Bitter Almonds: Recollections and Recipes from a Sicilian Girlhood

By Maria Grammatico and Mary Taylor Simeti

Book Overview

Bitter Almonds is a remarkable memoir a tribute to Sicilian food and culture and the record of an historic and vanishing craft. At the heart of the book are forty-six recipes of unique Sicilian specialities written down for the first time.

In the early 1950s Maria Grammatico and her sister were sent by their impoverished mother to the San Carlo a cloistered orphanage in Erice an ancient hill town on the western coast of Sicily. It was a Dickensian existence - beating sugar mixtures for six hours at a time rising before dawn to prime the ovens and surviving on an unrelenting diet of vegetable gruel. But it was here that Maria learned to make the beautifully handcrafted pastries that were sold to customers from behind a grille in the convent wall.

At 22 Maria left the orphanage with no personal possessions minimal schooling and no skills other than what she carried in her head and her hands - the knowledge acquired during a childhood spent preparing delicacies for other people's celebrations.

Today she is the successful owner of her own pasticceria in Erice a mecca for travellers the world over. Her counters are piled high with home-made biscotti tarts cakes and jams - Torta Divina Cassata Siciliana Cotognata. A frequent customer Mary Taylor Simeti became first friend and then chronicler of Maria's moving story.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0553814656
• ISBN13: 9780553814651
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Bantam
• Length: 242 Pages
• Weight: 0.79 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 3.6" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Bitter Almonds...Sweet Read

To sit in Maria Grammatico's world-famous pastry shop in stunningly beautiful Erice, on the top of a mountain in northwest Sicily, having a caffe and eating her delicious Genovesi, is to be a little nearer to heaven...figuratively, if not literally. Her feistiness and strength of character mitigated a rather difficult early life and made Maria into the success she is today. This brief, but delightful, autobiography (aided by Mary Taylor Simeti, a wonderful author in her own right), along with her terrific and not particularly difficult recipes, forms a sweet read.

Maria's shop

I also visited Maria at her shop in Erice. We were very impressed with the wonderful marzipan creations and other goodies, and bought gifts to take home....some did not make it home! I am eager to read the book.

Fascinating history, definitive flavor

I believe this is one of the most underrated cookbooks in terms of awards (Child, Beard, etc.) and public attention. I LOVED the story, and I feel like I was allowed to have something very personal, special and unique in the recipes which are exquisite. Had I not known a wonderful Italian lady (Carmel Anthony) and tasted her special cookies, however, I may not have known enough to get this book. You'll love it!