a wooden table and a coal stove. Where everything smelled different because everything smelled of home. Where the scent of freshly baked cookies blended with that of laundry soap. The scent of the main room of the whole house where real daily life flowed slowly from the first light of dawn. This is where our journey through memories starts, on one of the cold mornings of late November when the sun is still slow to rise and heat, albeit warmly.
“IN A KITCHEN WHERE EVERYTHING IT SMELLED DIFFERENT BECAUSE EVERYTHING KNEW ABOUT HOME “
Donna Maria always gets up early, puts her shawl over her shoulders so as not to catch cold and, while the whole house is still asleep, she starts lighting the stove to prepare breakfast. She approaches the Jazzana and takes her bowl of flour, some freshly picked eggs from the chicken coop and water taken from the well. He positions himself in front of the large table in the room and with all his knowledge begins to knead. Movements that for years has been repeating so frequently that the fingers now move by themselves, as if they were playing always composing a new melody.She no longer even looks at the dough in front of her, she doesn’t need it, she feels it under her fingers. He begins to roll out that dough and create his jewels. She doesn’t care about heat or cold, every day Donna Maria is there with her “grimbiuli” to mix with what nature offers her. Almonds,oranges, lemons, pistachios. She is always there ready to welcome what the Lord wants to give him that day for her and her loved ones. And so it has been for a long, long time. Those hands have continued to expertly knead and pass on secrets and flavors. Over the years many faces are forgotten, the memory becomes weaker and the voices are sometimes just a distant memory. Flavors no, just close your eyes take a deep breath and in a moment you are back there, in that old kitchen with the coal stove, observing those hands that create a joy that will remain forever.
Today the hands that knead are different, but not the heart. That remained. The same heart of a woman who with tireless passion and love handed down her knowledge. Today there is the heart of the Pistone family, who with the same love have collected in their hands the sweetest legacy to carry on. A constant commitment even though the most authentic Sicilian confectionery tradition can continue to give its flavors. So that today we too could rediscover the true goodness of the past, the original recipes and authentic perfumes. A journey, therefore, through the purest Sicily and the treasures that this land continues to offer and which, just like then, there is only one place where you can keep them with care: Jazzana.
