Carnivale!!!!

It's that time of the year: Carnivale! The streets of Naples are littered with confetti, kids are dressed up like princesses and pirates, and pastry shops have out Carnivale specialties. 

Carnivale is the blow-out before Lent when people dress up, party in the streets and eat their fill of super-fattening foods. (Okay, most of the people who I say dressed up today were only kids but adults do it as well.) The most famous celebration in Italy is the month-long one in Viareggio, however Venice's Carnivale is also incredibly popular. I've heard many a warning that during Carnivale I should be careful while walking around Naples-getting pelted with eggs or sprayed with shaving cream is a very present danger!!!! (I made it through the day clean, thankfully!)

Two of the most popular Carnivale traditions are chiacchiere and sanguinaccio. Chiacchiere are thin pieces of fried dough that are then sprinkled with a layer of powdered sugar. (Depending on where you are, the name differs. They also go by the names frappe, cenci, bugie, and others. My Aunt Liz used to make them and we called them ewand, though I'm not sure where that name came from!) Some pastry stores do a different version where instead they are drizzled with honey. They are especially great dunked into the sanguinaccio. Any way they are eaten, these are delish! 

Sanguinaccio, on the other hand, is a rather interesting chocolate sauce. Let's start off with the name. In Italian, the word sangue means 'blood' and the suffix -accio means 'bad' or 'wild.' Hmm....what is this all about? It's gross, but the main ingredient in this chocolate syrup is nothing other than pig's blood! The blood is mixed with dark chocolate, cocoa powder, sugar, cinnamon and a few other ingredients. Today, you won't find this traditional version for sale anywhere. Since pig's blood is highly perishable, the law states that sanguinaccio must be made with alternative ingredients like milk. (Please note that I said you won't find it on sale anywhere, but lots of people still use blood if they make it at home!